Should I just dump this one- Talcum powder from balloon

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BobbiLynn

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So I don't have as many airlocks as I do glass carboys and I was trying to rush a couple extra batches for Christmas. I thought I'd just put a balloon with pin holes over the last one until I freed up an airlock. Apparently I did not clean and sanitize the balloon well enough and now I've got bubbling white blobs on top, when it should be clear and ready to bottle by now, another I started on the same day is ready to go and tastes good. It's just a budget pale ale from my local shop, $22.00 and about 3 hours in it, because I doubled up and saved time on brew day. I should not have even bothered with an airlock, a piece of foil would have been fine the first few days. It tastes like talcum powder and the taste, and growing white blobs are/is getting worse after a couple days. I wanted to just set and forget and thought a clean, sanitized balloon would be fine. The same budget pale ale I brew all the time, so I know it doesn't look right, very opaque as well. Definitely not ready to bottle. I didn't even try to get a reading because it's my normal brew and I can always "just look and tell". I'm going to bottle the other 5 gallon batch today, clear and pretty, it's ready. About to drag the other one out to my compost pile, eww. yuck, actually it's my first bad batch, even though I've used balloons before.

Dump it or give it a couple days?
 
Uhh, you're call but that doesn't sound good.

In the future, just put a piece of foil over the top. I never put an airlock in until the primary is pretty well done, usually 3 to 5 days.
 
I'll probably just dump the stupid ***** and start over, my bad... I should have been patient and not tried to rush things. I just tasted it again and it's no good. Dry, makes your tongue numb, not right. My compost pile will love it and grow me some great veggies this spring. $22.00 and a few hours of my time out the door, could be worse.
 
I didn't think it was a big deal really as talc is found in several consumer products but googling a bit brought up some articles that it might be carcinogenic. Crash cooling might get most of it to settle out not sure how soluble talc is.
 
I can look and see that talc is not soluble in water. I'll leave it until tomorrow morning, before I clean out the carboy and ready to start a new batch. I was actually hoping that the yeast would eat the talcum powder, but doesn't look like it'll be going anywhere. There is nothing wrong with using a balloon as an airlock in a pinch, but clean it well. Carcinogenic doesn't sound good, I'll look that up.

Live and learn....
 
It looks like the yeast is attacking the talcum powder, but without success. Just making things worse. I guess it's "beer cancer". Dumping it in the AM. Waste of time and space to let it finally settle to the bottom, if that would ever happen...
 
As an aside, I'd say you have ino dea what this powder actually is. If there's something cheaper than talc, it's probably that instead.
 
If there's something cheaper than talc, it's probably that instead.

True, it just tasted like the smell of the stuff I used to put on my baby's butts when they were little. Probably wishful thinking that it's actually talcum powder... just what the taste/smell reminded me of. Just glad I didn't have more time/money invested in the batch, really nasty.
 
I just finishing dumping it out, it was a sad experience for me, my first time having to let one go like that. Now I gotta figure out who's not getting a 6 pack for Christmas and what I'll get them instead. Or, if I get started today, I can at least rush something into the bottle by Christmas day and tell them it has to condition before they can drink it. Like that will happen. I can hear them now, "I think BobbiLynn is losing her touch, must be all the stress she's been under".
 
I just finishing dumping it out, it was a sad experience for me, my first time having to let one go like that. Now I gotta figure out who's not getting a 6 pack for Christmas and what I'll get them instead. Or, if I get started today, I can at least rush something into the bottle by Christmas day and tell them it has to condition before they can drink it. Like that will happen. I can hear them now, "I think BobbiLynn is losing her touch, must be all the stress she's been under".

this might not be the first batch you dump. Peter Bouckaert (New Belgium) “If you want to be good, you're going to have to dump some beer.”
 
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