Infected cider - rescue mission!

[clyne]

So I've been making a few batches of "real" cider made from "real" apples (kindly donated by a friend).

Batch 1 went fine and is bottled and carbing up nicely
Batch 2 I racked about 10 days ago and noticed at the weekend a bit of an infection. I've re-racked it, trying to avoid the scum on top. However, one of the two demi-johns looks like the infection is back. The second one SEEMS to be okay (although maybe it's just slower growing!).
Batch 3 is fermenting away like a dream.

Any thoughts on the best way to handle it? Really don't want to throw it away if I can help it. How can I minimise future infection if I re-rack it again?

I use starsan on everything, although did have a friend over helping with batch 2. Not blaming him (and he lurks here so he'll know!) but suspect between the two of us we may have had un-sanitised hands when racking or something. Not sure exactly how - I just want rid of it! :-)

Interestingly batch 2 was split into two (hence the two demi-johns) as it was the largest batch. One was pitch with dry yeast, the other was yeast slurry from batch 1. The slurry one is definitely more hazy and I think is the one with the worst infection.

Pics attached.

 

[Supersocks]

Could just be still fermenting slowly, have you tasted it at all? My first batch looked like that and i just left it until it cleared a bit and it was fine.

 

[clyne]

Update on here for everyone in case it helps in the future. I re-racked this into a 5l keg and put a campden tablet in. Force carbed it and left it for a week or two. Tastes delish. Quite tart but that's probably just the style of lager. No sign of any infection - either floaters, look or taste.

I did the same with the second DJ but instead of racking into a keg I racked into another DJ (again with half a campden tablet) and it's sitting there clearing quite nicely with no signs of any infection. So, whatever it was I think the campden tablet has knocked it on the head. Yay!