What kind of infection is this?
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RPh_Guy
Bringing Sour Back
Is that a cooling coil that was in the fermenter? Has that been sitting a while after use?
With the exception of mold, it's impossible to tell what contaminating microbe(s) you might have just based on appearance.
What do you mean when you say the beer fermented completely?
Cleaning:
Make sure all possible sources of contamination are also cleaned, like any yeast starter equipment and aeration equipment for example.
Never use anything abrasive on plastics.
Yes, you can use Oxiclean instead of PBW but it's not as good. I make my own with 4:1 sodium percarbonate : sodium metasilicate that I buy in bulk, combined with a squirt of Jet Dry to provide the surfactant, gelling, and chelation. (I mix it together only when I need it).
No, you don't need bleach. Both the percarbonate and the sanitizer have more than enough killing power.
You may also consider replacing plastic/rubber parts, especially if they're cheap and certainly if the next batch also gets contaminated. For what it's worth, I make lots of beer/wine with various wild yeast and bacteria and I use the same plastic equipment for my (bottled) clean batches without any problem.
Cheers
With the exception of mold, it's impossible to tell what contaminating microbe(s) you might have just based on appearance.
What do you mean when you say the beer fermented completely?
Cleaning:
- It's best to clean equipment immediately after use.
- Soak everything beer contacted on the cold side in warm/hot PBW at least 45 minutes. Overnight is better.
- Make sure to take everything apart for soaking. E.g. soak the fermenter and then take apart the spigot and soak that separately.
- Rinse with warm/hot water.
- Wipe off any visible organic residue.
- Rinse with a warm acid solution for at least 10 minutes. Citric acid is good for this, 1 Tbsp per gallon. This helps remove scaling and beer stone buildup... Less places for microbes to adhere.
- Rinse again with water.
- Sanitize immediately before use (before assembling).
Make sure all possible sources of contamination are also cleaned, like any yeast starter equipment and aeration equipment for example.
Never use anything abrasive on plastics.
Yes, you can use Oxiclean instead of PBW but it's not as good. I make my own with 4:1 sodium percarbonate : sodium metasilicate that I buy in bulk, combined with a squirt of Jet Dry to provide the surfactant, gelling, and chelation. (I mix it together only when I need it).
No, you don't need bleach. Both the percarbonate and the sanitizer have more than enough killing power.
You may also consider replacing plastic/rubber parts, especially if they're cheap and certainly if the next batch also gets contaminated. For what it's worth, I make lots of beer/wine with various wild yeast and bacteria and I use the same plastic equipment for my (bottled) clean batches without any problem.
Cheers
Last edited:
Thank you. The cooling coil was on the fermenter. It was taken right after racking. I noticed some mold on wood near that fermenter, it may have been some mold in the neoprene jacket.
I mean that the beer hit its target final gravity.
RPh_Guy
Bringing Sour Back
You have a stainless fermentation vessel so you couldn't see the pellicle before racking?
The pellicle formation also means that way too much oxygen got into your fermenter.
I was in a hurry, and didn´t noticed till I was going to clean the fermenter
