I pumped a barrel of bourbon barrel aged imperial stout into my 15bbl brite and noticed something off about the flavor. I then put it under the microscope and found that it was lacto / pedio. This was found in 2 of the 12 barrels.
I immediately dumped the tank, sprayed it out, tossed all gaskets and valve seats and filled the tank about half way with 200 deg water for about 5 hours hoping to pasteurize it, then dumped and took some swabs of different ports and areas and let them sit in some sterile thioglycolate and confirmed pedio. Here is what I did so far to kill it.
Trial 1:
-Caustic (shear250)/ manual scrub
-Acid (Acid #14)/ manual scrub
-Caustic / manual scrub
-Acid / manual scrub
-KMS
-PAA 4x strength
-Took sterile swabs of the center drain and sight tube port and placed in thioglycolate. (Didn't have enough thio samples made at the time so only did those two places.
1 days later, both grew pedio
Trial 2:
-Got an ATP meter and tested various places on the tank. The top and sides came out to around 0 (beer only filled the bottom 10" of the tank) and the side ports, drain and sight tube ports read in the 60's indicating an issue.
- Manually scrubbed all problem sections, ATP tested, then repeated until clean.
-Repeat caustic / acid / PAA from trial 1
-Took sterile swabs from the following and placed in thioglycolate: 3x side ports, drain port, dish bottom, side wall low, sprayball, PRV port, door.
- 4 days later all tubes are completely clear except for the door sample.
Trial 3:
-Removed door, atp tested 2 different areas and got a high number in one location and relatively lower in others.
-Scrubbed the hell out of it sanitized then repeated until I got 0 and 6 on the meter. The tank is closed up and I will take more samples tomorrow.
Has anyone had any experience in killing this stuff and is there a better way? I feel like we have it narrowed down, but I'm never going to feel comfortable unless I literally swab every square inch of the tank. For the time being I have one pump and some hoses dedicated to this nightmare and all valves etc used in this are to be autoclaved and tested before they're useable again.
I immediately dumped the tank, sprayed it out, tossed all gaskets and valve seats and filled the tank about half way with 200 deg water for about 5 hours hoping to pasteurize it, then dumped and took some swabs of different ports and areas and let them sit in some sterile thioglycolate and confirmed pedio. Here is what I did so far to kill it.
Trial 1:
-Caustic (shear250)/ manual scrub
-Acid (Acid #14)/ manual scrub
-Caustic / manual scrub
-Acid / manual scrub
-KMS
-PAA 4x strength
-Took sterile swabs of the center drain and sight tube port and placed in thioglycolate. (Didn't have enough thio samples made at the time so only did those two places.
1 days later, both grew pedio
Trial 2:
-Got an ATP meter and tested various places on the tank. The top and sides came out to around 0 (beer only filled the bottom 10" of the tank) and the side ports, drain and sight tube ports read in the 60's indicating an issue.
- Manually scrubbed all problem sections, ATP tested, then repeated until clean.
-Repeat caustic / acid / PAA from trial 1
-Took sterile swabs from the following and placed in thioglycolate: 3x side ports, drain port, dish bottom, side wall low, sprayball, PRV port, door.
- 4 days later all tubes are completely clear except for the door sample.
Trial 3:
-Removed door, atp tested 2 different areas and got a high number in one location and relatively lower in others.
-Scrubbed the hell out of it sanitized then repeated until I got 0 and 6 on the meter. The tank is closed up and I will take more samples tomorrow.
Has anyone had any experience in killing this stuff and is there a better way? I feel like we have it narrowed down, but I'm never going to feel comfortable unless I literally swab every square inch of the tank. For the time being I have one pump and some hoses dedicated to this nightmare and all valves etc used in this are to be autoclaved and tested before they're useable again.
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