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Sour beer on draft

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  • Sour beer on draft

    Anyone currently running a non pasteurized sour beer through their trunklines? Considering it, but I am a bit nervous about cross contamination. I realize bacteria are not going to get through the barrier tubing but Im curious as to how other people are doing it if at all. Its a brewpub situation so I wont be sending any out to other places. Also considering a dedicated tap and line seperate from the main trunk but that would be a huge PITA due to space constraints.
    Big Willey
    "You are what you is." FZ

  • #2
    Anything besides true barrier hose would be susceptible to colonization by creatures. Vinyl hose may not seem porous to you, but if you were itty bitty it would be different...
    I am not sure I would trust the rubber gaskets in keg couplers and faucets.

    "...and you ain't what you ain't"

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    • #3
      maybe a brewery with sour beers can chime in here. I am also going to be having a similar setup, though I could have a separate trunk for sours I guess.

      russian river, avery, port, etc seem to do it with no problems... hey boys!? got anything to offer about this?
      ________________
      Matthew Steinberg
      Co-Founder
      Exhibit 'A' Brewing Co.
      Framingham, MA USA

      Head Brewer
      Filler of Vessels
      Seller of Liquid
      Barreled Beer Aging Specialist
      Yeast Wrangler
      Microbe Handler
      Malt Slinger
      Hop Sniffer
      Food Eater
      Music Listener

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      • #4
        Honestly... I am more paranoid when i have a Hefe at high krausen in the tank next to the one i am brewing a blonde into. Clean the blowoff bucket, spray down the whole surrounding floor with acid, dose the blowoff buck with a bunch of acid and put a loose fitting lid on it.

        I have a barrel with Brett/Pedio/Lactic/and some other random local creatures in it (i.e. whatever was on the fresh cherries i picked from a farmer).

        The barrel sits right next to FV4 in the brewery, the beers from it have been poured on draft (12 tap tower in the bar). Wash every thing well, use a good sani (i personally go back and forth from oxine to iodine/acid based sanis) and am a big proponent of *HEAT*. I like to occasionally run "kill cycles" (180°F +) on my HX, and any other fitting, gasket, tank, hose.

        My theory: Even if you have some nasty little boggers living in a crack in a hose, in your HX, or a gasket, 200°F water should heat everything to at least 170-180°F, which should kill just about anything that could spoil beer. The only bacteria i know of that lives at those temps i have only seen at Yellowstone.

        IN SHORT: at least so far, i have had no cross-contamination. Wineries have us convinced that brett is the plague or something. Just keep a clean shop and dont be stupid or too lazy and you should be fine.
        Last edited by Jephro; 04-28-2011, 03:47 PM.
        Jeff Byrne

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        • #5
          Isolation and sanitation

          We haven't poured any sour beer ourselves, but some day we would like to. Despite some natural trepidation over the idea of inviting in all the bugs we work so hard to keep out, a conversation with the folks at Flossmoor and other breweries have assuaged some concerns and presented some methods for approaching the wild and wooly.

          Essentially, isolating the draft lines and any gaskets, clamps, couplers and kegs you use for serving sour beers will go a long way to keeping things in order. Anything that is used to process or serve sour beers should be considered potentially compromised and isolated from non-sour beer production.

          Good CIP can go a long way towards keeping problems at bay, but even well-heeled, experienced breweries have run into issues with contamination. Bringing the targets of our CIP efforts into the house can quickly complicate the issues.

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          • #6
            We run a sour on and off through our short run draft lines without any souring of subsequent beers. We use standard Valpar Phython line and do our standard line clean after the sour goes off.

            For moving this sour beer around the brewery we do have dedicated pumps and hosework...but it does hit our normal tanks and kegs. We are swapping to new kegs in the next month and I will dedicate a batch to sours in the future just to rule out that issue...as that scares me...
            Jeff Rosenmeier (Rosie)
            Chairman of the Beer
            Lovibonds Brewery Ltd
            Henley-on-Thames, Englandshire
            W: www.lovibonds.com
            F: LovibondsBrewery
            T: @Lovibonds

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