Potential Contamination Issues

[benh82]

Hi All,

Put down my first brew in quite a few years on Sat Arvo. Only one minor issue encountered (new brew fridge not tall enough for 30L carbouy + bubbler), but I solved that using a (sanitised) length of plastic tubing into a sanitised mount franklin bottle half full of sanitised water (a tip I found after searching this site).

Since putting the brew down, whilst the water bottle is not bubbling the wort is forming a 2-inch foamy head, so again from searching this site all looks good.

It's only this morning that I realised the worst may have occured. I'm scared to admit it but my wife doesn't read this site - I drank directly from the cold water bottle in our normal fridge. Where is the problem I hear you ask??? You guessed it - without thinking, I used 2L of the cold water in the same water bottle to cool my wort on Sat arvo. Now, we are far from an unsanitary house, but I do drink out of the bottle at will. I know for a fact (because I did it myself) that the water in said water bottle was fresh as at Friday arvo and that no-one had used it , but also that I didn't wash the water bottle at the time and as such was probably still full of all manner of bacteria.

So, the million dollar question is - is the wort going to be infected/buggered, or could my stupid indiscretion slide by unnoticed??

Ben

 

[newguy]

Depends. I've heard enough sanitation talks from experts, read enough about it, etc to come to the conclusion that pretty much all wort is infected to some degree. The secret is to pitch enough healthy yeast to overrun/outcompete the bacteria.

Once fermentation settles down, keg/bottle as per your normal procedure if it tastes okay. If there is bacteria in the brew, it will start to rear its ugly head once the yeast settles down as bacteria will happily eat the sugars the yeast left behind, along with other things like proteins. To keep bacterial activity low, keep the kegs/bottles chilled and consume it quickly.

 

[benh82]

Thanks mate, I was hoping that would be the answer. As I said, I am fermenting in a fridge at a (surprisingly constant, given I'm using a timer only) 12-14 degrees, and will 'cellar the beer' in same temp. Hopefully not all is lost!

Ben

 

[raven19]

+1 for keeping it.
Sample at bottling/kegging stage.
Should be fine - as long as you didn't backwash too much when drinking from the bottle

And even with no bubbling, as long as the gravity is dropping, all should go well. Foamy head (krauzen froming) is a good start. Keep us posted on progress.

Cheers!

 

[Bribie G]

So far I have pitched a moth at the same time as the yeast, lost the (not necessarily sterile) glass lid of my hopping 'teapot' at day 4 of the brew whilst adding some hop tea, recovered it a week later, and sent a couple of airlocks (accidentally left lying on fermenter lids and had been sitting there in the garage for days) for a swim.
So far no infections , keep your fingers crossed!

Once again, here's my famous piccie of how beer has been fermented in the North of England since the 18th century: hope this reassures!! (not that it would work too well in subtropical Queensland etc)

 

[benh82]

Haha....seeing that photo, somehow I think it will be OK......

 

[newguy]

View attachment 22611

BRAINS!

Sorry, must have some zombie ancestry in me somewhere.

 

[brendo]

View attachment 22611

Hmmmm - i would love to up production, not sure that the wife would be happy with one of these in the spare bedroom... :icon_drool2:

 

[Cube]

So far I have pitched a moth at the same time as the yeast, lost the (not necessarily sterile) glass lid of my hopping 'teapot' at day 4 of the brew whilst adding some hop tea, recovered it a week later, and sent a couple of airlocks (accidentally left lying on fermenter lids and had been sitting there in the garage for days) for a swim.
So far no infections , keep your fingers crossed!

Once again, here's my famous piccie of how beer has been fermented in the North of England since the 18th century: hope this reassures!! (not that it would work too well in subtropical Queensland etc)

View attachment 22611

If I'm right, some Belgium breweries start brews off by literally opening the roof of the brewery and pumping wild yeast into the roof cavity and into the wort to start fermentation. Mind you, they have the most concentrated and 'best of' the wild yeasts in the world, so they claim.

This may well only be for Lambic's ( i'm not 100% ), but just to make sure it's all ok, they shove twigs into the top of the fermenter to stop the fruit from blocking the hole :lol:

Like BribieG say's, wait until the last moment before chucking it.