BrewNow

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Put my carboy into the beer fridge on Sunday with a plastic tube from the stopper into a full 2 quart water container. I checked the beer this evening to find the water disappeared and the beer 2 quarts higher!! Now 3 gallons + 2 quarts. Will the non-sanitized water funk my beer? Alcohol level is (was) 7.9%/volume before the beer sucked up the water. Did the temperature difference, from cool 66F basement to 43F fridge, cause a siphon action to happen?? Any ideas how to avoid this in the future would be great.

lakeshorebrewer

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Well that's a bummer. If the container and the water was clean then I'd say your ok in the short run. Personally I wouldn't let it sit too long once it reaches carbonation you can tolerate. The longer it sits, the more likely you could get some "funky" flavors. If it tastes ok...drink 'er up. ;o)

Yeah the temp difference caused the siphon. I use a bubbler, but that still causes water in the bubbler to draw in sometimes too. I'm in a similar spot as I am starting to do the same thing now that I have a place to chill the beer down. I think a sterile bubbler with boiled water might be a good way to go and let it get to cold temp before adding more??

I am also interested in other views on this issue.

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doctorRobert

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Probably not ruined. Was it done fermenting? next time use an airlock. You should be ok, RDWHAHB, but a chance in temp caused a changed in pressure and it sucked up the water. But unless the water jug was ridiculously dirty, it should be ok.

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buzzkill

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suckback happens. at that ABV% you should be ok. nothing you could do about it at this point anyway. look at the bright side, at least it wasnt sanitizer getting sucked back in.

wacko

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yeah with that gravity you might be better off assuming that wasn't really bad water,

modernlifeisANDY

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Next time, learn from your mistake and put that blow-off tube into a liter of vodka.

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medbrew

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Cheap vodka in my bubbler! Works like a charm.

BrewNow

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lakeshorebrerew - You bet I'll keg and drink it soon. My IPAs don't seem to last too long anyhow.
doctorRobert - The traditional airlock didn't have clearance in the fridge. I was using the shelf on top of the motor to place the carboy so needed to 'tube it' into a separate container to get the couple inches of clearance. The jug I used is the very same once that measures out the H2O for my mash. So it is clean.

Thinking I need to hit the state store and get a bottle of cheap vodka this weekend.

The really disappointing thing, this is the 3rd time using US-05 and ALL 3 TIMES, something went wrong with the batch. I jinxed and may just go back to 1056.

grathan

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2 quarts seems like a lot of suckback. Is it possible the pail was placed higher than the fermenter and gravity did most of the work?

BrewNow

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Nope. The 2 quart container was placed on the same level as the carboy. I actually just kegged the batch and was able to see the water floating on top of the beer. Just like separating grease from gravy, I was able to siphon off mostly just the good stuff.