Will Roselare infect my whole brewery?

[Dgonza9]

In the last year I've really gotten into sours. Now I'm about to take possession of a 55 gallon barrel from my brew club. We were planning to fill it with a Duchesse de Bourgogne clone fermented with Roselare.

But now I'm looking over my brewery area in the basement and thinking that I'm going to wind up infecting my whole brewery. It's not a very large area.

Anyone have an opinion on this? I don't mind sacrificing some equipment, siphon tubes and whatnot, but if I have a barrel of sour sitting in the room I brew in, is there any way my whole brewing area doesn't become infected?

Cheers.

 

[DoubleAught]

I age sours in a small ferm chamber with all my other brews. I've never experienced cross contamination. Hope that helps.

 

[Calder]

I've done a lot of sours, and not had a problem, but a large wooden barrel riddled with the bugs sitting in the middle of the room might make me think differently too.

I would like to think you are OK if you practice good sanitation, but I'm really not sure.

 

[Dgonza9]

Thanks for your reply. My situation is a bit different as I'll have a 55 gallon oak barrel sitting 10 feet from all of my brewing equipment. The barrel will breathe some.

I'd also have about 10 5 gallon batches being put into it and then ultimately, siphoned out. Seems likely to kick up some of that Roselare cocktail into the room.

My concern is that I could get an infection going in the area that typical sanitation may not contain. Or am I being paranoid about that?

 

[Phunhog]

Good question.....I know that Lacto is supposedly on grain and most of us store grain near where we brew/ferment. My brother is a winemaker and he was really nervous just having guys drink sours in his winery. I guess better to be safe than sorry.

 

[TNGabe]

Or am I being paranoid about that?

Maybe not Howard Hughes paranoid, but yeah.