Episode 17: Beer (Part 2)

[eligiof73]

"The Beer is INFECTED!"...LOL...man, that could be put on a t-shirt.

[zero2kx]

Did you ever find out what went wrong?

[mcasadon]

Brian and Tony believe that the yeast itself was infected. Nothing we did to sterilize everything would have made a difference with infected yeast. Truth is, no one really knows. Don't let this sway you from trying it yourself, though.

[neoprofit]

That flask that I was holding in my hand in various parts of the video I believe to be the culprit. I was only available to oversee the actual COOKING of the beer. I did not see how the yeast was cultured... I believe that the way it was stored WAS NOT airtight. This would have given any opportunistic bacteria available the chance to infect whatever container it was in. This is really the only way I see the infection taking place.

[neoprofit]

The flask that I was holding in various parts of the video I believe is the culprit. I was only available to oversee the actual cooking of the beer, and I know everything was sanitized then. When Brian made the culture of yeast I believe the original sample was kept in a container that was not airtight. This would have given any opportunistic bacteria every chance to get inside and live with the yeast.

[neoprofit]

Sorry for this extra post... it told me there was an error, so I wrote it again.

Anyway, the possible mistake that was made is abnormal and shouldn't deter anyone from trying this themselves. Yeast can be purchased directly from a brew store if necessary. Just remember the most important thing is SANITATION. Anything that could possibly touch the beer MUST be sanitized prior with bleach solution or iodophor, etc. I urge you to try this yourself, just don't save yeast in 60ml syringes. Have fun.