I may have just learned a hard lesson in cold crashing beer...
I had a blowoff tube going into a bucket of sanitized water. During the initial fermentation, some of the yeast blow off did go down the tube and discolor the tube and water in the bucket some. I just left everything as is, so as not to disturb anything.
I cold crashed my beer down to 38 F, and, as expected, there was suction back into the fermenter. I didn't think it would be enough to suck the water all the way back up. Actually, I'm not sure it did go all the way back up. But when I lifted the hose to empty it, some of the water went into the fermenter. Maybe just a couple tablespoons. Hard to say.
It is a closed system. The water was sanitized. All the light brown stuff in the hose is from the beer yeast (Saccharomyces, of course). There could be other yeast on the surface of the water in the bucket.
I'm thinking that I infected my beer in some way. I guess I can just continue and hope for the best. Next time I will handle the cold crash differently.
I'm bringing the temperature back up to 67 F now for three days of dry hop before I keg.
Anyone have any experience with this? Any suggestions or responses regarding this little mishap? Thanks!
I had a blowoff tube going into a bucket of sanitized water. During the initial fermentation, some of the yeast blow off did go down the tube and discolor the tube and water in the bucket some. I just left everything as is, so as not to disturb anything.
I cold crashed my beer down to 38 F, and, as expected, there was suction back into the fermenter. I didn't think it would be enough to suck the water all the way back up. Actually, I'm not sure it did go all the way back up. But when I lifted the hose to empty it, some of the water went into the fermenter. Maybe just a couple tablespoons. Hard to say.
It is a closed system. The water was sanitized. All the light brown stuff in the hose is from the beer yeast (Saccharomyces, of course). There could be other yeast on the surface of the water in the bucket.
I'm thinking that I infected my beer in some way. I guess I can just continue and hope for the best. Next time I will handle the cold crash differently.
I'm bringing the temperature back up to 67 F now for three days of dry hop before I keg.
Anyone have any experience with this? Any suggestions or responses regarding this little mishap? Thanks!