apresskibrewer wrote:I have been looking for a good simple description of what a flame does to help when moving yeast.
The primary bacteria that wants to ruin your beer (aceto, pedio, lacto, staph, ecoli, and many more) cannot fly. These anaerobic interlopers are hitch-hikers.
They can only catch a ride on a mote of dust or some other similar airborn particle. They ride around, whoop and holler, and hope the air currents land them on something that they can eat.
This is why I prefer a distiled alcohol lamp as opposed to a butane pencil torch. The pencil torch will sterilize your flask and tube openings, but will not offer the uprising column to ward off the offending motes of funk.
In short the flame of the alcohol lamp creates and upward stream of hot rising air that the "motes of funk" cannot ride down into your slant, or other medium.
Of course if you have a positive vent unit, you can for-go the burns I get working over an alcohol lamp...
