How many Brews have you done without infection?

[The Carbonator]

Im up to brew #38, and I have never had an infection. I dont know if thats really good, or if its just the norm.

I was just wondering, whats the record?

[General]

I'm on to my tenth ever, no infections.

[vitalogy]

I *think* I've just had my first on my 7th brew. It wasn't the whole batch though, just some of the bottles.

[Mackers]

I've made 220 brews with 5 infections. All of these occurred while I was based in Perth. Pretty hard to avoid infections with those temperatures and water quality. In the end I threw away the spoon and fermenter and bought new gear. Cured the problem!

[Hashie]

12 years, no known infections. Working on a brew rate of 1 per fortnight average, that's 312 odd brews.

[luke]

I brew say around 45-50 ltr's per week, sometimes 70 ltr's as there are some big drinker's here, i started brewing at christmas, in that time i had 1 brew that i through out, and i think the yeast kit packet was to blame, although I am not certain.

[shane_vor]

My last one...brewed with yeast cultured from a belgian beer...no white skin on the top but early tasting was sickly fruity-sweet! Might be a throw away job that one! First time ever!

[Oliver]

Shane,

My view is generally to bottle regardless. Sometimes something that tastes pretty ordinary, or even terrible, early on will mature over the course of a few months to something reasonable, or even sensational.

You've got nothing to lose.

Cheers,

Oliver

[Smabb]

20 odd brews no infections.

Initially all I used to do was clean, never sanitized and still OK (not as casual now though!) have a mate who is MR CASUAL and he (somehow) has never had a problem.......

[mark68]

I've been brewing on and off since 1990 and have only ever suspected an infection on one brew,it exploded( 5 bottles),so i assume it was related to an infection as the whole brew didn't blow.

[Ham-C]

Number 23 and no problems. I usually bottle, rinse the barrel with cold water and some bleach, give it a scrub with a new clean sponge and water and bleach, rinse it with boiling water a few times then put on another brew straight away. I don't quite know how anal that makes me, I suppose I'm pretty casual. I did get one brew with a slight hint of bleach once though...

[Paleman]

Ive done well over 300 brews, lost count. All in largies ( 750's )

Ive had one suspect brew, and that was a Coopers Pale Ale. It was very acrid..bitter. But not sure wether it was infected.

Anyway i make sure my fermenter is very clean after a brew. I clean it with clear water and a clean soft cloth. Clean the tap screw with a toothbrush, and clean the tap out with a bottle brush.

Then i sanitise it ( fermenter ) with Grumpys OneShot. And leave the OneShot in the fermenter till next brew day.

On Brew day, wash the fermenter again with sanitiser. Then i scald it out twice with boiling water.

Im careful for sure, but as i said....had one suspect in 300+ brews. Being sanitary and careful adds to your hobby.......more time involved with tender loving care.

[zook37]

33 brews to date. One bad batch. was fine at bottling. went very bad over the next few weeks and smelled like really rotten eggs..

[The Carbonator]

My last one...brewed with yeast cultured from a belgian beer...no white skin on the top but early tasting was sickly fruity-sweet! Might be a throw away job that one! First time ever!

My first Belgians were really bad for the first month, and then something happenned............They both turned out to be the best ever.


Good work paleman. 300+

[Chris]

Paleman, I had the exact same thing with a coopers pale. Only brew I've ever had to make into lawn food.

Aside from that, I, like almost every other brewer out there, have had a good 80% of my brews infected to a noticable level. Those little bastards always get in somehow... At least they've only killed one.

[NTRabbit]

I think I just hit my first infection with #20, luckily it was a cheap basic brew for my dad and not one of my expensive creations.

The tub had spots of mould in it before i sterilised, which is disturbing because i soak all my fermenters in napisan after every use. Sterilising obviously didnt get it, guess i need to check thoroughly for scratches and the like.

[eremasi]

what? you gave your old man an infected brew?

[NTRabbit]

No, its a brw I'm making for him, currentl in its 3rd day of fermentation. Right now I'm not so sure its infected anymore, its possible I just saw a stage of Yeast growth that I hadn't personally witnessed before. I did only pitch a very small amount of Wyeast 1272 American Ale II that I saved from a smackpack used a couple months ago. Definitely going to wait it out to make sure.

[Whistlingjack]

My first post here.

I have been brewing for about 25 years, only one infection so far and it was a bewdy!

As some one posted above, this also happened in Perth. The final outcome was several exploding bottles, two further spoiled brews and the scrapping of all my equipment.

[InCider]

I've had no problems ever. I must be the best!
No, really, I'll 'fess up - I've only done an handful of brews - not like Paleman and some of the veteran brewers!

I do ask for you all for some advice though, and that is on the tap and it's cleaning.

I currently use SoMetSulphite and tap water and scub with a soft sponge on the fermenter, and jam the hose on full bore on the tap. First open, then with it closed. Tomorrow I'll get an old toothbrush on it to make sure it's really clean of buildup.

Does anyone do anything else apart from that? Should I soak the tap between brews?

Cheers,

InCider.