Festival Oaked Apple Cider kit - Vinegar problem

[user 37839]

Hello,

I haven’t been on here for ages, sorry, but that is precisely because everything was fine. I am not an avid brewer. After some testing I settled on the Festival Oaked Apple Cider kit and have been a happy chappy since - until a couple of months ago. A third of a bucket turned into vinegar.

I must admit, I hadn’t even disinfected the buckets regularly, because we live off the grid with a septic tank, and I have to be very careful about what (and how much of it) I pour down the drain. But as I said, everything was fine for years.

So now I do disinfect, and I do decant from the brew bucket into a storage bucket after fermentation has finished, rather than leaving it on the mash. Only, whatever is left still turns to vinegar after a couple of weeks.

I was just wondering whether anyone else has encountered this and whether someone has an idea what else I could try. I am ever so slightly at my wits’ end. Do I have to buy new brew buckets?

Many thanks.

 

[fluketamer]

you likely have a nice hardy acetobacter culture.

my 2 reccomendations are to
1) throw out the fermenter and get a new one and clean and sanitize after every batch.
2) dont transfer to secondary leave on primary longer and then bottle.

i see those as the two areas where infection can be coming from.

 

[user 37839]

Excellent. I'll try that. Many thanks.