21 replies to this topic

[BrewerGeorge]

Actually no. That's why there's a best before date on the bottom.One company just bottles NYC water.Bacteria counts in bottled water is higher than tap.This was on one of those TV news shows a while back, but I doubt if anything's changed.

I just can't believe that. Maybe some small, artsy bottled water makers get away with it. I'm talking about Dasani or Aquafina or Nestle. Why would they be any less sterile than their Coke and Pepsi antecedents?

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I doubt it was the water but it's certainly possible. My opinion on infections after having worked with bugs in labs many moons ago, and a couple infected batches myself, is that bacteria will colonize some piece of equipment and ultimately that will result in infections. For me it was plastic fermentation buckets and my belief is the bugs colonized the many scratches that had formed in 2 years of heavy use. On the pH front, no idea here. George I also think for certain higher alkalinity could be more favorable to the bugs, and correct me if I am wrong but MLPA is not a particularly high gravity brew so the ABV will not be as high as in some other brews. Lower EtOH and higher pH could have tipped the balance in the bugs favor. If you had one infected batch my suspicion is bugs have colonized some piece of equipment whether it's tubing or a fermenter, probably something plastic or with porous beerstone, or nooks and crannies.

I take care not to scratch my plastic. Do you guys really run into this problem that often?