jscherff
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2013
- Messages
- 39
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- 7
Three weeks ago, I brewed a cranberry-orange wheat. When fermentation stopped, I added dried cranberries and orange zest (after soaking in vodka). As I expected, fermentation resumed for a couple days as the yeast worked its way through the sugars from the dried cranberries, then ceased again. So far, so good.
After about three days of no activity, my airlock resumed bubbling and I suspected I had an infection. Apparently, I didn't soak my adjuncts long enough. I racked off the cranberries just to make sure. The bubbles slowed down but did not stop, and a couple days later, began to pick up pace again. A thin, white layer of foam also began to form on the surface of the wort.
I have used potassium metabisulfite in the past to kill bacteria and wild yeast in other (non-beer) fermentations, so I dissolved 1/8 teaspoon in sterile water and added it to the wort (this was a 3-gallon batch, so I used half the recommended dose). Airlock activity continued. The next day and the day after that I repeated the 1/8 teaspoon k-meta treatment. Same result. Whatever's in this beer is awfully damned stubborn - the equivalent of undead bacteria or yeast zombies, I guess. At this point, it has been a little over three weeks and airlock activity continues. I would have thrown this out long ago but it still tastes pretty good (samples obtained with sterile wine thief) and I am just as stubborn as the infection.
Anyone have any suggestions on how I can win this tug of war?
P.S., I will add Danstar cask and bottle conditioning yeast at bottling to get my carbonation.
After about three days of no activity, my airlock resumed bubbling and I suspected I had an infection. Apparently, I didn't soak my adjuncts long enough. I racked off the cranberries just to make sure. The bubbles slowed down but did not stop, and a couple days later, began to pick up pace again. A thin, white layer of foam also began to form on the surface of the wort.
I have used potassium metabisulfite in the past to kill bacteria and wild yeast in other (non-beer) fermentations, so I dissolved 1/8 teaspoon in sterile water and added it to the wort (this was a 3-gallon batch, so I used half the recommended dose). Airlock activity continued. The next day and the day after that I repeated the 1/8 teaspoon k-meta treatment. Same result. Whatever's in this beer is awfully damned stubborn - the equivalent of undead bacteria or yeast zombies, I guess. At this point, it has been a little over three weeks and airlock activity continues. I would have thrown this out long ago but it still tastes pretty good (samples obtained with sterile wine thief) and I am just as stubborn as the infection.
Anyone have any suggestions on how I can win this tug of war?
P.S., I will add Danstar cask and bottle conditioning yeast at bottling to get my carbonation.