Is it possible for a fermentation to get infected after.....

BeatFarmer · Post by **BeatFarmer** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 11:05 pm

Heres my Q: Is it possible for a fermentation to get infected half-way though its process?

I started fermenting a batch of rum about 4 days ago with Red Star Champagin yest. I havent had any luck with this yeast in the past and didnt have any this time either. The morning after I put this fermenter together, it showed very little signes of growth. Maybe 1 bubble every 10-20 seconds. So i went to the store and picked up some Lalvin EC-1118 and put that in there with a packet of nutrient. After that, the fermentation kicked off and was going fine, it also smelled right; kind of an off sweet smell.
But now, it smells off. Kinda like an egg or somthing; a little nasty. I'm thinking that theres no way for the fermenter to get an infection in it since theres already an established colony.

I have only used turbo's in the past so I don't know how its 'really' supose to smell. Is this just the smell this EC-1118 produces?

pothead · Post by **pothead** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 3:26 am

sounds like you need to sterilize better.
I never had much troubles with the red star champagne yeasts.

I will tell you this....overpitch your yeasts...don't just use 1 packet. If you have a Large amount of yeast from the beginning, it will be harder for bacterias to survive(provided you use nutrients).

rangaz · Post by **rangaz** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:17 am

I've been told that whiskeys can smell quite bad during fermentation, so bad you cant be in the same room, not sure bout rum. The time I had a bad fermentation, about half way through a white film formed on the top, and there were wispy white supended things in it.

Uncle Remus · Post by **Uncle Remus** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:44 am

I use ec 1118 all the time. I've never got a sulfer smell (rotten eggs) I would tend to agree with Pothead about sterilizing, sounds like your mash got an infection.

BTW what kinda mash is it your trying to ferment?

sherriff Buffoerd pusser · Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:02 am

I had a bad experience with that same yeast and some strawberry wine after about a month it smelled really bad like rottoen eggs I thouoght it had surely ruin and was about to chunk it I did some reading on a wine fourm they said that yeast put off sulfide gas and if I was going to drink it quick needed degasing so I tried it lot of work but wine turned out alright just want use that yeast anymore.

BeatFarmer · Post by **BeatFarmer** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:54 am

Well, I'm going to let this finish and see what happens, I have nothing to lose thats not already lost. I dont know what this smells like, maybe, not so much like an egg but rather somthing kinda unplesent. Kinda like a friend who is flatchulent. It doesnt have a flim on the top or anything, and i thought I read somewhere that said that EC-1118 is an aggressive yeast thats very competitive. I just dont understand how it could just suddenly go bad when it was going to well! I did try to keep things as clean as possible before starting. I used bleach to clean the fermenter and boiled the molases to sterilize.

possum · Post by **possum** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:32 am

Don't know about Ec-1118, but I stay away from red star champagne...It has produced some stinkey, bananna flavor/odor in sugar washes for me. However, in some fruit wines it was ok. Even though it is a champagne yeast, it dosent like high sugar content, and produces the funk when sugar is too high.