Boiled wort left out over night...uncovered

I was brewing with a buddy, it was late, we were drunk, and the chiller wouldn't get the wort down to pitching temps. We called it a night. The wort was left uncovered on the stove at 85 for about 6 hours. Off flavors I can handle. It is currently fermenting away in my basement. If it is bad I will just dump it. However, I am a little paranoid about the potential for botulism. Am I being unrealistic here or is there a real risk?

I would have just brought it back to a boil for 10 minutes and then cooled it again.

0% chance of botulism.

If it spent a significant amount of time below 140F, then risk of infection is somewhere above 0%. Where exactly is unsure.

Motleybrew's idea of a reboil is a good one, but you are past that point.

Wait and see

I already put the yeast in. It's been fermenting for 5 days. It did spend a fair bit of time under 140. All told probably 10 hours. The chiller got it down to 100 pretty quickly and stalled from there. Reboiling WOULD have been a good idea, but that isn't what happened. I am trying to determine my level of risk here, if any.

0% chance of botulism. I like those odds. Thank you. I'll take my chances with other infections. I have three beers on tap now, so if I have to dump it I won't shed any tears.

There's no risk to your health at all. Nothing that can grow in beer will hurt you. Really the worst thing that can happen is an undrinkable horrible tasting batch of beer if it picked up an infection.

It could have gotten some nasties in there. But you'll have to wait & see how well the yeast dominated the wort. If after initial frmentation,you se a pellicle forming...it mat be a goner depending on how bad it is & what it is.

Thanks for the affirmation. I like my odds. I guess I'll know soon enough. This was 10 gallons of Ed's Haus pale. I split it with my buddy. I'll give it some more time and taste it before I throw it into a keg. Here's the not dying from botulism infected beer! Cheers.

There's a decent chance that you have some wild yeast participating in the fermentation but it doesn't necessarily mean it will change the flavor much. If it picked up any bacteria, the longer the beer sits around, the more you'll find out.

Woo Hoo! Wild beer! Your boil kettle doubled as your horny tank.

These guys are correct, there won't be any botulism in your beer...however....I have read (not that it's the case here) that wild innoculations that take a long while to get going can harbor e. coli in the very early stages of fermentation. All risk subsides and anything harmful is a non-issue after the Ph level drops to a certain point. The Mad Fermentationist touched on it a bit in a BYO article, when talking about making starters from wild yeasts. He explained it much more scientifically than I just did.

Either way, you probably don't have anything to worry about there. If your beer does end up infected, age it out. See if it develops into something good! What kind of beer is it?

EDIT: Disregard my question. I just read the post above that said it's Ed's Haus Pale Ale. Not paying attention!

I'll post back if anything fun develops. It's started raining again here in the NW and my brewing has slowed way down (I got kicked out of the kitchen). I suppose it couldn't hurt to let it ride for a while if it has some funk to it.

Whew. Keg it last night. Tasted fine. Looks like I dodged a bullet there.

Yeah you did! I don't know how, but it's awesome that it is okay.