Sterilisation between Generations

[Maximus_Moonshine]

Hi all and a very happy Father's day to all the Dad's out there. Hope you're sipping something nice!
I have a question about sterilising between fermentations when doing a recipe with generations. Do you keep using the same fermentation vessel, leaving the the yeast sediment on the bottom, or do you remove the sediment, sterilise your vessel (or use a pre-cleaned one) and then add the sediment, backset etc to the clean vessel? I've been running on the assumptions that;

a) the vessel remains relatively sterile if it starts clean and is carefully maintained throughout the generations and
b) If there is an infection, it's going to carry across to a clean vessel in the sediment anyway.

But, as I advance through to the 3rd gen of my first try at MacRum, I'm getting concerned about the potential for a cumulative effect.

Appreciate the input as always!

Cheers

[bluess57]

I do UJSM , same vessel.

[bluc]

Yea so long as it cleans originally generally you don't get nasties due to low ph and alcohol content. You may get lacto infection but for sour mashed whiskey its not an issue.. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[db1979]

It's a good idea to keep some backset and freeze it so you can restart your generations again if it becomes infected. This way you're not starting back at gen 1. This is easy enough to do since you'll have plenty leftover in the boiler each run but only use some as backset.

[Plumby]

When I was making ujssm I got up to around gen 35-40 same yeast, same fermenter. Just swapped out around 1/2 the corn bed every 8-10 gens and kept the backset on the low side. If fermentation was slower than normal next gen I skipped the backset. Its not rocket surgery man, you will find a system that works for you. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Must add: When I started gen 1 I sanitized my fermenter by dumping around 10 litres of boiling water into it then let that sit with the lid on for 15 minutes. Then dumped that water and got stuck into it.

[YarraRanges]

I wash the fermenter with a hot pressure wash. If I have any doubts about an infection I use sodium metabisulphate to sanitise it.
I once tried doing another ferment with lees left in the fermenter and it became infected. Never again. I do 200 litre ferments. $75 in sugar, tomato paste and yeast down the drain.