First Brew.. Please Tell Me I Didn't Contaminate It!

[flybeereligion]

Hey guys, great forum! I've just put on my first ever batch and I fear I may have ruined it.. I put in too much water before adding that thick syrupy stuff and then didn't have a long enough spoon to stir it all in. In the end I had to resort to covering my hand in hand sanitiser, washing that off with hot water and then putting my hand in the barrell to get the spoon to the bottom. What's the chance that I've ruined my first batch?

Thanks!

 

[Wolfy]

I think the chances are moderate to high ... but you never know.
Sanitation is essential since beer-wort is an ideal breeding and growing medium for many things, including yeast.

In the future - follow the instructions on the can (which I think suggest dissolving the goo in a smaller amount of water before topping up to full volume) and use a dedicated brewing-spoon, with a long handle made of plastic or stainless steel, that way if you drop it in you can leave it until after the beer has finished and you drain the fermentor.

But don't give up, your first batch might still be fine, just make sure you smell and taste it before you bottle it.

 

[bum]

Yeah, what Wolfy said.

It is worth mentioning that the yeasties would have gotten to all the goop and everything would have ended up being mixed evenly in the end anyway - you really only need it mixed thoroughly for an accurate OG reading (which isn't considered essential by everyone - chances are you might not even know what to do with that reading yet anyway).

My fingers are crossed for your brew.

[EDIT: typo]

 

[flybeereligion]

Thanks for the replies! I'll just keep going as planned then and hope it all turns out okay.. a lesson learned! And to think that I wanted to go straight into all grain brewing

 

[flybeereligion]

I just realised that I forgot to put my extra hops in also.. I guess I should probably just save them till next time though so as not to waste them if it does turn out woeful?

 

[Wolfy]

I'd save the hops, and try to plan things out a little better next time.
If you have everything needed is in place and the brew-instructions are understood and at hand for reference, I tend to find things go much smoother.

 

[kelbygreen]

my fingers have gone into the wort while stirring prob more times then I can count no issue but a finger for a sec and a whole hand is a bit different, Leave it and let it do its thing.

 

[DU99]

add's to the flavour..least you washed the hand,get one of these only a few $$$'s
http://www.aussiebrewmakers.com.au/retail_...58200_item.html

 

[going down a hill]

True hand crafted beer.

 

[michael_aussie]

my first beer, the dog licked the lid while my son was holding it as I added the yeast.
I was't sure what had happened, and put the lid on and then found out ... and didn't know what do .. so I did nothing.

It turned out pretty good ..... and we called it "the lick of the bitch".

You could call yours ... "a quick hand job"



good luck and next time if you don't mix properly, just let the yeast find the gooo ... they are hungry buggers

 

[michael_aussie]

 

[MitchyP]

Perhaps you should change your moniker to "The Colonel", ie: KFC finger licking good.

 

[Bribie G]

I've had a couple of kamikaze moth ales in my old place, opposite a bush reserve and the brewery at night was a wildlife magnet. Turned out ok.

 

[bullfrog]

I think most people have stories where they've done stupid things. I can remember sanitising my own hand to fetch a sieve that I had accidentally dropped into a brew the first time I ever tried steeping grain. That batch not only got my hand and the sieve in it, but about 150g of crystal that I couldn't get out and stayed in there for the whole fermentation. Turned out to be a great beer and lead to me learning how best to steep grains, which eventually lead to me going all grain.

Leave the brew to ferment and give it a taste before bottling. Whether it's good or bad, learn from the mistakes. That's the only way I learned and now I reckon I make damn good beer!

 

[shaunbrew]

+1 to what wolfy and bum said,
shouldnt make a difrence providing r hand was thoroughly steralised hope it turns out ok

shaun

 

[mwd]

As long as you didn't

Get some of those latex disposable gloves like you see Dentists and Medics use very handy for working in the brewery.

 

[shaunbrew]

As long as you didn't

Get some of those latex disposable gloves like you see Dentists and Medics use very handy for working in the brewery.

hahaha that video is mint,,, absolute cracker

 

[flybeereligion]

So! I've tried it out of the barrel, and it actually tastes really good! I can't believe it, I'm probably super biased but I think it's the best homebrew I've ever tried (though that hasn't been many). A quick question.. I don't quite have enough bottles yet and it's been in the barrel since the 21st of last month, can I just start bottling what I can and bottle the rest later? Is there such thing as leaving it in the barrel too long?

Cheers!

 

[Florian]

Don't start bottling now and then pause. I've done that on my first brew and it ended in the first bottles turning out well, but all bottles from the second bottling session got horribly infected. Chances are high that you will draw plenty of nasties into the headspace of your fermenter together with the air that's replacing your beer, which then can infect your beer.
I think my second thread I ever started here shows some pictures of how it looked. Can't find the link now as I'm posting from the phone, but it didn't look good.

Absolutely no harm in leaving the beer in the fermenter a few weeks longer, as you will also learn from following replies.

 

[flybeereligion]

That's good to know, as I'm still waiting on my bottles and it looks like I'll have them next Saturday at the earliest! Harder than I would have thought to gather enough, haha! It will have been in the barrel for a month exactly if all goes to plan..

I'm almost tempted to go all grain next.. worth it you think or should I do another kit beer first?