12
votes
Accepted
What are the most crucial moments for beer contamination?
Just before you add yeast.
Your wort will not be heated again
Wort is full of nutrients, fullest it was or will be
Temperature is optimal for microbiological growth
No competition with other microbes
...
- 3,718
9
votes
How clean does your equipment really need to be?
TL; DR; You need to clean!
You do this for safety, repeatability, and to avoid wasting your effort. I have cleaned poorly before and wasted brews of both wine and beer, since I took a more rigorous ...
- 7,018
6
votes
Accepted
Will Brett C contaminate my equipment?
The standard wisdom I've seen is, as mentioned, that glass and metal "should" be fine but plastic is much more prone to scratching, making it a concern.
Brett has a reputation of being very resilient ...
- 1,900
6
votes
Wort Contamination?
Your beer will probably be fine. Yes, your arm probably left some bacteria in the wort, but the wort is also picking up a few bacteria from the air. Cooled wort has some bacteria and/or wild yeast. ...
- 3,375
6
votes
Safe to return sampled wort to the primary after sampling?
I've read in a few places not to do this as it risks contamination.
I do it every time using a well-sanitized thief. I have never had an issue doing this.
Does it increase the risk of contamination? ...
- 411
6
votes
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Safe to return sampled wort to the primary after sampling?
Do not return samples to the batch.
Risk of infection is very high. Sacrificing this small amount of wort makes life easier and give peace of mind.
sample tubes are difficult to clean. Many are two ...
- 18.5k
6
votes
Accepted
What are these insects in my malt?
They're possibly weevils. The one in the middle looks like it has a long 'snout' that weevils tend to have.
- 84
5
votes
My cooled wort got contaminated by tap water. What are the primary consequences of re-boiling?
Reboiling will increase bitterness of all the hops that went in 'late' in the kettle. Obviously, as you said you'll lose your aroma charge will decrease in proportion to the length of the reboil.
...
- 36.2k
5
votes
Is it possible to decontaminate wine?
No don't boil it!
Chances are you are fine at this point. Bacteria just don't hang around lonely old clothespins much. Without knowing what type yeast you pitched, I can't give a solid answer, but if ...
- 511
5
votes
Is my beer infected? from an amateur. Posted a picture
This looks like Pediococcus contamination: see here Is this lactobacillus?
More information about spoilage here: https://www.craftbrewingbusiness.com/news/four-bacteria-that-will-ruin-your-beer/
...
- 4,806
5
votes
Accepted
Possible contamination or mold?
Unless whatever you're bottling is genuinely, horrifyingly undrinkable- I'd never pour anything out before bottling. At any rate- it won't hurt you.
It's really difficult to tell on a picture through ...
- 1,773
4
votes
Accepted
Is my batch contaminated("infected")?
Looks like flocculant yeast, if you look close it should be the same color as the trub on the bottom if it is. May see them pulling off and coming to the top, but it's hard to see in a dark beer.
...
- 18.5k
4
votes
Yeast not settling or contamination?
Yeast with a high floculation rate will do this, they usually break off the bottom and float up from trapped c02.
Beer looks really clear, good job.
When you rack to secondary, go ahead and let the ...
- 18.5k
4
votes
My cooled wort got contaminated by tap water. What are the primary consequences of re-boiling?
When you say it got contaminated you mean that some tap water went in contact (mixed) with your wort, right? I wouldn't say that is contamination. IMHO, contamination is that some bacteria has started ...
- 41
4
votes
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I'm worried about adding germs to my brew when dry hopping
How much of a risk is this? - To answer your first question the risk is minimal. once fermentation has begun in force the solution is mostly unfavorable for non yeast microorganisms. no this isn't to ...
- 169
4
votes
Accepted
Does this look contaminated?
Looks fine, rack to secondary and grab a bit to taste if it tastes fine then you have most likely avoided any significant bacterial contamination.
Smell first, if it smells off don't taste it.
Taste ...
- 7,018
4
votes
Accepted
Does opening the tap of a fermenter bucket increase the chance of contamination?
Using the spigot is undoubtedly much safer than opening the lid.
With the spigot on your bucket you're basically just creating a hole where the beer can flow out (and only out). There are some ...
- 1,900
4
votes
Accepted
If you make wine in higher quantities, is there a higher chance of contamination?
No, the process is the same. If you sanitize everything correctly, you do not have more chances of spoilage, it will only take more time to rack and bottle.
Make sure you have the right size ...
- 4,806
4
votes
Accepted
Contamination from airlock
I think the likelihood of a batch getting contaminated this way is pretty low. Certainly be careful with cleaning and replacing the airlock. But generally speaking the airlock serves as a blocker ...
- 1,900
4
votes
Accepted
Beer's susceptibility to contamination over time?
The short answer: Beer is susceptible to whatever can live in the wort/beer given it's specific condition at the time. As fermentation continues, fewer and fewer micro-organisms are able to colonise ...
- 2,060
4
votes
How can I make maple bacon mead?
I would wait until you have at least 5% ABV before adding meat into the mix, at ~5% anything pathogenic should be killed off. Cooking the meat before had I would also recommend as rubbing beer/mead/...
- 7,018
4
votes
Accepted
Didn't reach expected FG. Should I postpone bottling? Also: It looks weird!
That beer definitely needs more time. It's likely that the periods of lower temperature slowed or potentially even halted fermentation, and the sweet smell you describe is probably unfermented sugars ...
- 56
4
votes
Accepted
Will taking the top off my vessel on day 9 spoil my brew?
Six seconds is nothing. I do open fermentation for a couple of days, then rack my beer into a closed fermenter after four days. For this I need to expose my beer for more than a couple of seconds. I ...
- 3,655
3
votes
Accepted
How long can mead store when not temperature controlled?
First off... How was the carboy sealed? Was it corked so no gasses may escape or did he keep a fermentation lock on it? If so did he keep water in it?
Two of the biggest enemies to mead are sunlight ...
- 511
3
votes
My cooled wort got contaminated by tap water. What are the primary consequences of re-boiling?
Unless your tap water is bad, I wouldn't call dilution "contamination". If this happened to me, I would do a small boil with DME or LME (just enough to get everybody dissolved), cool it down and ...
- 1,152
3
votes
Accepted
Can a homebrew with a FG of less than 1.000 become infected?
Yes, a beer can still get bacterial/fungal contamination when its SG is below 1, though it will be a much less hospitable environment than higher SG beers since the available nutrients will be less.
...
- 6,417
3
votes
Accepted
I can't differentiate between OCD or the smell of vinegar, and need some guidance
The cider / vinegar smell is normal, it is acetaldehyde and is a normal byproduct of fermentation. But it's a temporary byproduct, the yeast will consume it to recover NAD+ from NADH after all oxygen ...
- 3,020
3
votes
does starsan kill yeast
Star San will not kill wild yeast. I rotate the use of StarSan and iodophor, since iodophor kills wild yeast. Here's the reply I got from a chemist when I asked about it...
Broad-spectrum ...
- 33.4k
3
votes
Accepted
Would boiled vinegar contain any acetobacter?
I have never done that, but I base my answer on information about acetobacter on Wikipedia.
The growth of Acetobacter in wine can be suppressed through effective sanitation, by complete exclusion ...
- 4,806
3
votes
What kind of contamination shows a white film with dots in secondary?
It's hard to say what is making the pellicle.
But as for your white dots, they are too uniform for an organic IMO.
I would say they are just co2 bubbles trapped under the pellicle.
- 18.5k
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