First Infected Batch

[GuingesRock]

I had my first experience with an infected 10 gal batch today, both kegs.

I know why…there was a screw up with a bazooka screen that kept getting clogged with hops and yeast and I had to scrape it incessantly with a long sanitized spoon so the beer would go through. It was a disaster and I have since stopped using bazookas in my fermentor.

I’ve been trying to get this beer to clear for 2 weeks and I finally clued in today. It has the colour and opacity of half strength milk, white in other words, and a slightly sour taste, almost like a sour beer. Slight white vinegar smell.

What’s the infection likely to be please?

I’m now very worried about using those kegs again…should I be?

[NASH]

Well, for starters, if it smells like vinegar, it is. Acetobacter. That's not to say there's no other bugs in there. Clean your kegs well, disassemble the poppets as well, reassemble and sanitize with boiling water. Always sucks when something like that happens

[GuingesRock]

Thanks Greg, but I was perversely delighted when I realised it was an infection, as I thought it was the real ale thing and I was going a bit crazy trying to crash chill etc. to get that damn beer to clear. I was just about to give up on real ale. Now all’s right with my world again. The other beers have cleared nicely.

Experience is cheap at any price they say. I wish I’d had an infected beer early on in my brewing, so I would have known right off the bat. I think it should be part of general brewing training to brew an infected batch.

[sleepyjamie]

I've stopped using the bazooka screen as a hop filter in my kettle because it constantly gets clogged when using pellet hops.


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[gm-]

That sucks!

Make sure you clean your fermentation vessel thoroughly too, those nasty bugs are resilient and don't need much to survive on.

[GuingesRock]

Thanks gm-

Good general advice about the fermentor, but I’m less worried about that, because my fermentor is my boil kettle (I primary ferment in the kettle) and everything is cleaned and then gets boiled for an hour and a half during the boil, and I’ve done a really nice Amarillo Galaxy batch in there since the infected one. Before anyone says it’s because I fermented in the kettle that I got an infection, its maybe around the 80’th batch I’ve done that way and the first infection. I remember thinking at the time during the bazooka fiasco, “this beer is going to get infected for sure”. Instead of the bazooka, I now accept a little more trub waste and have a female 90 inside the kettle pointing upwards, which seems to work well.

Another plus. I get to make that beer again. It’s my Styrian Blonde (Pilsner and Styrian Goldings late hopped SMaSH), I thought it was going to be a really nice beer, then I tasted it and it wasn’t so good, now I think it’s going to be good again, and excited to brew it over.

I’ll take the kegs apart clean and boil everything I can, sanitize then put a whole lot of boiling water in the keg and invert it (as X described), and fingers crossed…I’ll get to try my Styrian Blonde in a few weeks, as it should be, for the very first time.

[GuingesRock]

I started work on the two infected kegs today. I’ve been putting it off and the smell is worse now, more vinegary and something else that’s quite unpleasant, turned brown and huge amount of brown sludge at the bottom of the kegs.

I took them apart, rinsed them, and now have them soaking in cleaner. I took them apart, that is, except one of the kegs is a new one, and all the new Cornys seem to come with poppett valves that can’t be removed. I Googled that before and someone figured out, you could get them out by hooking under each leg with a SS dental pick. I don’t have a dental pick and I don’t want to get one.

I want to throw the posts with integral poppets, lids, and all the O rings in a pot and boil them. That should be OK?

[AllanMar]

I don't find the poppets hard to get out. Most of mine will pop out if you push down on the poppet from the top while its not connected to the keg. I like to disassemble them (you should be able to find something that works) as i can see that it's clean.

I've boiled them without issue before (YMMV). As far as I know they're usually EPDM, which is good for 140C ish from what I recall.

[GuingesRock]

Thanks, Just what I wanted to know!

[adams81]

While I don't have much to offer in the way of guidance, as someone who has had a few infected batches lately I can appreciate the job you're tackling.

Good luck!

[GuingesRock]

Thanks

I did email one of the big vendors that I bought the keg from before about the poppet valve thing and I got the reply below. I might try shoving them again though, a bit harder.

They do not come out and are designed like that I am afraid. AEB will not even honor warranty if try to press them out on the new model. Just use a keg jumper and compressed air or co2. Good way to clean lines at the same time.

[AllanMar]

Perhaps these are different then the one's i'm thinking of then. I like the new universal (spring) ones now, once you get them working (sometimes the springs are too tight and you need to cut them down). Seem easier to clean.

[mr x]

I boil them all the time. Haven't been burned yet.

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[GuingesRock]

I boil them all the time. Haven't been burned yet.

Great!

I like the new universal (spring) ones now, once you get them working (sometimes the springs are too tight and you need to cut them down).

I always HATED those things, up until now that is. They are ALWAYS too tight and you can’t get the ball locks on unless you put all your weight on them. I never thought of cutting down the springs though. That’s fairly brilliant.