2 In A Row....

OK, I would like to come clean. Something has happened in my brewery recently twice in a row. I had 2 infected batches. This has never happened before. I was in shock. Both batches fermented aggressively down to basically 1.000 and tasted acidic and funky. They were not drinkable and I dumped them both :(

So I thought I would go over my SOP for cleaning between batches to see if I could figure it out:

On brew day: Basically I hose down and sponge out the kettle then let it soak for awhile with an alkaline cleaner like PBW or Bar Keepers Friend. Then I run the cleaning solution through the valve at the bottom of the kettle. Then I rinse again with clean water. Additionally, I take apart the valve at the bottom of the kettle and boil it every other batch (usually). This valve is exposed to the cooled wort as I fill the fermenter, so I thought maybe this was harboring some bacteria. I don't use a pump anymore so I omitted that step here. I try to run water thru the tubing that runs from the kettle to the fermenter to clean it best I can.

Keg Cleaning: I take apart all the keg posts/parts and floating dip tube every batch. I soak the keg and parts overnight with hot water and a non fragrance dishwater puck. Then I drain, scrub everything with a fresh sponge or brush, then put the keg back together and let it dry upside down with the top off. I do not, however change out the tubing each batch.

Next Batch: When brewing again, I make sure to run some hot (212F) wort thru the valve for a minute or two near the end of the boil to sanitize the valve that will fill the fermenter (keg). I fill the new keg with star sans while brewing to sanitize it prior to the end of the boil. I also add the tubing that will fill the fermenter from the kettle to the star san-filled keg to soak.

While Fermenting: I ferment in kegs mostly, so I use a gray gas disconnect on the gas post with a blow-off tube. I use fresh tubing every time and I take apart the Disconnect each time and clean / sanitize. Occasionally I add a spunding valve after 2-3 days of primary fermentation. This thing is a pain to clean and must be taken apart completely each time then new tubing is added.

Potential Issues:

• Kettle Valve & Fill Tubing not clean

• Keg / Fermenter not clean

• Floating Dip Tube harboring bacteria

• Keg Gaskets defective and leaking, allowing bacteria into fermenter

• Spunding valve not clean, allowing bacteria into fermenter

• Fermenting Fridge dirty

• Some combination of the above

Solutions: Here's what I did to correct this

• Boiled Kettle Valve

• Replaced tubing that fills fermenter from the kettle after brewing

• Cleaned keg as usual

• Replaced Floating Dip Tubing (see picture above)

• Changed all keg gaskets

• New blowoff tube and disconnect - did not use spunding

• used a bleach spray and water in the fermenter fridge

I have 2 batches fermenting now, I am looking forward to updating this post soon..... If you have any additional ideas for me, please comment below, thank you

Update 2/9/24: I cold crashed the first batch since taking the above steps (a doppelbock) and thankfully the beer tastes clean and really good. Very happy to move past the issues listed above! No idea really what caused the infections, but the floating dip tubing in the keg smelled really bad so I am guessing over time it's just not possible to keep that tubing clean forever and it may be wise to frequently replace the tubing for your floating dip tube as insurance! Prost...