I was rained out of a brewday a couple of weekends ago, but I did manage to get off my butt and start prepping my gear for the Spring brewing season. I thought I did a decent job of cleaning everything out after the last brew, but inspection of one of my carboys revealed the following:
Invaders!!
Whoo boy. As a brewer (and one not hailing from Belgium), mold and other wee beasties make me cringe. Sure, I’d love to try a controlled funky fermentation sometime, brewing up a nice Flanders Red or Gueuze or something, but this… this isn’t how we roll! Makes me wonder what is lurking in some kegs I may or may not have cleaned since last year…
I’m thinking a 1:9 bleach:hot water solution, left to soak for awhile. Follow that with a hot PBW soak, then some StarSan. Anyone have a better solution? I don’t think we’re facing too formidable a foe here, so I’m hoping the above regimen will be sufficient. I’ve faced the horror of tossing spoiled batches before, and I’m not anxious to experience that again!
Looking at this carboy gives me a new appreciation for those brewers who do open-air and wild yeast fermentations. I don’t think I could sleep at night thinking about all the crazy stuff that could be taking up residence in my precious wort.