Possible easy infection fix

[defrandj1]

So, here is my situation. I made a starter this week that I used harvested America ale yeast. It was harvested from a beer I made 6 months ago a stepped up with two 2 L starters (so I could harvest from the starter). After 24 hours I pulled it off the stir plate and noticed it had an odd smell. Very sulfury. I am a brewer at a local brewery that has a lab so I took it to them and confirmed it was infected with pecdo. Crap right?

Well I figure I can use this as a chance to experiment. At my brewery, if we have infected yeast, we wash it with phosphoric acid. However, this has its downsides. It doesn't kill everything and it can hurt viability

After doing some research, some breweries are using chlorine dioxide to clean there infected yeast. Luckily enough, this is very easy to get. They make chlorine dioxide tablets for hikers to clean creek water.

I am going to split the starter into three different jars. One as a control, one using the phosphoric acid, and one using the chlorine dioxide.

Let me know what you guys think?

PS
I will share the results when I get them!

Cheers

Sent from my iPhone

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

Sounds like an interesting experiment, keep us posted!

 

[defrandj1]

Here is a good write up:

http://www.birkocorp.com/brewery/wh...ethod-of-washing-yeast-with-chlorine-dioxide/

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

Very interesting! It looks as if Chlorine dioxide is a viable option for saving contaminated yeast.

 

[defrandj1]

I think it's could be a game changer. Obviously, practicing good sanitation is still required, but it can come in handy when you have a contaminated starter. I bought my chlorine dioxide at dicks for like 12 bucks.

 

[joshesmusica]

Interested

 

[madscientist451]

Infected with pecdo? Is is Pediococcus?
Save the control sample and pitch the pedio into a brett/sour beer .

 

[defrandj1]

It is pediococcus. I'm not much of a sour beer fan though

 

[jsguitar]

I'm interested. There was a thread some time back about it here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=380901

That caught my attention, but I've still never tried it. Let us know what you find.

 

[defrandj1]

Seems like all the evidence points to chlorine dioxide works very well for washing yeast. I only used one tab. I read an article that as little as 2-3 ppm is sufficient at killing bacteria

 

[jsguitar]

Seems like all the evidence points to chlorine dioxide works very well for washing yeast. I only used one tab. I read an article that as little as 2-3 ppm is sufficient at killing bacteria

Is that one tablet per liter?

Thanks

 

[defrandj1]

I used 1 tablet in 400 ml of wort and yeast