bad kitty!

barleyhole · 02-07-2010, 11:50 PM

okay. so I had a starter going Thursday night from yeast I had washed from my secondary last weekend (Wyeast London Ale) following the Sticky in this section. Mixed a couple oz. of DME and about 24 oz. of water, boiled for about 15 minutes, cooled, and filled up a Grolsch style bottle with about 16 oz. Put a bung and air lock on top, and let it go.

Friday morning it was bubbling away. Smelled like healthy beer/yeast. I was planning to brew Saturday and would just pitch this starter into the wort.

So, as it may happen, a curious little kitty got up onto where I had the starter going (dining room table). He knocked it over on the table (fortunately it did not role onto the floor). Anyway, the airlock popped out and a few oz. of yeasty beer spilled to the floor.

After my initial cussing, I quickly put the bottle upright. Took the airlock and rinsed thoroughly with hot tap water (hoping it was somewhat sterilizing). The bung did not fall out (preventing more beer loss). I dampened a paper towel and wiped away the yeasty beer from around the rim and top of the bung, and then quickly put the airlock back on.

It seemed that it shook the bottle pretty good falling over. Seemed that the liquid came out map have been the krausen...or else it just subsided a bit from the fall. The fermentation was waning before it fell over, but really slowed afterwards. This cannot be all that unexpected as it had been going for 24 hours - probably a bit of yeast and not much sugar to go for too much longer.

After this winded talk, should I worry a lot about contamination? Could the fall introduce detrimental effects on the yeast from shaking the bottle? Can't have added too much O2 to the liquid, since the container is full of CO2.

I plan to brew tomorrow (best bitter). Should I make another starter with the other mason jar of yeast I have? Do I even really need a starter, since the yeast has only been in the fridge a week? I could just warm it up and pitch directly. My main worry is contamination. My plan it to just pitch my cat toy starter and see what happens. This is BTW, the first time I have washed yeast and made a starter. Thanks for any comments.

**Edcculus** · 02-08-2010, 12:53 AM

I don't think you have anything to worry about.

**SkiSoloII** · 02-08-2010, 12:56 AM

RDWHAHB!

Dave

barleyhole · 02-08-2010, 03:24 AM

sweet. thanks for the encouragement! I'll be brewing tomorrow since the snow shut everything down in DC!

**cheezydemon3** · 02-08-2010, 03:31 AM

All of your cleanup measures were more of a concern than the initial spill....

In that short a span from your last brew, I would have just left the yeast in the fermenter, eliminating the need for a starter.

Chudz · 02-08-2010, 03:39 AM

And this is how Cat Toy Bitter came about!

barleyhole · 02-09-2010, 03:19 PM

well, i didn't want to leave the yeast in the fermenter: I wasn't sure when the next time I would brew would be (1 or 2 weeks); I brewed a stout before and used this yeast in a bitter, so I didn't want to contaminate it with too much stout flavor; also I wanted to use it for more than one batch (though I could have washed/stored after the bitter).

I ended up brewing yesterday. The starter smelled fine. It had settled out, so I just drained some of the liquid, got the yeast into suspension, and pitched. Beer is already bubbling away!

barleyhole · 02-09-2010, 03:27 PM

Oh and thanks for the name suggestion! heh. Although I think this shall be named Kitty Bitter

bknifefight · 02-09-2010, 03:35 PM

My cats have a fascination with bubbling airlocks and will lick them so all my carboys are closed in the spare bedroom in the basement. Once one of the cats knocked the bung and airlock off of my Mead but luckily it was already fermented and at > 10% I doubt any bad stuff could have gotten in and caused any damage.