aryoung1980
Well-Known Member
A few weeks ago I was building up my starter for a pale ale. The starter had a sour tinge to it reminding me of lacto. Since the LHBS was closed, I decided to do a Google search on soured starters to see if maybe I could be over-reacting. I read many posts, including some from well respected brewers. Everything pointed to "decant the starter and pitch" and "RDWHAHB".
Well, I decided to go with it instead of spending the few dollars on new yeast. Fast forward to tonight. One of my kegs kicked so I decided to check on my pale ale. I was optimistic that I could get it kegged tonight before I go on vacation tomorrow. I took a hydrometer sample and it was at 1.015; two points higher than expected but in range.
I cleaned my keg and beer lines followed by racking the pale ale into my keg. I went back to clean my sample jar and took a swig of the uncarbonated beer. S**t! It tasted just like the starter did two weeks earlier; funky. It actually tastes very similar to a botched Berliner Weisse I made back in April.
In hindsight I'm kicking myself for cheaping out on the new yeast. Now I need to go into full-on cleaning mode to prevent any more infections. Hopefully I didn't get any cross contamination into the Vienna lager I brewed yesterday.
Moral of the story, if you're worried about your starter being infected, toss it out and buy yourself some new yeast. It's better than dumping a whole batch. C'est la vie.
Well, I decided to go with it instead of spending the few dollars on new yeast. Fast forward to tonight. One of my kegs kicked so I decided to check on my pale ale. I was optimistic that I could get it kegged tonight before I go on vacation tomorrow. I took a hydrometer sample and it was at 1.015; two points higher than expected but in range.
I cleaned my keg and beer lines followed by racking the pale ale into my keg. I went back to clean my sample jar and took a swig of the uncarbonated beer. S**t! It tasted just like the starter did two weeks earlier; funky. It actually tastes very similar to a botched Berliner Weisse I made back in April.
In hindsight I'm kicking myself for cheaping out on the new yeast. Now I need to go into full-on cleaning mode to prevent any more infections. Hopefully I didn't get any cross contamination into the Vienna lager I brewed yesterday.
Moral of the story, if you're worried about your starter being infected, toss it out and buy yourself some new yeast. It's better than dumping a whole batch. C'est la vie.