Another infected brew

[Blueshed]

 My last 3 brews have being infected, started off with the Bulldog kit I won then followed up with a Coopers sparkling ale and now the MYOB wheat kit.

im at a loss to know what's gone wrong. so far have brewed 10 kits with the last 3 infected and in between them 3 kits I have made 2 23lt and 6 5lt cider batchs with no problems.

I think Ruben and Padric had the pleasure of tasting one of the infected brews at the june meet of Liffey brewers. the last 2 brews now taste the same and both have the same head on them, looks like a soapy, thin head that breaks up after a minute.

on the last brew I was extra careful with cleaning of everything, thin bleach and vinegar mix with everything washed twice plus glass btls in the oven for 15mins at 110*.

last Saturday evening I sampled 1 btl of the MYOB wheat kit, it was 1 week in the btl. while it was flat it did not taste infected and you could get a taste of banana, orange and clove. 2 other people also tasted it and said it was not infected etc.
last night opened another btl of same batch and the second I opened the btl I got that infected grapefruit smell and when poured that soapy pissy head. went along and opened 6 other btls both glass and plastic and all the same.

sorry for the long post but looking for some help and answers to what could be going wrong, felt so bad and down last night I went to the pub and drank 3pts of Bud.

[Ciderhead]

Buy a new bucket

[Greg2013]

I am no expert (stop laughing CH) but this has happened to five of my six 23lt brews so far to one degree or another. I also thought it was infection from somewhere but it appears now it may have been mostly down to poor temperature control during primary fermentation. With the heatwave we are having atm is there any chance its a temp control issue and not an infection ?

[Dodge]

Well I've been brewing a lot and have yet to have an infected batch. 2 things I have always said to people is make sure anything that will come into contact with the wort once cooled is properly cleaned and sanitized. Now I have no experience using the common sanitizer methods like bleach and vinegar but instead have used the like of starsan.

The other issue is the fermentation temperature. Different styles have different fermentation temperature profiles and if you go out of these profiles either you can come into problems with things not finishing off or off flavours that imparted into the beer.

[HomeBrewWest]

Never had an infected batch. I do know however, that when you get an infection, the entire area (e.g kitchen) can become infected and its very likely to keep happening.

+1 on new bucket, that's an absolute must. Its almost impossible to clean an infected bucket properly.

Then brew somewhere far away from the infected area. Also disinfect with something a bit stronger like VWP or other chlorine based cleaners and thoroughly clean up the entire area where you were brewing.

[Greg2013]

+1 On what Homebrewwest said there, i recently moved everything into a spare bedroom from the utility off the kitchen. Too much going into and out of kitchen, back door always open, too much floating around in the air etc.

[RichC]

Don't just replace the bucket. Replace transfer tubing airlock, anything in contact with the cooled wort.

[Metattron]

Are you topping up your brews with tap water? It could be a problem with your source too. Try bottled water, or boil and cool your water first.  Also make sure your bottle caps are sterilized.  Remember that everything, EVERYTHING, that touches your beer at EVERY STAGE, should be sterile.  I've only had one infected batch and that was an attempt at a fruit beer where I didn't heat the fruit enough to kill the nasties, but it was enough to make me OCD about my brewing. Sterilize everything, buckets, spoons, tubes, syphons, scissors, hands, and anything else you can think of. Check for scratches on your equipment, they are damn near impossible to clean properly. Check your bleach and vinegar mix is the correct ratio. If you're still in doubt, get someone to stand behind you with a sharp stick to give you a prod if you are about to do something wrong! 

[LordEoin]

Odd that it had no signs of infection through out brewing and when young in the bottle.
Did you sterilize the caps, bottling wand and priming sugar?

[Blueshed]

Odd that it had no signs of infection through out brewing and when young in the bottle.
Did you sterilize the caps, bottling wand and priming sugar?

caps and bottling wand both sterilized ok but priming sugar was not, how would you do that.

[Blueshed]

Buy a new bucket

the 3 beer kits were done in the same FV while the cider was done in a different FV, checked the beer FV and it has 1 big scratch inside plus 5 smaller scratches.

[Blueshed]

is there any chance its a temp control issue and not an infection ?

good point there, the last 2 brews were done during hot weather plus the last 3 brews were left in my front bedroom after bottling for a week where the previous 7 brews were left in the hotpress where they had the same temperature of around 25*.

I have a brew belt but no stc1000 and the FV left in a wardrobe where the temp would rise with the hot weather.

[Blueshed]

Never had an infected batch. I do know however, that when you get an infection, the entire area (e.g kitchen) can become infected and its very likely to keep happening.

+1 on new bucket, that's an absolute must. Its almost impossible to clean an infected bucket properly.

Then brew somewhere far away from the infected area. Also disinfect with something a bit stronger like VWP or other chlorine based cleaners and thoroughly clean up the entire area where you were brewing.

time to order a new bucket, bottling wand, stir spoon and vwp. btw told the wife you think here kitchen could be dirty or infected 

[Blueshed]

Are you topping up your brews with tap water? It could be a problem with your source too. Try bottled water, or boil and cool your water first.   Check your bleach and vinegar mix is the correct ratio. If you're still in doubt, get someone to stand behind you with a sharp stick to give you a prod if you are about to do something wrong! 

yes, being topping up with tap water, next brew will boil and let it cool. also just being eyeballing the bleach n vinegar so could have to much or to little in the mix.

anybody want to call round with a sharp stick on the next brew day.

[Ciderhead]

is there any chance its a temp control issue and not an infection ?

good point there, the last 2 brews were done during hot weather plus the last 3 brews were left in my front bedroom after bottling for a week where the previous 7 brews were left in the hotpress where they had the same temperature of around 25*.

I have a brew belt but no stc1000 and the FV left in a wardrobe where the temp would rise with the hot weather.

Ding ding ding ding ding, brewbelt in the last 3 weeks its ffffcooked:'(
http://morebeer.com/themes/morewinepro/mmpdfs/mb/off_flavor.pdf
check out estery fruity
Sorry for your trouble