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

[floydmeddler]

Discovered an acetobacter infection too late for one brew and had to tip it. I did bottle first but damage was done. Tried one tonight and the vinegar was there. 40+ bottles down the drain.

Another brew got infected too (viewtopic.php?f=24&t=40023&hilit=+triple) which was a real heart breaker as it was one I was really looking forward to. Anyway, I quickly transferred it to secondary with gelatine and starved the Acetobacter of oxygen thus stopping its progress. I went to bottle tonight and the f*cking gravity is way too high - 1016! I know Acetobacter only really settles in when the ferment is complete so I'm guessing I had a stuck ferment when in primary. Stupidly I didn't check the gravity when transferring to secondary in my haste to get it in there! Anyway, it's clear as a whistle and stuck at 1016. Too sweet and not like my original.

Will have to bottle and keg it and drink ASAP. What a ball ache!

Rant over. Thanks for reading and feeling my pain.

[Ditch]

Pain felt mate

But, what in hell is a " Acetobacter infection " How can ye discern between 'Vinegar' and 'Vinegar'?

Is this down to having figured out how it became infected, thus figuring what would have come in through that route?

Or is it something in the taste / quality of the ..... god help me ..... vinegar ye tasting there?

For the record? Yes: I reckon just about anything ye reply with here will prove simply 'Too Much Information!'. Like a train wreck though, isn't it ....?

[Spud395]

Sorry for your trouble's Floyd !

[floydmeddler]

Cheers for the replies fellow Irish men.

Ditch, acetobacter (acid bacteria) is the stuff that makes vinegar. Basically it turns alcohol to acid / vinegar. I had 40+ pints of brown malt vinegar on the go! Disgusting thought. It's present in the atmosphere and will get to work on fermented beer if given the chance. My fermenters weren't airtight because I'd been using aquarium heaters to keep the temps up over the cold weather.

I'm really worried it's now contaminated another 50L of the 75L a few mates and I brewed too. Used the same aquarium heaters that heated my infected beers and am just praying we sanitised them enough to kill the acetobastards!

Need all the Irish luck youse can send me boys. Fingers crossed!

[jmc]

Hi Floyd

Commiserations.
Its really annoying to throw 1 away (as I've done) but when its more that one brew I'd be totally pissed off.
I hope that's the end of your problems.

I must admit I don't trust putting equipment in my FV, that's why when I use an aquarium heater I use a water bath.
.
I know room is tight in your place, but it doesn't take much more space.

I'm afraid I'm only 2nd generation Irish (parents from Newcastle West, Co Limerick),
ATB John

[floydmeddler]

Hey jmc,

Thanks for the tip and the Irish luck. I do really like this idea but as you say, space is pretty tight. We're selling too, so can't really have something like this around. It is something we could do at my mate's place though.

Sadly, one of the beers we brewed at his is also infected. To make matters worse, it is also suffering from a stuck ferment. We crtanked the heat up to 27c and roused the yeast. Hopefully fermentation will kick back in and the acetobacter will stop its destructive ways. As soon as the FG is reached, we'll bottle straight away. Presently, there is no damage done to the beer as I caught it very early on.

Will suggest your idea tomorrow as it is defs a quick fix and it means the lids can be crewed on to the others too. Should be no probs finding a vessel to house all three fermenters with a bit of luck.

I'm brewing on Saturday at mine and am pretty anxious. Will sanitise everything big time starting on Friday night. Will fill the fermenter to the brim with steriliser, add all my tubing etc. empty and rinse, swirl boiling water round then give a final spray of starsan.

I'm not going to use a heater as my missus has 2 weeks study leave so the flat will be kept at around the 20c mark all day. That should be plenty of time for the ferment.

Here's a pic of acetobacter in action. Not my pic - found it online:



Seems to be the most common infection in beer making.

Thanks again.

P.S, hopefully your second generation Irish luck will keep the other two brews sweet!

[jmc]

Hi Floyd

I hope you've turned a corner and got over the worst of it.

Maybe once cleaned up a blast of Tesco Thin Bleach might be in order.



BTW I insulate the water bath with some sections of hot-water cylinder jacket. 2 for sides (held on with luggage strap) & 1 for top. Keeps it suprisingly warm, though you do get condensation on the jackets. Well I do in my cold garage

ATB
John

[floydmeddler]

Cheers jmc. Will also keep that in mind.

[floydmeddler]

OK. So had to tip another 5 gallons at my mate's. To make matters worse, one of the other batches is showing very early signs of infection too. Jmc, we pulled the immersion heater out of there, roused the yeast (stuck at 1026) put the cap back on to make it airtight then followed your water-bath idea. Cheers man, you my have saved this one!

My IPA is kegged and some are bottled. Had to tip 1 gallon of that too as the bung on the keg f*cked up and oxygen was getting in. The acetobacter would have loved that so I just tipped it down the sink. Prob could have chanced bottling it but was just so sickened by the whole thing I just wanted it out of my sight.

So, since the start of this week, I've lost the guts of 100 pints of beer to this stuff and may have to tip another 20L from kegs and bottles of the IPA. I pray not. Hopefully we've caught the other at my mate's just in time too. Time will tell. Pretty numb...

Anyway, brewing on Sat as I say and hopefully will be able to put this fiasco behind me.

[Tom_D]

Ah man that is a real bugger. Fingers crossed for Saturday then Floyd!

[floydmeddler]

Cheers man. The fermenter will remain air tight for 14 days. that's for sure!

[flytact]

I feel for you Floyd. I tipped two or three batches (put them out of my thoughts) between fall and winter. I ended up scrubbing all the equipment and kegging gear with a heavy duty cleaner and then StarSan'd the whole lot. Nothing that I wouldn't do, but did it all at once. Then I took a spray bottle filled with light bleach solution and misted the entire area that I work in. Place stunk for days, but I was sure that I'd gotten it clean. If I knew of any dances or chants I'd have performed them as well.
So far so good (knock on wood) and I've even done an open bucket fermentation.

Good luck.

[floydmeddler]

Cheers flytact. Will ensure everything is scrupulously clean. I'm determined that this won't happen again. Put simply, it can't! I don't want to have to walk away from this hobby.

[Tom_D]

I don't want to have to walk away from this hobby.

That can't happen Floyd, besides we've yet to do beer swaps!

[Aleman]

I know your pain Floyd. I can't ferment anything in the house or I end up with a lactobacter infection . . . solved that by brewing / fermenting outside in the shed . . . then last year threw away 50% of my batches with Acetobacter infections (Damned vinegar flies )

Everything has been triple cleaned with Bleach followed by Peracetic Acid and then Boiling water . . . all my brewing vessels now are sealed . . . I'll stop the blighters getting in . . . So far last two batches have been clean