Botulism potential?

[cellarlordconn]

Hello,

we had a less then normal occurrence with a brew this last week. I had a normal brew day, normal wort transfer to fermenter and normal pitch. The solenoids failed on this particular tank so the glycol chilled the wort within 24 hours down to 33 degrees. I manually closed the valves to said tank and now it is back up to normal temps after about a week and is fermenting away. Is there potential for botulism? I am a bit worried about it and I don’t have much experience or knowledge of that in particular.

cheers

[Dheeraj]

Based on the information provided, it is unlikely that botulism would be a concern in this case. Botulism is caused by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which is commonly found in soil, dust, and water. However, it is not typically found in wort or beer, and it requires specific conditions to grow, including low oxygen, low acid, and low temperature.

The fact that the solenoids failed and the glycol chilled the wort to 33 degrees Fahrenheit may have slowed down or even stopped the fermentation process temporarily, but it is not likely to have created conditions conducive to the growth of Clostridium botulinum. Botulism is not a common problem in the brewing industry, and the risk of it occurring in this case is low.

That being said, it is always important to practice good sanitation and hygiene when brewing beer, as contamination by other microorganisms can still occur and affect the quality of the beer. Make sure to thoroughly clean and sanitize all equipment before and after use, and monitor the fermentation process closely to ensure that it progresses as expected.p


Thanks

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[liammckenna]

Clostridium botulinum is highly unlikely in hopped beer. The presence of alcohol and a pH of <4.6 are extremely inhibitory to Clostridium growth and toxin production. In addition, Clostridium is a Gram +ve organism and hop acids have quite a pronounced antimicrobial effect on such organisms. As a side note, low hop bitterness beers with low alcohol < 1.5% ABV or no alcohol should be preserved or pasteurized for food safety reasons.