Infection threats are real

[milholen]

I'm kinda of a newbie. I just did my first all-grain batch and it turned out infected. After 2 weeks in the primary I racked to the secondary and about a week later I noticed a pellicle had formed on top of the beer. very frustrating.

The thing is -- I always read on this forum people saying not to worry about infection, that it is extremely rare and that most times it's just newbie paranoia. I read post after post about how resilient wort is, and that it takes a lot to get an infection.

After reading so many times, "RDWHAHB, your beer will be fine", "what, you dropped a dirty spoon in the wort? - no problems, my buddy dropped an old shoe in his wort and the beer turned out great!" and various such threads, I began to relax my sanitation efforts.

I 'm not blaming anyone for the infection I had, simply saying that I think the risk of infection is oftentimes downplayed when it shouldn't be. Brewing requires high levels of sanitation in the home and that should be the focus. People should know that if you have poor sanitation, you will MOST LIKELY get an infection.

That being said, I have lost my last two batches to infection. The one before last, I had the brilliant idea of using commercial ice to dump directly into my hot wort to instantly chill it to pitching temp. NOT A GOOD IDEA! Needless to say that was the primary cause of the infection.

The last batch -- I did not use an immerision chiller to cool the wort. I used an ice bath in the sick. I actually laid down on the couch and fell asleep. I pitched the yeast 4 hours later when I woke up!! So I'm assuming that was what caused the infection?? Cooling too slowly?

Of course I want to avoid losing another batch and that's where I need your help. Can anyone answer the following questions for me???

1) What is the MOST critical step in the brewing process when it comes to preventing contamination?
2) Does pitching a big yeast starter help to prevent contamination?
3) Does cooling the wort quickly help to prevent contamination?
4) Is it preferable to not rack to secondary in order to prevent contamination? Should I just keep it in the primary for 2-3 weeks?
4) What can I do specifically other than wear a bio hazard suit to ensure this never happens again?

Thank you to all the experts out there for your honest answers and expertise it is much appreciated.

 

[northernlad]

It is hard to tell what caused your alleged problem from the info you provided.
How is it that one is a member here for 5 years and does not know that unnecessary racking to secondary increases your chances of introducing infection? Not to mention cooling with ice that has been to hell and gone before it even reaches your wort?
You are correct that poor practices make infection more probable, but I think takes some degree of intent or a serious sanitation fubar to create dump worthy beer.

 

[samc]

1) What is the MOST critical step in the brewing process when it comes to preventing contamination?
2) Does pitching a big yeast starter help to prevent contamination?
3) Does cooling the wort quickly help to prevent contamination?
4) Is it preferable to not rack to secondary in order to prevent contamination? Should I just keep it in the primary for 2-3 weeks?
4) What can I do specifically other than wear a bio hazard suit to ensure this never happens again?

1. Sanitize all post boil items that come in contact with the wort. A spray bottle of StarSan or a few gallons Iodophor have served me well.
2. Yes, a large healthy starter gets the ferment going faster and can overwhelm other living things, to a point. If you have a big blob of crud inside your fermenter, it just might do you in no matter what. (yes I've seen people pour wort into such a thing)
3. Yes, the faster you cool it and get the yeast pitched the better off you are.
4. Vigorously clean and sanitize your entire brewing set up, especially post boil. You don't really need to sanitize your boil kettle, etc.

I think for the most part many of us do overkill on the sanitizing, but then again if it keeps the infections away it is worth the added effort.

 

[milholen]

It is hard to tell what caused your alleged problem from the info you provided.
How is it that one is a member here for 5 years and does not know that unnecessary racking to secondary increases your chances of introducing infection? Not to mention cooling with ice that has been to hell and gone before it even reaches your wort?
You are correct that poor practices make infection more probable, but I think takes some degree of intent or a serious sanitation fubar to create dump worthy beer.

some degree of intent? Who would want to infect their wort? That doesn't make sense. As far as being a member for 5 years -- I just started back brewing again a few months ago so I'm essentially a begginer as I stated in my post. Lay off the criticism and try to be helpful.

 

[milholen]

thanks good info!

 

[Fantastical]

What are you sanitizing with?

 

[hal2814]

If you already dropped something into the fermenter, there's no reason to worry. It's a done deal. But that doesn't mean you should relax your sanitation procedures. I said this elsewhere before but infection is sort of like a car accident and sanitation is like using your seat belts. Infection may or may not try to rear it's ugly head, but if it does you had better be buckled up. And even buckled up sometimes that isn't enough. You just happened to get into a wreck your first time out. And where the analogy breaks down is that once an infection rears it's ugly head it'll want to stick around so you got hit twice.

1. Cleaning and sanitizing post-boil objects and making sure they stay sanitized until used. Don't use you sanitizer as a cleaner. Most of them are bad at it. When I get an infection, everything gets cleaned with OxyClean, sanitized with bleach, rinsed, and sanitized with iodine. So far that has kept subsequent batches from getting infected on my equipment.
2. Yes. It'll give your yeast a head start (as long as it's not the starter that's infected).
3. I don't cool my wort so I'm not the best person to ask.
4. You don't have to rack to secondary. Not many people get infection issues since the beer is somewhat resistant to infection at that point but if you want to get your bearing and get back to making non-infected beer, I suppose skipping that step be some extra insurance.
5. Here's what I wear when brewing:

Oh, you said not a biohazard suit. Nevermind...

 

[bja]

After reading so many times, "RDWHAHB, your beer will be fine", "what, you dropped a dirty spoon in the wort? - no problems, my buddy dropped an old shoe in his wort and the beer turned out great!" and various such threads, I began to relax my sanitation efforts.

I wonder if this would have anything to do with your problem...

 

[Revvy]

I wonder if this would have anything to do with your problem...

EXACTLY!!! No one on here advocates dropping your guard or skimping on santization, just the opposite. What we are saying is that, with proper sanitation precautions followed, if you do make a stupid mistake, your beer will still more than likely be ok, and you shouldn't panic. Our beer IS hardier that that.

But if your sanitization sucks, it really doesn't matter whether you make another mistake like drop something in your beer, or reach inside, your beer is probably going to turn out bad.

I've written this over and over;

Believe it or not, it is really hard to ruin/infect your beer, especially if it is your first batch, and you took even the most rudimentary sanitary precautions....It is actually more likely for an experienced brewer like myself to get an infection- Perhaps we let something slide in our cleaning/sanitization process and something from their previous batch got nasty between brewing sessions, and infected their latest batch- It sometimes happens that small matter gets lodged in a hose connection and doesn't get cleaned out or zapped with the sanitizer....Or perhaps over many uses a fermenter or bottling bucket develops a scratch in it, which becomes a breeding ground for contamination.....but with brand new, cleaned and sanitized equipment...highly unlikely.

One thing to remember most new brewers who come on here starting panicking "is my beer ruined because I did this...." threads are using brand new equipment, and are so wound up and nervous, they have probably overcompensated in their sanitzation (I've read threads where new brewers have double or triple sanitized their gear, even pre boil stuff) and that's why we tell them to relax.

Not relax their sanitation regimen, but just to relax about such and such a mistake that they or we for that matter have, done.

And 99% of the time on here, the new brewer's batch is fine.

This is one of the best post on this subject;

If you pitch enough viable, healthy yeast to do their job, it's hard to contaminate your brew to the point it isn't drinkable. Trust me, I've had an infection in my brewery, and I had to work really hard to get it! In my case, it was on the fourth generation of re-using yeast which I had not washed properly (I was still a n00b back then). Every time you reuse yeast you are growing the level of contamination by 100-1000x, so I learned the hard way you have to be very careful going beyond 1 or 2 re-uses of yeast.

A n00b following sanitary procedures using new equipment is very unlikely to have ruined beer. The worst thing that may happen is your beer will go sour after 4-6 months of room temperature storage. I doubt your beer will last that long.

And this,

Remember, fermentation is a natural process, and those yeasties don't want an infection. Not to get philosophical, but that whole force of life that accounts for a 1% failure rate in any form of birth control is at work with the yeast too. Nature will find a way.

They're from this thread- Has anyone ever messed up a batch. I even mention in there that infections are inevitable- at one point or another we will get them, and it's no big deal...BUT it will more than likely NOT be the nervous noob's first batch.

But if you've cut corners in your sanitization...it's not that infections threats are so real, it's that the brewer has opened the door for them. And said come on in..

If you scrimp on your sanitization or do something highly risky like dumping storebought ice into your wort to cool (have you even seen a completely sealed bag of ice? Most of the Ice I get in stores has an open string tie, or small holes in the bag- and some of the ice chest at some stores are downright vile looking inside) you are playing Russian Roulette with your beer.

 

[Yooper]

I've had three dumpers out of about 250+ batches, due to infection. One was a lager that must have got infected in the starter, and the second was a California common that had a lacto infection. One used the recalled nottingham yeast, and was horribly phenolic.

Infections certainly do happen when sanitation is lax. But often, the beer is ok or at least drinkable in the early stages. With a gusher infection, or even lacto, it usually shows up in the finished beer and gets worse with time. If you drink them quickly, the taste isn't affected too much.

Many people will tell you not to worry, because it's usually too late to fix any issues by the time you worry. Like, if you drop a screwdriver in the finished wort when you try to take off the lid (yeah, I did that), it's too late to go back and sanitize the screwdriver anyway- so might as well not worry about it and see how it works out. What's done is done.

 

[Revvy]

This is a much more cost effective solution...especially if you spray them with starsan from a spray bottle.

 

[jgourd]

When I did extract brews, I dumped commercial ice all the time. Never had an infection. The only infection I've ever had has been isolated to a few bottles here or there. In almost 2,500 bottles, maybe 10 have been infected. And that was in a few batches. And I found out why later.

 

[ForRealBeer]

My apologies in advance for such a long entry, but your situation reminds me of my own a long time ago. Anyway...War and Peace, Chapter 1:

My first two batches ever of homebrew were infected. That was some 30-odd years ago back when sanitizers and cleaners were far more primitive and far less available to a homebrewer. It wouldn't have mattered, though, as I didn't take the idea of good sanitation practices very seriously, thinking that it didn't really matter all that much. Well, it did when I was making beer in a 20 year old's bachelor kitchen, if you know what I am saying.

I almost gave up homebrewing. We had bought enough materials to make three batches and we had one last try, and if it had been infected, that was going to be that. Long story short, I read the directions five times, cleaned the kitchen out six and made sure that everything that came in contact with my brew after it was boiled was spic-and-span.

When we opened the first bottle of brew for that third batch, no one wanted to try it. We had all tried the first two, and "nasty" was a good word to describe what they were. I got volunteered, and after a deep breath, I took a wee sip. Man was it good!!!

I took a couple gulps and offered it to my buddies. They thought I was pulling their legs, trying to get them to drink another bad beer. Finally they did take a sip, and we drank a case between four of us over the next few hours. The next day we brewed two new batches.

Now I am somewhere around 700 batches of beer over a 30 year time frame. Made good beer, some not so great beer, some awesome beer, but never, ever an infected beer ever again. That's because I follow those cleaning and sanitization principles to the letter and then some. My wife loves it when I brew now, because her kitchen is all but polished before I do anything with my beer in it.

Long story short: cleanliness and sanitation are not suggestions for good beer, they are requirements. If you have any doubts about something you're using, clean it or replace it. Use SaniClean, StarSan, PBW or other similar products.

As to pitching four hours later, if you have used clean and sanitized equipment, you can pitch four hours later, no problem. In the summer, I will take a carboy of 80 dF wort and put it in a refrigerator for 4-8 hours and then pitch with no problems.

1) What is the MOST critical step in the brewing process when it comes to preventing contamination?

Cleanliness and sanitation. Clean first, make sure it's really clean, then sanitize. Cleaning and sanitizing are two different things, BTW.

2) Does pitching a big yeast starter help to prevent contamination?

Yes, starters put more cells of yeast in the fresh wort and those yeast in turn reduce the chance of infection.

If you don't know how big a starter to make, use MrMalty's calculator
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

3) Does cooling the wort quickly help to prevent contamination?

Yes.


4) Is it preferable to not rack to secondary in order to prevent contamination? Should I just keep it in the primary for 2-3 weeks?

There seems to be a lot of debate about whether secondaries are really needed or not. Many folks do this to avoid problems with yeast autolysis, decaying hop matter, etc. Others say it's not necessary. Your mileage may vary.

Here's what I think: if it is not a lager, or a high gravity brew that's going to require long aging before packaging (bottling or kegging) it's an unnecessary step. Most lower gravity brews finish long before autolysis or hop decay will begin, and with inexperienced brewers who are mastering their brewing skills, it's an unnecessary step. You will make great beers with no secondary, and it's keeping in line with the KISS principle, which of course limits your chances to make mistakes.

4) What can I do specifically other than wear a bio hazard suit to ensure this never happens again?

Make sure your fermenter is in good order. If it is a plastic bucket, ensure that the inner surface is clean and free of scratches.

Clean, clean, clean, then sanitize.

Make sure that everything that comes in contact with the brewing beer is sterilized or sanitized.

Follow the instructions carefully. Read Palmer's "How To Brew" here:
http://www.howtobrew.com/ for more ideas.

Make sure your hands are clean.

Don't breathe all over the beer. Some say that can put wild yeasties into the brew, but I don't know.

 

[milholen]

So I brewed last night. I sanitized like a madman. I actually moved all the furniture out of my dining room and kitchen area and swept and mopped with a bleach solution. I scrubbed all kitchen surfaces with anti-bacterial soap and a scrubbie then sanitized with a strong bleach solution. All of my plastic equipment, I soaked for an hour or more in an iodopher solution. I had spray bottles of bleach water and iodopher solution on hand and liberally sprayed any and everything in my path. I put my dog outside through the entire process. I kept my immersion chiller in a bucket of Star San solution until the last 15 minutes of the boil when I dropped it in to sanitize. My plastic bucket fermenter I let soak for over two hours in an iodopher solution. I drained and allowed to air dry. Then I filled it with Star San and drained and allowed to air dry again.
Literally every surface of my kitchen and every piece of brewing equipment was soaked liberally in either bleach, Star San, or Iodopher. I've never cleaned and sanitized like this before. If this batch comes out infected I will be very frustrated. I know it may seem like I went overboard ( I even wore a surgical mask when I pitched the yeast), but I am at WAR with bacteria and it will not win!! Bacteria are terrorists and the good guys (yeast) will prevail over this threat!!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

1) What is the MOST critical step in the brewing process when it comes to preventing contamination?
2) Does pitching a big yeast starter help to prevent contamination?
3) Does cooling the wort quickly help to prevent contamination?
4) Is it preferable to not rack to secondary in order to prevent contamination? Should I just keep it in the primary for 2-3 weeks?
4) What can I do specifically other than wear a bio hazard suit to ensure this never happens again?

1. Rubbers.
2. Yes. As long as the starter isn't contaminated.
3. No. It inhibits reproductive phase.
4. Yes. But not to prevent infection.
5. Clean and Sanitize everything. Again.

 

[Germelli1]

I am the most lax homebrewer I know when it comes to sanitation.

However I am a cleanliness NAZI. I properly scrub and rinse all my equiptment as soon as I am done with it (with the execption of the mash tun which somehow I always forget about).

I usually have a bucket full of oxyclean to dunk bottles in as I empty them. If something is especially dirty I just move the oxyclean solution and bottles over to that bucket.

I pickle my equiptment in a no-rinse level dilution (80ppm) of bleach, water and vinegar while not in use.

I rarely do anything to sanatize on brew day except get my equiptment out of the pickling solution in the fermentor.

Never had an infection I hadn't planned on