protection against bacteria

Greetings, I'm an aspiring home-brewer, and the two batches I've done so far haven't quite lived up to my expectations. They seemed to have a "skunky" flavor to them, and I'm thinking it might be due to insufficient sanitization. I know one of the best ways to protect against bacterial contamination is to get the yeast active as quickly as possible, as the resulting alcohol will help kill any resident bacteria. That being said, has anyone ever tried adding a half-shot or so of grain alcohol to the wort, to provide a bit of protection until the yeast gets going? Obviously, the real solution is to sanitize everything better, but this would serve as another layer of defense. My concern is that it might stunt the yeast growth (the amount necessary to prove fatal to bacteria would also prove fatal to the yeast), so I wanted to get a professional opinion first. Thanks,

Terrence

Reply to
Terry Caton
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It won't hurt the yeast, but it won't help your beer, either. If the "skunkiness" isn't due to exposure to light, describe your cleaning and sanitizing procedures so we can see if we can help.

---------->Denny

Reply to
Denny Conn

revieweed the comments to date Sunlight is your problem beer bottles are brown for a reason. it annoys me to go into the beer stores and see good wines basking in the sunshine. HELP, I SEE DEAD THINGS

wood grain alcohol is Not fit for huiman consumption though. besides causing death it can also cause blindness.

people have actually tried it. i only keep rubbing alcohol for cuts and scrapes. do not put it into beer or food

Reply to
dug88

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