Contamination?

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beer_master

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Yesterday i brew my first batch of beer...But!
I got littlebit tipsy while brewing and instead of adding the sanitized cold water to cool my wort(round 10 l) i use one from the sanitized bucket but with tap water in it.Today i have visible signs of fermentation,but with sum black spots on the top as shown on pics.

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/7348/image198.jpg
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/3106/image199j.jpg
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/5742/image200j.jpg

Pics quality is bad but i think you"ll see what i think..
Is it contaminated,and is it hazardus to drink if so..

Thanx
 
Relax...First of all, MANY of us top off with tap water, to no ill effect. Secondaly it is IMPOSSIBLE for infection to take hold and grow that fast...

Thirdly it is really difficult for a new brewer to get an infection anyway.

What you have is the NORMAL look of begining fermentation, which is butt ugly.

If I can impart one bit of "wisdom" for you on your journey as a brewer it is this;

If you brew from fear, you won't make great beer!

You might make drinkable beer, or you might make crap...but until your realize that your beer is much hardier than you think it is, you won't do some basic things, (like using your hydrometer) to make your beer great.

You have a typical new brewer fear that your beer is somehow weak, like a new born baby..and will be ruined or die of you look at it wrong...I want to put it into perspective for you, and save you a lot of new bewer nerves...

Beer has been made for over 5,000 years in some horrific conditions, and still it managed to survive and be popular....It was even made before Louis Pasteur understood germ theory....

If beer turned out bad back then more than it turned out good..then beer would have gone the way of the dodo bird, New Coke, or Pepsi Clear...:D

It is very very very hard to ruin your beer....it surprises us and manages to survive despite what we do to it...

And doing things like taking a hydro reading, or racking a beer (if you choose to) will not cause more harm to your beer..if you are careful.

I want you to read these threads and see..

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/has-anyone-ever-messed-up-batch-96644/

And this thread to show you how often even a beer we think is ruined, ends up being the best beer you ever made, if you have patience....
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

There is a saying we have in the homebrewing community...RDWHAHB...make that your mantra and you will be a successful homebrewer...
Yodardwhahb.jpg


Oh this thread is really good too...if you adopt the mindset in here you will do well...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/youre-no-longer-n00b-when-24540/

It's not brain surgery, it's a hobby...it's supposed to be something fun, not something we stress out on.

:mug:
 
You are to be commended for calling it 'contamination' instead of 'infection'. It actually looks fairly normal to me, but in case it is contaminated, it is not hazardous to drink.
 
Is it contaminated,and is it hazardus to drink if so..

Thanx


ANOTHER thing you need to know....

If there was stuff that could live in beer and kill you, the human race would have died out a hell of a long time ago! If something toxic could come from our homebrewing, it wouldn't be a legal hobby!


I came across this from a pretty well known and award winning homebrewer railing against a fellow brewer (it was on one of those "color coded" brewboards where they are a little less friendly than we are.) I just cut and pasted it and stuck it in a file...here it is.


Can you get a PATHOGEN from beer. No. NO *NO* Did I make that clear? You have a ZERO chance of pathogens in beer, wine, distilled beverages. PERIOD!

Pathogens are described as organisms that are harmful and potentially life threatening to humans. These are some 1400+ known species overall encompasing viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and helminths. Of that group, we are only interested in those that can be foodborne. Quite simply, if it can't survive in food, it isn't in beer. That knocks out all but bacteria and fungi. Viruses need very specific circumstances to be passed around... like on the lip of a glass or bottle, not the beer in it. **Ahhh...CHOOO!**

Pathogens as a rule are very fastidious beasts. Meaning that they want very specific temperatures, acidity, nutrients and other conditions to thrive.

Bacteria that *could* live in wort, cannot survive even a little bit of fermentation. There are several reasons for this. One is in the 'magic' of hops. It is the isomerized alpha acids that provide a preservative effect to the beer, which happens to inhibit pathogens! Good deal for fresh wort!

Another reason is the drop in pH from fermentation. Next, yeast emit their own enzymes and byproducts, all in an effort to make the environment hostile to other creatures. The major one is alcohol, of course, but their enzymes will break down less vigorous organisms and they become sources of trace nutrition. Now the latter is very minor compared to the effect of alcohol, but it exists! Most of the time these enzymes work on the wort, not organisms until late in the process. Good deal for beer! ...uh, wine too.

Oh, Botulism specifically... did you know that this is an anaerobic pathogen? It's toxin is one of the few that is broken down by boiling. Did you know tht it is strongly inhibited by isomerized alpha acids, even in water? Since fresh wort has a healthy amount of oxygen in it, the beastie cannot even get started, then once the O2 is used up, it doesn't have a chance against the hops or the yeast.

All that is left are a handful of acid producing bacteria that'll ruin a batch of beer. Overall, there are less than 200 organisms that can survive in beer and lend flavor effects. None of these for very long, or very often. Lambic being the sole exception, and if pathogens *could* survive, that'd be the style where you find 'em.


It's important to remember that one of the reasons we have beer today (one of the oldest beverages in existence) is because it was made to be drunk in places where drinking the WATER was deadly....By boiling the wort, adding hops (which is an antiseptic), changing the ph, and pitching yeast, you killed of any microorganism that good be harmful.....in fact the third runnings of the brewing process was fermented at an extremely low gravit 1-2% ABV, and it was called "table beer" or "Kid's Beer" this is the stuff that people drank with meals...it was their water replacement, like Iced tea or soda pop...because again the fermentation process insured thatit was safer than the water.

So please, please, please, I can't stress this enough....don't fear you beer!!!

If something bad could happen, then it would NOT be a legal hobby.....

:mug:
 
Thanks because we get a dozen scared new brewer/"did I ruin my beer" first batch threads exactly like this a day...we know how to answer them...(Or cut and paste the same answers)

There's even a name for your particular brand of "mental illness" NOOBITUS. :D

The good thing is, it is curable, really quickly. brew another batch of beer asap it will take you mind off the first one.

There was a funny thread yesterday likening the process of brewing the first few beers to how parents are..they are hyper paranoid with baby number one, but by baby number 3 they let a lot of the worry slide....

You will too.
 
Yeah ;)..I know its frustrating repeating same answers all over again to us Nooblets ;)But i promise you one day ill be master brewer (master),or nah i wont ;)(iwasnt sure how clean was my glass cardboy so i washed it three times hehe)
 
Looks like some pond scum. I call it that anyway. It's more like hops remnants and other trub that makes its way on top when fermentation starts.
 
Yeah ;)..I know its frustrating repeating same answers all over again to us Nooblets ;)But i promise you one day ill be master brewer (master),or nah i wont ;)(iwasnt sure how clean was my glass cardboy so i washed it three times hehe)

You don't have to be a "master brewer" to help the "nooblets" (great name :D) Lord knows I'm not one. But we each are always ONE BATCH ahead of someone. And on a huge site like this, that "batch behind us brewer" may ask that one question that we have the answer too..ANd that's all that matters...if you got it to give, then do so.

:mug:
 
Heh,To post info on my fermentation.

1 days after vigorous and 2 days of normal fermentation i hav no sign of co2 coming out,foam is almost completely gone, i have no hydrometer to check OG,beer is standing still,.What to do(stuck ferment. maybe)?Should i rack it,or pitch another yeast or just leave it like that.
 
Heh,To post info on my fermentation.

1 days after vigorous and 2 days of normal fermentation i hav no sign of co2 coming out,foam is almost completely gone, i have no hydrometer to check OG,beer is standing still,.What to do(stuck ferment. maybe)?Should i rack it,or pitch another yeast or just leave it like that.

Fermentation is not always "dynamic," just because you don't SEE anything happenning, doesn't mean that anything's wrong, and also doesn't mean that the yeast are still not working dilligantly away, doing what they've been doing for over 4,000 years....

If you don't have a hydrometer, get one...in the interim, since you have no way to "listen" to your beer, then you have to just give the beer it's time to do it's thing....Don't move it, don't touch it, for at least 14 days.... Then if you choose to rack it to a secondary, figuring that after two weeks, fermentation has finished....If you don't choose to secondary, then leave it for 21 days to a month, and that will insure that your beer is complete, and they yeast have cleaned up all the by products of fermentation.....Your beer will be nice and clear and ready to bottle...

But don't rush your beer...Nothing is wrong...yeasts rarely get stuck or poop out these days....just relax....they know what they are doing.
 
...What to do(stuck ferment. maybe)?Should i rack it,or pitch another yeast or just leave it like that.


You're making homebrew in Croatia? That's great.

Follow Revvy's advice - just relax & give it time. You don't need to do anything except plan your next batch of beer.

You can't really know if you have a stuck fermentation, or a complete fermentation just by how the beer looks. You're going to have to get a hydrometer if you want to KNOW when the beer is ready. Can you get one there locally?
 
You're making homebrew in Croatia? That's great.

Yep ;), thanx

Can you get one there locally?
Yes i can,but they r 35$ each ;),so i ordered couple from ebay,but my parcel got lost :( (but good mr.seller sent me other one yesterday)
 
False choice...

Option c) go buy a hydrometer! They're pretty cheap. It's indispensable. I've only brewed four batches, so I am no expert, but I have found that it's the most powerful tool in equipment box as it actually tells you something about the beer you can measure empirically instead of looking for bubbles, or foam, or spots, or (insert random voodoo sign here). I also love science so it's pretty neat to take measurements and interpret them.

Take a few readings over a 48 -72 hour period and see if it stays the same. Assuming you followed the recipe correctly, then compare the reading you get to the expected FG and analyze the results. If it's way off, *then* you can decide about a stuck fermentation.

Edit: was writing this reply along with the others... now irrelevant, oh well.
 
I been to croatia. Nice people. nice scenery too.

They have a good soccer team too: Even though I have no ties to Croatia, I usually wind up rooting for them during the World Cup (they're a reputable underdog....it's just too painful to root for the US) :D

As for differences in hydrometers....if there's a .001 deference, it's not the end of the world. You can check both hydrometers at 60 degrees F....the one that is exactly 1.00 is the one that's dead on. Or it could be that when you were taking samples, the temperature rose a bit. Hydrometers aren't that accurate to begin with. Just RDWHAHB! Are you going to use a secondary? If not, I would just leave the beer alone for at least 2 weeks before going on to bottling.
 
(they're a reputable underdog....it's just too painful to root for the US) :D

Hehe ;) Hehe , i root for states in hockey ;)
A Are you going to use a secondary? If not, I would just leave the beer alone for at least 2 weeks before going on to bottling.
What do you suggest ,i am little bit low on cardboys .Will it impair the flavors,although i tasted a beer and it was nice ;)
 
What do you suggest ,i am little bit low on cardboys .Will it impair the flavors,although i tasted a beer and it was nice ;)

If you don't have another carboy, you can just let the beer age a little in your primary. Most people around here will tell you to wait at least 3 weeks from pitching before you even begin to think about bottling. But if you're really impatient....give it at least another week.

As for benifits of primary only vs having a secondary, I think it's always best just to try yourself and see which one you prefer. I prefer to secondary my beer and then crash cool it: for me, it seems to clear up my beer the best (in both color and flavor). But those who don't use a secondary will tell you that their beer tastes cleaner because they've left the beer on the yeast to let it do some cleaning up. It's a matter of opinion and what you believe. There's nothing "wrong" with either approach.
 
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