Infections

[screamlead]

Infections and or wine and beer problems.
Just thought i would start this off as we dont seem to have a topic or thread to address this.
I'm pretty sure most of us at one time or another will have encountered some problem with our brews, so i think we should have a thread on here to discuss them including pics if anyone has any.

I currently have a barrel of half empty wine a m8 made and i'm pretty sure its the 'wine flower virus' so i'll up a pic of it later. I am also going to try to recover the wine if possible so i;ll also post about that too.
Pics of various things like beer hazes, pectin haze, starch, pics of what happens when adding finings and clearing agents, i have seen a brew that looked like it had jellyfish in it which i think was down to bentonite being used - things like that with pics could be of benefit to all of us.

But in the mean time and future would forum usuers upload thier pics of probs and infections etc that way we can all see whats what and if any remidies work to recover the brew in question etc.
Also what about a specific section addded by the MODS? :hmm: :thumb:

 

[screamlead]

Here we go this is the Barrel in question - the wine inside is about a year old now. To me it was minging to start with as a lot of the barrels had wasps and bees floating in them. I also think the grapes were chucked through some sort of mechanical mincer type thing to extract the juice too. As you can see from the pics this is a pretty severe infection i think - it smells ok though. It also started off a lot 'thinner' than this with a few white bits floating on the top then looking like a creased sheet if that makes sense?

 

[Moley]

Don't waste your time, tip that down the drain now :sick:

Why is that barrel half empty? Any protective head of CO2 has been lost long ago and if it hasn't already turned back to water it will have been ruined by oxidation.

>> Useful link for winemaking faults <<

 

[Dieseljockey]

The photos say it all..

 

[screamlead]

LOL i spent loads of time on the jack keller link and site the other day and also google searches but nothing comes up with actual pictures for peeps to see - hence the post.
That barrel in question is like that because my turk m8 is a nugget. He leaves his 1200ltr of wine at my place to ferment and then comes only when hes finished work aka 1130pm etc and thinks he staying all night with his m8s bottling. He only bottled 70-80 bottles each time thus letting air into all his brews - so only himself to blame really - non of mine have ever turned out like that i must admit.

 

[Ken L]

Not quite off topic as it relates to brew problems but I seem to remember reading strong recommendations against using any kind of coloured plastic for brewing due to the danger of chemical leaching.
Does this not apply to blue plastic tubs ?

 

[GREBO75]

Not quite off topic as it relates to brew problems but I seem to remember reading strong recommendations against using any kind of coloured plastic for brewing due to the danger of chemical leaching.
Does this not apply to blue plastic tubs ?

Indeed. Thats why most food-grade plastic is white. If yer using plastic that's not designed specifically for food then lots of the colouring used is quite posionous. Not recommended. :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick:

 

[Dieseljockey]

I believe the blue Mango chutney one that you can get from your local takeaway are food grade. I've seen posts where folks have made boilers out of them....I think it's all down to if they have the food grade stamp on them.

 

[screamlead]

I bought 4 new 35ltr barrels for use as beer/wine FV's - they are like the blue ones but all are lined on the inside in white, they also have the 2 part screw top and are food safe too with all the stamps on the bottom.

 

[Springer]

Hows this one for an infection

15 gallons of my finest bitter went down the drain, had it down to fruit flys myself. :evil:
Never used the SS fermenter again, went on to a conical Might give it a clean up with everything I've got, :lol: and try it out with a batch of lager next month or two. :hmm:
S

 

[Gayle]

LOL i spent loads of time on the jack keller link and site the other day and also google searches but nothing comes up with actual pictures for peeps to see - hence the post.
That barrel in question is like that because my turk m8 is a nugget. He leaves his 1200ltr of wine at my place to ferment and then comes only when hes finished work aka 1130pm etc and thinks he staying all night with his m8s bottling. He only bottled 70-80 bottles each time thus letting air into all his brews - so only himself to blame really - non of mine have ever turned out like that I must admit.

You mean he still plans on bottling more of that gunk?? :sick: :sick: Do him a favour and pour it all away, before he attempts to drink it and blind himself or whatever.

 

[Jonny69]

I never found out what this one was. It started out as jelly-like globules floating in the cider as I reached the bottom of the demijohn, but then formed a white scummy skin on the top. I was going to leave it to see what it did, but thought better of it and tipped it away before anything got ingrained on the demijohn. When I posted it last time some folks thought it was acetobacter, but I don't remember it getting a vinegary smell.

 

[theboytony]

Screamlads pictures look like greysalchemys malolactic fermentation here http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=28772

 

[screamlead]

Your right theboytony - it does look like a malolactic fermentation and i can also confirm it is still fermenting too - it also smells ok too, i think i will see if i can test it for alcohol as well.
Also jonny69 that looks like the 'flower virus' that keeps getting mentioned - thats the one that does eat up the alcohol and turn it back to water.
Thats the reason i started this thread as there are almost no pictues out on the net at all as regards infections nor is there any in any books i have found either.
Keep them coming guys :thumb:

 

[Jonny69]

I'm not sure it was 'flowers of alcohol', as described by CJJ Berry. I have had that one before and it usually comes up as specks of white bloom floating in the top and CO2 produced. It strips both the alcohol and the flavour out the drink. I think, left to its own devices, it doesn't form a big thick skin like this.

You can save a drink that gets infected with flowers of alcohol by adding Campden and it's perfectly fine to drink.

 

[PD]

anything but beer floating around in my fv prior to bottling and I don't want to know. It will not " go away " in the bottle whatever it is...

As an aside I was always told never to keep jars of vinegar anywhere near your beer making in case of cross infection, I don't know if that's actually valid or what but I keep moving my wife's 1 gallon container of malt vinegar away from my beer !