Infection advice

So, I brewed up Fruit Bazooka using Omega Tropical IPA yeast August 4. I fermented in my Glass 6.5 gal BMB and sealed it up. Tossed in the first dry hops 3 days later. . .then life happened. :joy: I didn’t get it into a keg until September 15 and when I checked the final gravity, it was 1.001. Red flag number 1. I saw no evidence of pellicle or anything abnormal (I brewed this last year and loved it), but I noticed a bit of funk when I drank the test tube sample. Red Flag number 2. When I cleaned out the BMB, I took extra care to scrub it out, and it’s been sitting full to the brim of PBW solution for two weeks.

The beer is not undrinkable, but definitely has some funky sour to it, doesn’t taste anything like what I made last year. It’s getting more prominent by the day. I’ll get through it cause I’m too stubborn to dump it, but I’m definitely pulling more of it than the actually good beer on tap beside it (Lakefront Fixed Gear clone, a summer staple at my house). :joy: My question goes to cleaning up after this apparent issue. I have a two tap kegerator. I assume I should fully fill the Keg with PBW and let it sit for at least a few days before dumping and sanitizing with Star San as per my normal procedure.

I typically clean the kegs when both blow, put some Star San in each, slosh them around, pressurize and push through the lines with CO2 until they’re empty. I typically have two new kegs ready to go by the time the two on tap blow, but life has been hectic with four kids lately. :joy:

About every 6 months or so (when I remember) I set up a pump to clean the lines with Beer Line cleaner solution and let it run for about 15 mins per tap, then pump clean water to rinse. If I do this, will it be enough to ensure whatever bug got into my beer won’t stick around?

:beers:
Rad

Should be fine. I use the same equipment for all my brett, lacto, and pedio beers for bottling and a good cleaning with pbw and starsan hasnt failed me yet.

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Hmmmm. Hard to tell if it’s infection or hop creep. The lack of a pellicle makes me think the latter. I guess since it’s cold the wild bacteria could be slowed and that’s why it’s not super funky…

Anything hard should respond well to a good cleaning in PBW with good hot water (170°-180°). Soft materials I would run PBW through, rinse, hit it with an acid line cleaner before sanitizing. That should kill what you need it to.

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None of my Bretts get as low as that. Star San is pretty much all I use. If I’m really concerned then I bleach for an hour, one cap per gallon, and rinse well.

I have an IPA on draft, Magnum and Cascade, no dry hop. Yes I know boring but I like it. Even my wife said it tastes a little sour. It didn’t start out that way so I would guess its the keg or the line. I don’t believe anything sour was fermented in the equipment used. FG was normal BTW.

I have one more keg of the same so I will use a picnic tap or I have a set up to directly connect a tap to a QD so I can try it without any of the lines or taps on my kegorator.

I’m about ready for some new lines anyway since they are civil war era :wink:

I subscribe to the @mullerbrau philosophy on line cleaning, simply clean the lines with new beer. :joy: In this case, I’ll definitely flush the lines with Beer Line Cleaner to be safe. I got my kegerator in 2013 and have never changed the lines.

Wonder whatever happened to Greg, learned quite a bit from him and his site he maintained, which I can no longer seem to find.

:beers:
Rad

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Greg pops up once in a while especially if you tag him. I also miss him around here.

I don’t remember seeing Greg Muller around in a long time. mullerbrau.com was up a year or so ago but doesn’t seem to be any longer.

@radagast I’m also a big proponent of Greg’s “clean it with beer” philosophy.

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Hey guys. I’m glad to see you all remember me after so long. I’m still brewing.

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Hah, these days the title takes on an entirely new meaning :mask:

Nice to see you back. Hanging around for a while I hope.

Wow, I’ll grab a couple growlers from downstairs and follow along!
We do worry when we don’t hear from the pillars in/around the community… We did lose Flars… Coming up on 3 years ago?
Sneezles61

September 2018 Still see his icon pic pop up especially in the food category. Still miss his posts.

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I apologize for rushing his departure time from us…
Sneezles61

No problem. I posted a RIP Flars thread back then and had to search to find it to figure out the date.

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OK, to keep on track with infections… I racked some more small lagers into kegs Sunday… One of the fermenters I opened had a white film over the top of the reminants… I did not save yeast from that one… It’s in its own keg… I even dipped the tip of a finger to taste… Wasn’t funky… I’m very curious what you offer about this white, thin film…
Sneezles61

Me do clean the lines with beer. Ones every 2 months. Flush the lines. With. Beer line cleaner or replace the beer lines. Depends how lazy i am