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Is my beer ok

Damrite

Grandmaster Brewer
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Hi everyone, as I was pitching the yeast in my carboy, the cap of my yeast bottle accidently felt in the carboy, I sanitized my stirring spoon and remove the cap which was flotting on the top.
Is that beer still ok or I should throw it to down the the drain...
:mad:
 
probably it will be fine. certainly don't dump it. the yeast will outcompete anything that was on the cap and you will consume the finished beer before anything that might have gotten in has a chance to make it gross (or delicious if you like sour beers and get lucky).
 
When I pitch my yeast from the yeast starter flask, I once forgot about the stirrer bar in the bottom of the flask.  It went "bloop" into my wort.  I fished it out with a sanitized spoon with no issues.

My normal practice for a long time was to wash and then sanitize my hands with star san and pour the yeast through my fingers to catch it.  I never had any problems doing it that way. 

However, I recently purchased a fairly strong magnet from harbor freight.  I hold it to the bottom of my flask as I'm pouring my yeast into the fermentor.  It holds the magnet to the bottom of the flask and I'm no longer coming into contact of the wort with my hands.  The magnet stays with the empty flask.  No more worrying about fishing it out or about contamination.
 
I'm glad to hear that it should still be drinkable, if it turn sour i'll find out what it taste like, but for sure I won't age this beer, I will kill asap... thanks everyone for the feedback  ;)
 
I saw a recent post about an accidently soured beer.  I don't remember what thread, but the reply was something like, "just because it was contaminated, don't automatically dismiss it.  You might have accidently created a great soured beer.  Give it some time and taste it.  It might be a winner anyhow."

 
I will learn by my mistake, just glad to hear that have some forgiveness, will see how it turn out. thanks :)
 
I knocked a scrub brush into my cooled wort two weeks ago. I pitched two packs of re-hydrated W 34/70 into about six gallons and fermented at 50 F. Final gravity is at 1.010, so I'm declaring fermentation complete - or at least close enough. No infection is evident so far. I'll run the beer off to a keg today and cold crash it instead of letting it clear in primary.

It looks like I dodged a bullet, but I'm chilling it as early as possible and will keep it at 35 F to minimize any chances of undesirable critters getting a foothold.

If you're bottling and decide to follow a similar strategy, you'll have to keep your fingers crossed for an additional two or three weeks while the bottles carbonate.

With a healthy pitch of yeast the risk of an undesirable microbe ruining the beer is low, but getting fermentation finished and getting the beer chilled will reduce the risk further.
 
Scott Ickes said:
I saw a recent post about an accidently soured beer.  I don't remember what thread, but the reply was something like, "just because it was contaminated, don't automatically dismiss it.  You might have accidently created a great soured beer.  Give it some time and taste it.  It might be a winner anyhow."

I had this one.

8125784819_acd2d31e12.jpg


this was a nice simple little farmhouse/table beer that I added an lb of persian mulberries to. you cans see what happened. the beer looked tremedously gross in the fermenter with the berries floating in it but it came out a fantastic pinkish hue with lovely perfumey sweet mulberry aroma and flavor with tart lacto, funky barnyardy brett, and just a hint of acetic. It was maybe one of my favorite beers so far.
 
A little bit of whip cream on this one...

would you be able to repeat the same mistake and do the same beer again?
I guess contamination is react different on every batch.
 
Damrite said:
A little bit of whip cream on this one...

would you be able to repeat the same mistake and do the same beer again?
I guess contamination is react different on every batch.

I doubt I could duplicate that beer. the base beer? sure but sours are a different beast. each is unique. I'm not all that into duplicating results anyway. I like to see what might happen.
 
Scott Ickes said:
However, I recently purchased a fairly strong magnet from harbor freight.  I hold it to the bottom of my flask as I'm pouring my yeast into the fermentor.  It holds the magnet to the bottom of the flask and I'm no longer coming into contact of the wort with my hands.  The magnet stays with the empty flask.  No more worrying about fishing it out or about contamination.

Scott..... I think this is your best post ever!
 
RiverBrewer said:
Scott Ickes said:
However, I recently purchased a fairly strong magnet from harbor freight.  I hold it to the bottom of my flask as I'm pouring my yeast into the fermentor.  It holds the magnet to the bottom of the flask and I'm no longer coming into contact of the wort with my hands.  The magnet stays with the empty flask.  No more worrying about fishing it out or about contamination.

Scott..... I think this is your best post ever!

Awwwww shucks...

Thank you.
 
My only worry is my airlock is barely bubbling, and it's already 4 days....  :mad:
 
You may have missed the most intense part of the fermentation.  It may have occurred overnight and/or while you were at work.  I've seen some ales finish the most active part of the fermentation in 24 to 36 hours.
 
morticaixavier said:
Scott Ickes said:
I saw a recent post about an accidently soured beer.  I don't remember what thread, but the reply was something like, "just because it was contaminated, don't automatically dismiss it.  You might have accidently created a great soured beer.  Give it some time and taste it.  It might be a winner anyhow."

I had this one.

8125784819_acd2d31e12.jpg


this was a nice simple little farmhouse/table beer that I added an lb of persian mulberries to. you cans see what happened. the beer looked tremedously gross in the fermenter with the berries floating in it but it came out a fantastic pinkish hue with lovely perfumey sweet mulberry aroma and flavor with tart lacto, funky barnyardy brett, and just a hint of acetic. It was maybe one of my favorite beers so far.

A little late to the discussion. I've been out of the country and limited internet access.

I have been looking at trying to brew some sour beers. Would you mind posting your base recipe? Maybe I could start there, then add the Wyeast Roeselare blend.

Did you do anything to the mulberries before adding them? Freeze, then thaw? Wash with water?

I am looking forward to Tonsmeire's book American Sour Beers as a guide before really jumping into the sour beer experiments. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1938469119/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1DE951TGN2CBX&coliid=I291R9P0V55L9P 

 
I know it should still be drinkable, Give it some time and taste it.  No worrying about fishing it out or about contamination. It’s certified
 
After 23 years of home brewing I have come to realize that most home brewers are WAY TOO FIXATED on sanitation. I have never once in all my years of brewing ever used a single drop of sanitizer in my brewing process. Nor will I. I have won a ton of awards without putting a ton of effort into sanitation and I don't intend to change my methods. I use boiling water and don't even worry about little mistakes like the one that we are talking about here. Dirty as shit is bad. Really clean is just fine and won't likely cause a problem. Absolutely germ free is totally anal. Clean it when you are done using it. Boil it before you use it again (or just rinse it in really hot water). Don't worry if your nasty filthy disgusting germ infested fingers (or the filthy air) touch it. It's just not a big deal. For thousands of years people have been brewing beer outside in the dirt without Star San and all we do is try to emulate what they have done for centuries. The beer will be just fine. Don't Worry. Relax. Have A Homebrew.
 
I guess I should also mention that everything nasty that gets in before the boil will be killed in the boil and most of the evil stuff that gets in after fermentation will be killed by the alcohol. Focus on the window of contamination that actually matters.
 
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