Addition in secondary: risk of infection

[GerritT]

Hi all.

About 2 moons ago I brewed a choconut brown porter, recipe here.

Additions in secondary were coconut, cacao nibs, and vanilla bean. The batch got infected, every bottle has a tiny bit of sourness that shouldn't be there (confirmed by brew course master). Bottles were clean and sanitised.

That was a very controlled and sanitised brew, gravity readings matched and temperature was always within 2º of the recipe. The secondary additions however might have been the cause of the infection.

How can I manipulate those additions with the least risk of contaminations? Add it to the late boil? The nibs would melt, I suppose. Or rinse with sanitiser, and rinse again with boiled and cooled water?

 

[Poochops]

Last time I added lemon zest to secondary I washed the fruit under hot water and then sprayed them with starsan before I peeled off the outside layer. Not sure how that's going to help you mind! Coconut could be toasted in a thoroughly clean frying pan and the nibs and bean could be soaked in a splash of vodka, that's what a lot of folk on here seem to do.

 

[MrRook]

I'm not sure the infection happened with the additions in secondary. Once primary is done the ph and alcohol makes the beer very inhospitable to anything that could cause a problem.

 

[GerritT]

I'm not sure the infection happened with the additions in secondary. Once primary is done the ph and alcohol makes the beer very inhospitable to anything that could cause a problem.

True, yet on the other hand the additions had A LOT of surface, plenty of room for one tough bacteria :/