Sterilizer In Wort (arghh!)

[plastic tolstoy]

Something seemed to go wrong the last time I attempted to post this. So apologies in advance if this one ends up somewhere it shouldn't.

Anyways, lads / lasses, I have a big problem. Well several, but only one I am going to share today. Last week whilst racking my pilsener off the yeast cake in order to lager it I did a big boo-boo. I use glass carboys which don't have taps, ergo, siphon tube.

Unfortunately the siphon tube was full of sterilizer, not boiled water, and for some reason (hangover) I hadn't drained it. So a tube full of sterilizer made its way into my wort.

The sterilizer is Sodium Met, mixed at the rate of 5ml to 1 litre. I am unsure of the exact amount that wound up in my wort. At least 250ml.

Do I need to tip it out? The very idea makes me cry, but on the other hand I don't want to die.

Waste of beer vs health risk, it's a delicate equation.

 

[razz]

How long had the sodium met been in the hose plastic tolstoy? There should be a recent thread on AHB were someone mentioned how sodium met breaks down after dilution. Does the ferment smell?

 

[plastic tolstoy]

How long had the sodium met been in the hose plastic tolstoy? There should be a recent thread on AHB were someone mentioned how sodium met breaks down after dilution. Does the ferment smell?

The sterilizer had that (sulfur?) smell that sodium met has in dilution. The wort / ferment doesn't smell of it, it still smells like yummy beer.

 

[mikem108]

I left some Orthophosphoric acid in my chiller recently and passed the wort through it, the beer now smells like bandaids, I was hoping it would go away but no luck there :icon_vomit:

 

[razz]

I'd say your good to go PT. If anything it probably drove out a bit of air.

 

[chris.taylor.98]

if it don't taste bad, it ain't broken ... hopefully

I would let it go and see how it turns out. From what you described doesn't seem like any noticeable harm was done. Also 250ml is not very much in the scheme of things.

 

[enoch]

It's going to be a fairly insignnificant amount of SO2 even in a 20 litre batch.
Eat a handfull of Australian dried apricots and you will consume more dramatic levels of SO2 and presumably any consequences will be apparent in due course.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

The sterilizer is Sodium Met, mixed at the rate of 5ml to 1 litre. I am unsure of the exact amount that wound up in my wort. At least 250ml.

Do I need to tip it out? The very idea makes me cry, but on the other hand I don't want to die.

Waste of beer vs health risk, it's a delicate equation.

Look at it this way. The worst that can happen is you die. Don't let them drink the stuff at your wake.
You're a Westralian - call up Benn Cousins and ask him to taste your brew (he'll take anything that bloke). If he dies, you'll be in the clear cos they blame it on other things !!

Actually, on the sodium met front, they used to advertise it wasn't necessary to rinse bottles after dowsing them in sodium met, just empty out. There shouldn't be anything to worry about !! Besides keep talking yourself into it and ANYTHING that causes the beer not to taste as you would prefer you'll blame the solution not what might be the blame.

But if still worried, Ben's number is ..............................................

 

[Rick]

Id say it should be ok. Wine makers add it to their wine to prevent oxidation.

 

[chovain]

I'd say the worst it will do is hamper the yeast, making it take longer to condition. At about 60-70ppm (the rate you've added it at), I doubt you're going to taste it much, if at all.

 

[pokolbinguy]

Id say it should be ok. Wine makers add it to their wine to prevent oxidation.

If you got 250 ml of sodium metabisulphate in your wort at 5ml/L .... you should have about 1.25mL in there... now if my memory serves me right from working in the winery you should be ok....but do not take my word for it.

If your worried give your LHBS or maybe even winery a call and have a chat to the winemaker they will generally be more than happy to help you out.

We do add sodium metabisulphate to the crush when the fruit arrives.... somewhere around the 1kg to every few tonnes... can't remember exactly ... but it varies from batch to batch dependant on the natural sulphur levels.... anyway thats a bit off topic.


Anyway give someone a call if your worried... or ditch it... better than being sick.

Pok


Edit.... also it will break down in your ferment plus over time when conditioning.... if there is too much your yeast won't like it anyway and the ferment may not go very well... so basically if the ferment is good and it is left for awhile you will be in the clear.

 

[plastic tolstoy]

Thanks to all for such wonderful news - it was as unexpected as it was joyous. I'm so happy I could cry. :lol:

I'm desperately trying to build up such a large supply of beer that I am permanently drinking 6 months old brew (I don't use kegs, it's a $/wife equation which is a bit like trying to work out the square root of minus 10, plus I actually like cracking mystery old bottles). I'm not succeeding, but at least I'll happily drink this lager, thanks to you all.