acetobacter contamination - What would u do?

[GraemeC]

So, I added some vanilla to a brown ale that has been in the primary for three weeks. I opened the lid after a few days out of curiosity just to have a smell and noticed that an acetobacter contamination has creeped in. I have had this only once before with a small batch I brewed about a year and a half ago. In that case it was pretty rife and looked something like this:

http://community.beoir.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4815



I can clearly see those white clumps have formed about half way across the surface of the beer with a slight skin over the beer. Really bummed about this as it was supposed to be my Xmas brew. Sanitation obviously went awry, but definitely after I added the vanilla. I cut the beans open, scrapped out the inside, chopped up the exterior and soaked in some rum for a few days which I hoped would also help sanitize.

It's not tasting too bad though and I'm unsure what to do with this one. I thought about possibly racking half of the beer from the bottom of the fermenter and leave around two gallons at the top where the nasties are, but my main concern is if this is going to cause a gusher/bottle bomb situation if I decide to bottle it. Can anybody chime in on this? If it will I'd rather cut my loses

thanks guys

 

[Mark1964]

we had the same infection in a pilsner a few months ago we binned it and the fermenting vessel too as it can return etc in subsequent brews

 

[graysalchemy]

I have a stout which has succumbed. I was putting it in containers to let it turn into vinegar when I had a taste. It was slightly sour but not vinegar which made me think perhaps it was a bret infection. So I bottled 8 to see what happens. The rest I will decide what to do with.

Also today I made 3kg of pickled onions with vinegar made from a bitter that went off last year. So all won't be lost.

With regards of what to do with the fv give it a real good clean and sanitize well. If you have a steam cleaner use that on it and it will be fine. Mine was fine after last years disaster.

I'm still short of beer and have little time to get another brew on but hey I've got plenty of pickled onions and probably 10 gallons of vinegar. :lol: