I haven’t read thru all of the replies. However, in my own experience, I’d recommend checking all values and any adapters. Years ago, I bought a Blickmann fermenter from another homebrewer for a, IMO, crazy low price. I asked them, “OK, what’s the catch?”. They honestly replied, “All of my batches are infected.”. While we quaffed a few at a brewpub I quizzed the seller as to what was causing the infection. I had some clues. Paid him for the Blickmann fermenter and ran away like he*l before he changed his mind.
Arriving home with the Blickmann fermenter I do a complete tear down. Remove all of the ball valves and barbs. My plan is to take apart all of the ball values, inspect, definitely clean or replace as needed. However, it was immediately apparent the cause of the infections. A nylon barb on one of the valves. The nylon barb was filled with mold! Wasn’t easy to see while still attached with to the ball valve. I quickly threw the nylon barb and ball valve into the trash outside. I installed a new ball valve and a new stainless barb and have had zero problems since. I’ve now had the fermenter for 8 years without problems. Recently brewed a cream ale in the fermenter. Of course I had to sample before cold crashing. Yum.
thats a great story, and with a lot of things - it is simply a matter of carefully stripping it down as much as possible and finding the problem part, replacing, cleaning or fixing it and putting it back together.
im actually going to attempt to do that to a tv having issues soon, just following a google guide to replace i think a capacitor in it.
The only time I ever had “off” beers was the year after I started brewing, and wasn’t cleaning my plate chiller properly. Took a few batches to learn this the hard way. I eventually discovered that my plate chiller stunk! I still use a plate chiller, and haven’t had any issues since.
I have a similar story. Bought a Used MoreBeer conical which upon inspection, had massive beerstone inside the tube leading to the drain valve TC connection. Cleaned well with PBW and some elbow grease, and I’ve made beer in that for at least 10 years or more without a single issue.
That said, EVERY brew, I clean EVERY vessel with PBW. Every keg is cleaned with PBW, poppets removed and put on the stove in PBW (up to about ~140F). Every valve is disassembled and cleaned that way also. I use buckets in the brewing process, they also get it, even though they’re only used for the Mash and wort. It just doesn’t take that much time. I have not had a contaminated batch of beer since I began using PBW and Star San eons ago. I do agree with a few above, I prefer Saniclean for some things, but I still use both. Mine also is stored in a 5 gallon bucket with lid on, and I use it for several brews in a row before changing it out. In my case it was due to ignorance since I’d never heard of this 1 hour thing… I guess I must really clean well!
For Passivation, I require heat unfortunately. I use Citrisurf 77 SS Pasivation Solution. I find it far less effective if I can’t get the item to boil, or at least steam the acid. But nonetheless, I still use it on items I can’t get that hot because I feel some activity is better than nothing.
Welding shops often carry this stuff for passivating the HAZ area of a SS welds.
PSA, If you use PBW, it recommends using water hotter than the wash water for rinsing. I don’t know how often folks read the instructions and follow, but I think this is important.
Another note, I always make sure Kegs, fermenters and containers are totally dry before storing away. Otherwise you run the risk of getting mold or bacteria started. If you open a container and it smells like ANYTHING, re-clean it and re-sanitize it.
+2 When I first started homebrewing I did a few batches with PBW cleaning only not realizing I was supposed to sanitize too and the brews turned out fine. No spoiled batches.
Charlie Talley stated on a podcast that technically, sanitation isn’t necessary - thorough cleaning is sufficient. Sanitizer is insurance. I find that comforting, but I still use sanitizer.
