Bacteria in a distillery can quickly proliferate and become a serious problem. As a real life case in point, consider the distiller who bought some pails of grape juice only to find they were contaminated. The juice was dumped and the pails tossed in a corner. Several weeks later, some fermented wort from the distiller’s large fermenter tank was pumped into one of these empty pails for planned use a day later. The next day came, and so did a surprise. The pail of wort had transformed itself into vinegar overnight. Evidently, these empty pails had acetobacter bacteria alive in them. Adding the wort and introducing some oxygen during the liquid transfer created ideal conditions for acetobacter to thrive. Acetobacter will oxidize ethanol (and leave higher molecular chain alcohols alone) into acetic acid. When the spoiled wort was distilled in a small 20 L A’Lambic still, what came off the still was higher alcohols only and no ethanol. This lack of ethanol confirmed that acetobacter was the culprit. So, the bottom line is, do not keep empty pails laying around that can harbor bacteria. If you need it, keep it and keep it clean. If you don’t need it, throw it away. Distillery cleanliness is crucial. A distiller shares his distillery with bacteria. The bacteria can be kept in check by regular and thorough cleaning and by ridding the premises of items like unwanted pails where bacteria will thrive.