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  • open fermentation

    I've always heard that to open ferment you need a very clean and closed fermentation room. One brewery I've been too has tons of mold growing all over there fermentation room. Is it possible that the mold could contaminate the beer in the open fermentors? I do notice a distinct taste in all thier beers. I'd describe it as a slight smokiness.

  • #2
    Absolutely -- mold spores could easily infect a beer. Smoky/phenolic beers I've tasted (not designed that way) were infected with wild yeasts or bacteria. The sad thing is, mold can be easily removed/destroyed/minimized with chlorine bleach and/or quat.
    "By man's sweat and God's love, beer came into the world" -- St. Arnold of Metz

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    • #3
      Mold is a good indicator of a lax hygiene program, where there´s mold, there may be other microorganisms. Mold is not really a problem for beer since it needs Oxygen. Even in the open fermenters, there´ll be a CO2 layer directly over the beer.

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      • #4
        Yack

        Well the mold will certainly be a problem, a mold which can be detected in beer is the Aureobasisium pullulance, and as mentioned before, it shows the great missing of hygenic understanding!!

        Shouldn´t a brewer spent most of his time cleaning his brewery? Do they still drink there own beer with pleasure? Have they ever heard of mycotoxin?

        Such a cellar is a shame for every brewer!!
        Christoph

        "How much beer is in German intelligence !" - Friedrich Nietzsche

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        • #5
          Artisanal or Arrogance?

          Yes, some brewers consider themselves "artists" and therefore feel they are above the day-to-day maintenance of brewing beer. Their beer ends up suffering, their customers move on to "cleaner" pastures, and the brewer blames the drop in sales on the public not appreciating his "artisanal" beers.

          Unfortunately, this isn't rare. I took over for one of these in a brewpub after he was fired. I had to clean everything from top to bottom really well, before I brewed the first batch. All of the blind spots and hidden corners were full of muck.

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          • #6
            I've followed three different brewers who left amazing messes behind them. One of them did it maliciously, the other two just didn't bother to clean for a long time before they left or were fired.

            A hose-end sprayer with bleach or quat is a brewer's best friend! Clean the drains, too!

            Cheers, Tim

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