Multi-function Brew Room
Q: I am a beginner brewer and have a strong interest in brewing both beers and wines. I also make cheeses and other food items on the side. I am planning a new home construction, which includes a basement and possible sub-basement of my own design. My main question is if I can ferment beers and wines in the same room without the risk of contamination? And with the other foods, I use bacterial cultures as well as several other types of yeast both engineered and wild. I also work with edible mushroom spores to grow my own mushrooms.
— Verne Leo
A: The short answer to this question is that you can certainly ferment beer and wine in the same room without a huge risk of contamination. In my mind this is no different than using multiple yeast strains in the same brewery. This practice at one time was very uncommon in commercial breweries, but these days the practice is quite common and commercial brewers are doing this with great success.
So how about the other organisms in the same room? The mushrooms don’t worry me much because mushroom spores don’t spoil beer. However, the bugs used to make cheese can and do spoil beer and wine. But again, look at what a large number of US craft brewers are doing to make sour beers. These brewers are intentionally bringing the most obnoxious beer spoilage organisms into their breweries and encouraging them to grow. Most sour beers use a mix of lactic acid bacteria and the ever-funky yeast Brettanomyces to develop the flavor complexity in these beers.
The keys to handling multiple organisms in the same general area are:
A.) A good understanding of how cross-contamination occurs.
B.) Using common tools that can be cleaned and sanitized.
C.) Having special tools dedicated to your various special processes (a special tool is something that cannot be safely used for multiple duties, such as an oak barrel inoculated with Brettanomyces).
D.) Adopt a fanatical approach to cleaning and sanitation. With control over sanitation you will have a fair shot of success.
