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alebelly788 · 12-07-2012, 12:55 AM

I was chilling my wort with my wort chiller connected to a hose line outside. Then the next thing I know is it had somehow broke and probably about a gallon of hose water was introduced into the wort. I pitched the yeast anyway things it wont make much of a difference. But now my question is this: Should I just keep it or toss it? Is there anything bad about using the hose water? Any nasty's I should be worried about? I remember as a kid I use to drink out of the hose without any trouble. Thoughts?

dbsmith · 12-07-2012, 01:00 AM

At best you will have some tasty diluted beer (which you could easily fix by adding some DME). At worst, you could have an infected diluted beer. Luckily, it won't harm your health, just your pride. Ferment it out and hope for the best. If your chiller was reasonably clean and you had been running water through it before the break happened, there is a good chance that no infection occurred. Next time this happens, just bring it back to a boil real quick to eliminate any unwanted microbes and add DME if you want, and re-chill carefully before you pitch the yeast.

Scottanooga · 12-07-2012, 01:00 AM

Keep it and hope for the best. Same thing happened to me with a California Common. Not sure how much water I got into the wort, but it turned out fine. Just lost a few gravity points.

**brewguyver** · 12-07-2012, 01:00 AM

You'll get watered down beer and there *could* be an infection, but you should be fine. Had this happen a few times when I first started brewing (used non heat safe tubing to join 2 25' ic chillers) and it was fine.

the75 · 12-07-2012, 01:00 AM

I had hose water leak into my wort & it ended up ok. I even had a wretched cheese smell coming from what turned out to be the carboy cap. I almost tossed it, but decided to bottle & see what happened. It was fine, no issues or off flavors whatsoever.

**mufflerbearing** · 12-07-2012, 01:00 AM

I would keep it and see what happens. If you toss it you could be tossing the best brew you ever made out. Olde hose pipe ale. Just my .02

alebelly788 · 12-07-2012, 01:31 AM

True. I would just rather not get super sick from it haha. I'd say I was at about 5 gallons of wort and added maybe an additional 2 gallons. My chiller was running water right from the wall, I made myself and never really thought to clean out the inside. Hopefully turns out ok. What are some signs of infection that I can look for; mold?

Silverbullet · 12-07-2012, 01:34 AM

Too late now, but if you had some DME/LME laying around, you could add till you get the gravity you're looking for, keep the hops in and give a quick boil to kill off whatever may be there. Obviously would throw off the recipe but you'd know there's no critters and wouldn't end up bubbly water. For now though it can't hurt to keep it and hope for the best. I'm sure you're fine...just very diluted.

freisste · 12-07-2012, 01:39 AM

As I understand it, there is no pathogen that can survive in an alcohol environment AND make you sick. The pathogens that CAN live in beer, will affect taste but not safety.

dbsmith · 12-07-2012, 01:40 AM

Out of curiosity, do you know what your OG is? If you had a weaker beer to begin with, then after adding 2 gallons of water you may have a very weak beer that is more vulnerable to infection. I would strongly recommend adding DME to compensate if this is the case.

Infection signs will most likely be noticeable after bottling due to 'gushers' or a really bad off flavor. If it tastes truly terrible you will dump it, infection or not.