It finally happened to me...

CornyKegs 728
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duffy5018

duffy5018

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I finally got an infected batch. 50-60 5-gallon batches under my belt, 35-40 AG brews, and I got lacto'd. 10 days in the fermenter and the golden ale I brewed last weekend is still bubbling. So I took a sample to check gravity. Cloudy as hell and smelled like sour milk. (I use an ss brewtech brew bucket so I can't see anything). I suppose my time was due... Now to dump 5 gallons of liquid trash down the drain and tear the brew bucket apart to sanitize everything before my brew on Saturday.

Maybe I'll save some of the infected beer if I ever want to sour something in the future [emoji24]
1534887912607.jpeg
 
WBB said:
Thoughts on what happened? Why it got infected?
Click to expand...
Not 100% sure. I forgot ice on brew day for my pre chiller and living in TX, my ground water is around 85°F, so I transferred the wort at ~95° and let it cool over night to 65 before pitching. Maybe something fell in it I missed? Maybe it's time to tear apart and replace the teflon tape in the brew bucket? Maybe sweat dripped off my nose in the 97° heat and I created a very **unique** beer? I'm not completely sure.

I've never forgotten ice on brew day before. And I doubt I will again.
 
I've never worried much about the teflon tape in my boil kettle for obvious reasons, but I'd be a little leery of tape and threads on a fermenter that was never pulled apart.

I have plastic fermenters (well, I now use a Spike CF10), and all have spigots. I always took them apart after every fermentation and cleaned the fermenter separately from the spigots.

Good luck getting it all cleaned, and thank you for the cautionary tale. And think about whether you want to use bleach on your SS fermenter.
 
mongoose33 said:
I've never worried much about the teflon tape in my boil kettle for obvious reasons, but I'd be a little leery of tape and threads on a fermenter that was never pulled apart.

I have plastic fermenters (well, I now use a Spike CF10), and all have spigots. I always took them apart after every fermentation and cleaned the fermenter separately from the spigots.

Good luck getting it all cleaned, and thank you for the cautionary tale. And think about whether you want to use bleach on your SS fermenter.
Click to expand...
No bleach on my ss for me. But I did use alkaline brewery wash. All fittings and random pieces in one bucket. Then the fermenter itself with the spigot hole plugged. 1 hr soak each. All teflon tape replaced.

I typically do this every other batch because I'm usually kegging and filling the fermenter on the same day. Guess now I'll be doing it every fill. I didnt expect a piece of teflon tape to get funky with basically no downtime. If that's even the culprit.
 
I had a similar batch recently. Also SS Bucket, also overnight chill. Hazy and off-tasting, but not lactic. Just a weird chemical taste. Probably Brett of some kind. I used oxyclean and super hot water to clean it, then a 2x Star San soak. Put a quad in the fermenter that very same day and it's all good, so I guess I beat the infection. Oh well, RIP patersbier.
 
What fitting are you using teflon tape on? I have an SS Brew Bucket and can't think of a need for teflon tape.
 
this is why I dislike the weldless fitting in my one SS conical I just ranted about in the conical regret thread... so close to being sanitary and they handicap it to save what $10?
 
There are O-rings on both sides. If they are seated properly, there is no need for teflon tape. I only had an issue one time in 3 years. I always test with starsan solution before filling with wort.
 
Oldskewl said:
There are O-rings on both sides. If they are seated properly, there is no need for teflon tape. I only had an issue one time in 3 years. I always test with starsan solution before filling with wort.
Click to expand...
Sounds right. Should only need teflon for fittings on the outside
 
I would have never thought to put teflon tape on a brew bucket fitting. I have never used it on any of their weldless fittings and I have 6 units,

It seems like you don't disassemble the brew bucket fittings from the bucket after each batch, is that the case? That is just asking for problems in my opinion. Hombrewers don't disassemble kettle fittings because they in theory are heated enough to kill any bugs in the valves. This is not the case with a cold side weld less fitting. To keep those sanitary as possible you should be removing them and cleaning after each batch.
 
Cool. Ss brewtech recommends using teflon tape on all threads to prevent leaks and galling. So, I'm likely to follow their recommendations. Thanks, though, for your anecdotes. Also, their guide specifically states use only one o-ring on the outside of the fermenter. The second is a spare. But what do they know?

As for not taking it apart every time, I understand why it's more important in cold side applications, but as I stated, I pull one fermented beer from the brew bucket and put one batch of wort in it after soaking in starsan. I tear it all apart every other to third brew because I can't imagine the fittings can become infected with their only down time being submerged in a sanitizing liquid. Not even 100% sure that was the source of infection. But I'll be cleaning them before filling the fermenter every time from now on.
 
There is no need to tighten their fittings more than hand tight so I can't imagine a way to gall one of them. I have a good 200 batches on those buckets so I'm pretty sure that experience has gone past anecdote at this point. I'm not telling you not to use teflon tape though thats up to you and fine either way.

StarSan isn't a cure all and as I mentioned above the I would be concerned using a tapes joint on consecutive batches where I was pitching clean yeast and wort.. You can't guarantee sanitization of porous teflon and orings that may be dirty with the former batches yeast and would be quite difficult to reach to clean while assembled.
 
just think... There are people that work SUPER HARD to get Lacot'd and you go and do it on accident... How lucky are you my friend? LOL
Toss EVERYTHING plastic, rubber or silicone!

Cheers
Jay
 

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