Infection
- Thread starter windy
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Yeah that looks nasty some sorta Lacto I'm imagining still beautiful though.
Maybe let it go and you might have a nice sour on your hands.
Others will know more about it than I though...
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lesson learned, some people disagree but as I've always said, never open your fermenter, no point you can't change anything lol
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Just in case you don't already know this - that bucket is dead, along with the lid. Throw it away or mark it and never use it for beer. Any of the equipment you used for this batch should either be discarded if it's plastic or cleaned thoroughly with PBW if it's glass or stainless. I'd do a deep clean of your brewing area as well.
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Definitely looks funky. Maybe wait and see, if it tastes ok, carefully rack it off and bottle. If it is bad, dump it.
I never open a fermenter unless I need to add dry hops and then its as short as possible.
Going forward, i would scrub that bucket and soak in iodophor. Will kill whatever is in there.
I never open a fermenter unless I need to add dry hops and then its as short as possible.
Going forward, i would scrub that bucket and soak in iodophor. Will kill whatever is in there.
Or look for a stainless fermenter. Scratch-resistant, less places for microbes to hide. It also has the advantage of being able to handle boiling water. A 20 minute fill of boiling water will easily kill any microbes known to infect beer.
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This is a huge advantage of stainless steel. Boiling water will kill anything on the surface almost instantly. Even at 145 degrees it only take a few minutes.
I would strongly recommend against scrubbing anything plastic. Both of my fermenters are plastic (FerMonster and Speidel), and the harshest thing I touch them with is a soft cloth. In my experience, there has never been any need for scrubbing, as the Krausen ring easily wipes away - just clean up as soon as possible so these messes don’t turn into hard crust.
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Definitely. It could be lacto, you could be making a sour but the oddd aren't good.
Wow, bubbles! Yes it looks infected. It also looks to me to be some mold around your krausen ring at the top. Lacto doesn't scare me, but mold does
yes it is , I think that was the start of the problem
If your gunna buy a new fermentor maybe just leave this for another month and have a taste in new year
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Buy a new fermenter, and treat it well. It will help you make good beer. Wash it with a rub, not a scrub - think soft cloth, not scouring pad. FerMonsters are clear plastic, so you can see the process of fermentation. They are easy to clean,. For that matter, 1-gallon glass carboys are what I started with. It is really cool to watch how fermentation progresses. Obviously plastic buckets work, but there are alternatives.If your gunna buy a new fermentor maybe just leave this for another month and have a taste in new year
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I don't know how easy fermenters are to get for Windy.
For me, I would use everything I can think of to clean it, incl chlorine and methylated spirit. Just because food safe buckets etc are hard to find here
For me, I would use everything I can think of to clean it, incl chlorine and methylated spirit. Just because food safe buckets etc are hard to find here
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If you can’t get a new bucket, a soak in equal parts household bleach and vinegar with hot water. 250ml of bleach/vinegar in a 19 liter bucket. Add 4 liters of hot water, then the bleach, add more water and then add the vinegar. Fill it to the top and let it soak for at least a hour. The cover can be cleaned with a bleach mixture as well. This will kill any microbes embedded in the plastic.
It’s safer to replace it, but if you can’t, this will work.
It’s safer to replace it, but if you can’t, this will work.
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@windy, did you bottle/keg the above batch or did you dump it right away? I ask because one of the batched I bottled this past weekend looks similar to the picture in your post on this thread.
I did a split batch of a cream ale, with the only difference being different yeasts (Wyeast Kölsch & Cross My Loof Kölsch). In order to fit two fermenters in my chest freezer for cold crashing, I removed the airlock on one and covered the hole with foil tape. I figured that, since it's a bucket, cold crashing would draw air in from under the lid anyway so the airlock didn't really matter. It probably would not have mattered but after a two day cold crash I removed both fermenters with the plan being to bottle that evening. Well, an unexpected household emergency (coil spring broke on an old and extremely heavy 75 year old garage door), I couldn't bottle for another two days. I suspect that the cold crash drew in something nasty and letting it sit at room temperature for another two days allowed whatever was drawn in to propagate. I don't think the infection (if that's what it is) occurred during fermentation. The fermentation appeared normal and final gravity was only one point lower than the other batch and neither batch smelled bad. So I bottled both batches. I'll be closely monitoring both batches and will report back. The bucket with the alleged infection will be tossed if the batch proves to be infected.
I did a split batch of a cream ale, with the only difference being different yeasts (Wyeast Kölsch & Cross My Loof Kölsch). In order to fit two fermenters in my chest freezer for cold crashing, I removed the airlock on one and covered the hole with foil tape. I figured that, since it's a bucket, cold crashing would draw air in from under the lid anyway so the airlock didn't really matter. It probably would not have mattered but after a two day cold crash I removed both fermenters with the plan being to bottle that evening. Well, an unexpected household emergency (coil spring broke on an old and extremely heavy 75 year old garage door), I couldn't bottle for another two days. I suspect that the cold crash drew in something nasty and letting it sit at room temperature for another two days allowed whatever was drawn in to propagate. I don't think the infection (if that's what it is) occurred during fermentation. The fermentation appeared normal and final gravity was only one point lower than the other batch and neither batch smelled bad. So I bottled both batches. I'll be closely monitoring both batches and will report back. The bucket with the alleged infection will be tossed if the batch proves to be infected.
Yup very similar to the OPs picture.
Didn't smell like vomit in the fermentor?
I hope for your sake it turns out fine.
Didn't smell like vomit in the fermentor?
I hope for your sake it turns out fine.
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There was a sharp smell to the fermenter but, I mostly attribute that to the CO2. I'll crack one open today and check the smell and taste as well as get a gravity reading to see if it dropped since bottling.
