Sour Beer? Oh No!!

» Bigtatoo - Sour beer and sanitation

As per your article sanitation is a must in brewing good beer. I strongly recommend the use of iodophor sanitezers. they aren't anymore expensive to use than bleach as you need a very mild solution. The no rinse aspect is also a good safeguard against contamination. Have you ever tasted a beer woth a chlorine contamination? 1 drop of chlorine in a five gallon batch can lead to chlorophenol developement. Is your equipment getting rinsed thouroughly????? Also the minimal contact time for iodophor is a real plus, 2 minutes as opposed to fifteen. Iodophor is safe for all your brewing equipment including stainless steel, so no need for multiple santizing solutions. Do you want to simplify your bottling process? Of course you do! Iodophor along with a pump type bottle rinser and bottling tree will greatly facilitate your bottling process. (I bottle 12 gallons of homebrew start to finish in a little over 2 hours time, including cleanup.)
One further note on your article. There are no life threatening toxins developed during the brewing process. Yea, you can develope some rather nasty flavors but nothing detrimental to your health.

Don't be afraid of the dark (beer)
Bigtatoo@operamail.com

-- posted by Bigtatoo

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» JKG - iodophor

Bigtatoo,

You obviously like iodophor. *grin*

While I use iodophor for stainless steel, I use bleach for all glass and plastic. Here's why.

Iodophor isn't expensive, but bleach is cheaper
and more widely available--even at the corner
grocery store.

As a long distance backpacker, I've used both iodine and bleach to treat drinking water. Both worked well for me, but iodine stains plastic and has a more detectable taste (to me).

I don't trust iodine as a no rinse sanitizer, although I have used it as such. I'm not comfortable with the lower concentrations. I'd rather use a strong concentration of bleach and rinse well.

I doubt that I could detect a drop of bleach in five gallons of beer, although I wouldn't try it for recreational enjoyment. I have used a drop of bleach in a gallon of water when performing water treatment in the backwoods, and I was unable to taste the bleach. Maybe my taste buds are dulled *grin*

As for the lack of toxic substances in spoiled beer, the conventional wisdom (what I've read) is that you are correct. On the other hand, I can't imagine anyone drinking an infected batch. My infected batch tasted so bad that I tossed the entire batch down the drain.

JKG

-- posted by JKG

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» Bigtatoo - Sour beer

As a long distance backpacker, I've used both iodine and bleach to treat drinking water. Both worked well for me, but iodine stains plastic and has a more detectable taste (to me). doubt that I could detect a drop of bleach in five gallons of beer, although I wouldn't try it for recreational enjoyment. I have used a drop of bleach in a gallon of water when performing water treatment in the backwoods, and I was unable to taste the bleach. Maybe my taste buds are dulled *grin*

LOL I'm grinning too. So which is it you can taste the Iodophor or your taste buds are dulled?

It's not the detection of a drop of bleach in a gallon of drinking water that I was referring to. It is the chemical reaction during fermentation that turns clorine into chlorophenols. I guarantee you would taste chlorophenols.

You are correct in pointing out that Iodophor stains plastic, this points out the porosity of plastic. Wouldn't it stand to reason that if iodine can penetrate the surface of plastic that chlorine can also??? One reason why I use all glass for fermentation and glass or stainless for storage.

I also can't argue your point on the foul tastes of some soured beers. Perhaps the use of the word soured is inappropriate here. Isn't a lambic and intentionally "soured" beer??? Even Guiness uses an intentionally "soured" mash in the production of their stout. I am currently in the second stage of an intentionally soured "framboise". It has taken almost two years to acheive the desired sourness in this beer and I have only recently added it to the raspberries to ferment them. This follows as closely as my knowledge and capabilities will allow to replicate the methods used in producing this type of beer. Bad beer is BAD!!! there's no getting around that. Ever had an iron contamination?? Been there done that poured it all out LOL.

I'm not trying to stir anything up here. Just trying to point out what I find is true of all processes, that what works for one does not necessarily work for all. I think you also pointed that out nicely in your reply.

-- posted by Bigtatoo

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