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