Pediococal Infection :o(

[Reviled]

Hey guys

Does anyone know anything about pediococal infection? I seem to have picked one up from somewhere, first in my Pilsner which is really strongly smelling of what I have been told is a pediococal infection, and im now worried because ive just kegged and carbed a Pale Ale and ive noticed it has a similair smell to it, tastes fine, but that smell is not good

Smells, herbally, minty, piney sorta, hard to describe, but its not desirable at all... The two beers were completely different so I can definately narrow it down to an infection...

Id be keen on any information relating to this, just curious where it may have come from etc etc...

Im gonna throw out all of my hoses, bleach the crap out of all my fermenters, and get new yeasts, oh, and get a tap put in my kettle so I stop no chilling in the kettle and go back to cubes Im thinking it may be a combination of the no chill in the kettle and the really hot weather weve had lately... But thats only my first guess...

Any help muchly appreciated... Cheers

Oh, and am I even spelling it right cos Google didnt bring anything up?

[Stu McKinlay]

Agree totally. I buy new plastic fermenters every 12-18 months (and I'm really careful with them whille i have them - soft cloths and a loving hand).

No longer have to worry about that!!

[JR]

I had a persistant infection for a while - got rid of infection by getting rid of plastic fermentors and started primary and secondary fermenting in glass carboys, replaced all plastic tubes etc... and started using idophor. I suspect that it was the idophor that made the difference but if I had had one more infection I was about to give up brewing so I wanted to be sure.

[Reviled]

Well I definately wont be giving up brewing even if I have to throw more beer away, its just a massive PITA, but its all part of it and its a learning experiance that will teach me for getting confident and comfortable with my brewing practices :oP lol

Definately hurts to throw beer away tho... :o(

[Stu McKinlay]

Tell me about it - I was just glad that mine was an extract brew rather than an all-grain.

[Reviled]

Nicole has allready given me some good advice when I was stressing about this earlier

"bottle it all, and flick it off to your mates, they wont know."

And shes right god bless her, and I know shes right because I gave three mates the Pilsner in question and was told over and over again how nice it was... I didnt have the heart to tell them it had a pediococal infection and it was actually the worst product of my brewery :oP hahaha

[JoKing]

....cough, errr. COUGH -lambic*#@%$# cough...

[Reviled]

Just emailed Steve about some brett, highly considering it, but I dont want two lambics :oP lol

[Reviled]

Ok, this Lambic thing, what do you guys think will work better?

These are my infected batches...

5kg Pils
220g CaraPils
60 : 50g Riwaka
15 : 25g Riwaka
FO : 25g Riwaka

3kg NZ Pale
800g Wheat
500g Munich
220g Cara Munich II
60 : 10g Galaxy
15 : 15g Galaxy
FO : 15g Galaxy


Personally, im leaning towards the galaxy PA instead of the Pilsner, what do you guys think? What would you do?

[JoKing]

To be fair - they may not work out that well because of the bitterness. Also, it takes a hell of a lot patience as it could take up to 2 years to develop.

Having said that - the Galaxy looks like the one to use: especially if it is less offensive smelling than the Pils.

Just put the beer into a fermenter that you dont plan on using anymore. Plastic might not work as it is permeable to oxygen and the brew might oxidise. (I'm doing a lambic in 5 demijohns). Then you innoculate with brett and leave it in a steadily cosistent temperate climate (under the house).

Then you wait for a year. And make another one. Then wait for a year. Then make another one. Then wait for a year, and then guess what?

Blend them together to make a Gueze or a Kreik or a Framboise or whatever you feel like!

[Reviled]

The Galaxy PA isnt bitter :oP lol

Two years??? Jeezuz, thats along time, guess I wont keep it in the keg then :oP Would it hold up in a cube for that long? Im not too worried about leaving it and forgetting it as id just be throwing it away anyway...

[JoKing]

I'm not sure about leaving it in a cube. I'm thinking it wont be a problem - because Belgians store their Lambics in big oak casks which are too permeable to air.

I'm thinking there may be bacteria in one of your cubes anyway - so it mabe wont hurt?

I'd get better advise than that though.

[Reviled]

Yeah the cube that had the pilsner in it id say will definately have the infection in it, so I might use that, whats the worse that can happen? I throw it out in a year instead of now :oP hahaha