Infected brew

[Wrh]

I have got an infection in at least one brew I only noticed recently and I think I may have it in a few , it is like stringy gelatin in the bottles and it's more pronounced if you pour from bottle to bottle . I brew in plastic buckets ,bottling wand and some of the beer is in plastic bottles . I realise I can't do much about the beer but is my equipment fixable I regularly use vwp and have been using chem san as a sanitiser . Any recommendations would be appreciated thanks in advance

 

[RichardM]

I have got an infection in at least one brew I only noticed recently and I think I may have it in a few , it is like stringy gelatin in the bottles and it's more pronounced if you pour from bottle to bottle . I brew in plastic buckets ,bottling wand and some of the beer is in plastic bottles . I realise I can't do much about the beer but is my equipment fixable I regularly use vwp and have been using chem san as a sanitiser . Any recommendations would be appreciated thanks in advance

Replace the plastic buckets and bottling wand. Clean everything else with bleach.

 

[LeeH]

Use chemsan as an insurance policy. I’ve not had 1 infection in 17 years of brewing.

 

[MashBag]

Steam is good.

Strip everything down to components. Seals gaskets leave nothing undone.

Bleach dose is 5ml to the litre. Soak. Rinse 3 times with fresh water.

Thin bleach is best if you can get it.

 

[Stu]

As an aside, rather than bleach, I use Milton.
When my kids were born, a friend of my parents was a travelling salesman for Milton. He gave us 2 boxes of the stuff.

Absolutely swear by the stuff. Has the same impact as bleach, but doesn't get up your nose quite as much and much safer.

 

[Clarence]

I have got an infection in at least one brew I only noticed recently and I think I may have it in a few , it is like stringy gelatin in the bottles and it's more pronounced if you pour from bottle to bottle . I brew in plastic buckets ,bottling wand and some of the beer is in plastic bottles . I realise I can't do much about the beer but is my equipment fixable I regularly use vwp and have been using chem san as a sanitiser . Any recommendations would be appreciated thanks in advance

Pediococcus infection. Not dangerous in fact its a welcome gut bacterium. Part of the lactobacillus group. Strip everything down and wash with thin bleach solution (it's the cheapest one in the supermarket) non-franganced. Or any chlorine based cleaner for the brewery. VWP is good. No need to start throwing things away- it's not anthrax! If you do, then you might as well throw everything away and start from scratch. You need to ensure that everything is touched by the bleach. Taps are a pain. You can boil them. Lactobacillus is pretty much destroyed at 70C. Don't forget to treat your bottles and caps in the same way.

You can get rid of any chlorine residue by rinsing in metabisulphite solution.

 

[Clarence]

Steam is good.

A decent gamma source is even better.

 

[Wrh]

Thanks for your replies , I was hoping to not have to throw everything out I've been making wine from kits for 20 years with out any major issues , I only started making beer last summer and it's not been plain sailing lol . Do you think the bottling wands need throwing or will a strip down and soak fix them too , thanks for your help everyone .

 

[MashBag]

Yes you can strip and clean.
I think they need throwing, but for a different reason....they are terrible things and anything is better to do the job.

 

[Sozzled Sab]

Morrisons sell thin bleach, it costs next to nothing.

 

[Wrh]

Thanks again everyone for helping I'm picking up bleach today , if I use 5 ml per ltr how long do I soak for . I'm going to soak in sodium percarbonate first to clean , rinse then soak in bleach and rinse 3 times I'm hoping that will be enough . @MashBag I've seen you mention how you brew from grains over a few days instead of all at once is there a post on here showing how you do it I'm interested in trying your method I've done a small cooker top biab brew in a 19 ltr pot and the beer was great if you could point me in the right direction that would be great . Also how much sodium metabisolphate do I use to cancel the bleach smell thank you all

 

[Clarence]

Thanks again everyone for helping I'm picking up bleach today , if I use 5 ml per ltr how long do I soak for . I'm going to soak in sodium percarbonate first to clean , rinse then soak in bleach and rinse 3 times I'm hoping that will be enough . @MashBag I've seen you mention how you brew from grains over a few days instead of all at once is there a post on here showing how you do it I'm interested in trying your method I've done a small cooker top biab brew in a 19 ltr pot and the beer was great if you could point me in the right direction that would be great . Also how much sodium metabisolphate do I use to cancel the bleach smell thank you all

don't thin that's strong enough. I'd use 100 ml of bleach in a litre of water. You don't need to fill the fermenters just keep swirling it round. There's no need for the percarbonate, bleach does the same job: one is oxygen based and the other chlorine based, but they do much the same job. I soak my stuff overnight, but that's just for convenience. A quarter of a teaspoon of MBS in a litre or two of water , swirled round to touch everything, and rinsed through the open tap is more than enough and the effect is instantaneous.