Racked beer on top of some one-step!

My corny was already clean so I decided to do a quick re-San before racking about 4 gallons (2 mr beer batches). I used about a tablespoon or so of one step and about 3 quarts of water, charged the keg and drew about half thru the tap lines. Then I promptly forgot about the rest and racked right on top.

Did I ruin this batch? It seems that I should be ok b/c I did not sanitize at full strength and did pull about half of the 3 quarts out. Other forums say just burp more often since one step produces O2 and otherwise just taste it after force carb to see where I stand. Thoughts?

What kind of beer is it? There's really nothing you can do about it at this point, so it's best to wait and see. It should be fine though. If anything, it might have a slight soapy taste...but that all depends on how strong your beer is.

It's a pils. Mr beer's Czech Grand Bohemian to be exact. As long as it won't kill me I can live with soapy flavor if that's what it takes to drive the lesson home about draining one-step. Thanks!

first of all, one step is a cleanser NOT a sanitizer. you should be using that to clean your keg and lines and then running star-san or something similar through there to sanitize. that being said...you left about 1.5 qts in there which is a fair amount. i cant say i would be too comfortable drinking that but that is your call.

I called MB and spoke with a nice lady. She said it won't kill me in that level of dilution and she has personal experience because she once accidentally drank some one-step after she confused it with sugar during bottle priming. Reassuring to know that even MB pros made boneheaded rookie errors too.

She said at worst the beer will be far too salty for consumption so I'll know as soon as I try some!

Does anyone think extra conditioning time will help with potential salty off flavors or does it even matter at this point?

puckjer said:

first of all, one step is a cleanser NOT a sanitizer. you should be using that to clean your keg and lines and then running star-san or something similar through there to sanitize. that being said...you left about 1.5 qts in there which is a fair amount. i cant say i would be too comfortable drinking that but that is your call.

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my understanding is One Step doesn't label itself as a sanitizer because of costs but they will tell you that it does sanitize if you call them..unless I'm thinking of something else.

puckjer said:

first of all, one step is a cleanser NOT a sanitizer. you should be using that to clean your keg and lines and then running star-san or something similar through there to sanitize. that being said...you left about 1.5 qts in there which is a fair amount. i cant say i would be too comfortable drinking that but that is your call.

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I've always used one step as a sanitizer. It's not my primary, but whenever I have something small to do, I mix that up. I've never had any issues with infections. I do think one step can be used as a sanitizer.

Did the beer turn out ok? I just made a similar mistake with a small amount in the bottom of a carboy on wine transfer.

Per the manufacturer Not to worry; your wine is fine. I would doublecheck your sulfite if you can, because the One Step will consume some of it. If you don't have an easy way to check sulfite levels, simply add 1/8 tsp of potassium metabisulfite (dissolved in a few ounces of water). That should be plenty to cover what the One Step consumed without going overboard.

I have heard of situations far, far worse than this and the wine came out with no problems, so I am certain that all is well.