infection smells a bit like acetone?

[humbledore]

I'm not an infection guy. I mean, I get them, then I throw them out. So far from an expert here. I have about 3G of leftover corn wash that settled out days after I ran the rest. It has a white fibrous fungus type pellicle covering the top. I moved the bucket and the layer sank into the wash. Yuck. At first it smelled like acetone. Now I can smell a bit more corn. Would I be crazy to add this to a good wash right before fermenting? Do I dare taste it?

Signed,

fungus chicken.

[MichiganCornhusker]

I have had that exact thing happen before and ran it. You describe the smells perfectly. I liked the whiskey I made from it. I don't think it will have a big impact on the flavor, I say add it and run it.

[DAD300]

Add it to next...Distill it...you'll become an infection guy!

Remember, your going to boil it and it becomes alcohol. Just the fact that it becomes alcohol should keep you from tossing it.

[humbledore]

Well I've made plenty of alcohol that should have been tossed . But i'm getting better at it. I'll run it. I am losing track of which buckets have seen an infection and which haven't. Does anyone keep their beer buckets and hoses separate from distilling equipment?

[S-Cackalacky]

HD, get yourself some Starsan sanitizer and a pressurized spray bottle. Fill the bottle, pump it up and spray the inside of all your buckets. You can mix up a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff and throw your utensils and hoses in there to sanitize them as well. The stuff will keep near forever - just keep it handy and use it after each fermentation.

[Danespirit]

I always pour a squeeze of bleach in, after i flushed the solids out of my fermentation buckets.
Never had any infections (yet).
I don't think the infection you got is so serious it could spoil the batch, i would run it.
Anything in there is killed as you distill the batch.

[HDNB]

sounds like lacto. run with it.

the butyric smells so bad you can't get close enough to pour it in the boiler... so toss that. you will know if you got it, and you'll know what to do with it.

i've had a number of butyric and i only ran one to see what would happen (actually ran 2 but tossed one thereafter, since i already have one keeper on the shelf as a reminder and an experiment.)

I've only had one significant lacto (so far)and it made very good whiskey, i am glad i kept it and also kept a mason jar of wash for trying it again one day. (to add to another wash)

[moosemilk]

If you get a lacto, be happy. It's one infection that really adds to the flavor.

I've had a couple that were exactly as you describe also, and made some fantastic whiskey. Go with it!

[humbledore]

Thanks for the input, all. I did run it as part of a larger batch. Not sure if it was the cause but there is a slight solvent taste in the finished product. I am considering tossing it back in the next batch of wash and rerunning it in hopes of cleaning it up. Hey, you win some, you lose some. Next time I will taste it first which will take some nerve... It looked nasty!