sentfromspain
Well-Known Member
Hi all, I've recently become acquainted with a new microbrewery which is having a huge problem. You see, these guys have never brewed a beer in their life. They have just started up, and have 1600 liters of beer - 800 in bottles and 800 in the fermenters.
What's the issue? It's all infected with lactobacillus.
Since I come around from time to time and give them samples of my hombrew, they want me to come in and fix this. Now, apart from making double sure that all bottles have been cleaned - which apparently, they tell me they didn't bother to do - and that all the equipment, floors, walls, is treated with industrial strength brewery cleaning chemicals, I also wanted to take an additional step.
I know that there are breweries out there that have open fermentation tanks, and while lots of these guys do this to take advantage of wild yeasts, others do it because the rooms have been dominated by a specific kind of yeast.
My big question:
If - after thoroughly cleaning the brewery - I were to brew a fresh batch of wort and throw in some yeast, let it thrive for a couple of days, and then go around the brewery spraying the walls and floors with that yeast colony, would that yeast dominate the room? Would it be more difficult for a wild yeast like lactobacillus to come in and attack the beer?
Obviously I would have to make sure the brewery was clean again before brewing, but the microorganisms would still be there to a degree I figure. Thoughts?
What's the issue? It's all infected with lactobacillus.
Since I come around from time to time and give them samples of my hombrew, they want me to come in and fix this. Now, apart from making double sure that all bottles have been cleaned - which apparently, they tell me they didn't bother to do - and that all the equipment, floors, walls, is treated with industrial strength brewery cleaning chemicals, I also wanted to take an additional step.
I know that there are breweries out there that have open fermentation tanks, and while lots of these guys do this to take advantage of wild yeasts, others do it because the rooms have been dominated by a specific kind of yeast.
My big question:
If - after thoroughly cleaning the brewery - I were to brew a fresh batch of wort and throw in some yeast, let it thrive for a couple of days, and then go around the brewery spraying the walls and floors with that yeast colony, would that yeast dominate the room? Would it be more difficult for a wild yeast like lactobacillus to come in and attack the beer?
Obviously I would have to make sure the brewery was clean again before brewing, but the microorganisms would still be there to a degree I figure. Thoughts?