Damn! Had to tip 75L of beer - ACETOBACTER!!!

[Deller12]

Just when I thought I was immune to infections - none in 18 months - I find acetobacter has appeared within the brewery.

After filling four casks last week there was 8L of beer left pretty near FG. I moved this to a secondary vessel to bottle at a later date. 5 days later its neat vinegar. Very well progressed.

Panic!

Everything I had used to syphon into the first bottle was put in the vessel. Luckily it was stainless steel. Put it on the hob with a little water in and steamed to 90 degrees. I believe that level of temeprature kills all acetobacter.

Now the paranoia starts....

I can't remember fillng the secondary with CO2, so probably I didn't. So that could have been it. All beer will turn to vinegar eventually if left inthe presence of oxygen.

Any procedure change that has increased the likelihood of infection? I have moved from bleach to starsan since going stainless. Maybe I am not leaving long enough time after spraying to do its work. I might move to steam cleaning all fermenters now on the hob. Its quite easy to do.

Secondly there have been a lot of wasps around the brewery the last two weeks. Maybe one of those has landed.

The new stainless stockpots I use as fermenters have lids which are not as effective at keeping out tiny flies. So cling wrap around as well is going to be a must I think.

Sorry to here about the infection Paddy
I have also had the same bad luck a few months back dam infections
I haved moved over to using steam and makes cleaning the conical and corny's a doddle
Hope you kill the infection

[floydmeddler]

F*cking stuff! I got it again recently too in 2 batches. Managed to catch it early though and polypin them and vented off any air before sealing the bags. Did the trick. Beer was good after around a month in there. I reckon it was down to me rushing the gelatine addition one day.

I use only steam and boiling water these days.

As long as there's a layer of co2 and no steady supply of oxygen, you'll be fine Paddy. The tiniest supply of oxygen will f*ck you over though so just make sure your seals are tight etc. I have hope for you.

[greenxpaddy]

Checked the last cask to go out and it was fine. The problem was I didn't prime so there was no Co 2 left over the remnants in secondary.