broken thermometer in primary... continue?

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sweed

sweed

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This is not good, I just finished brewing my porter that I was using as a starter for my barleywine... Broken glass in the primary... Do I ferment and leave that stuff in there and be very careful not to transfer to the secondary? I mean it's going to be racked a few times before bottling, so what are the chances of getting some glad in the beer? Not cool.. :/

Edit: it's just the bottom of the thermometer, pic below
 
ForumRunner_20130421_200529.png
 
I don't think it is a big deal- pretty sure food grade thermometers do not contain mercury. I'm not sure what those little weighted balls are- if they are lead then that isn't great. I doubt you'd suck up much glass with an autosiphone but couldn't hurt to put a mesh strainer over the racking can AND the outlet tube when you rack. Did any liquid get out into the beer?
 
Its not the glass that concerns me its the mercury or not knowing if it contains mercury, I say toss it and let that be your first payment towards your education as a home brewer.
 
If you see my pic, the liquid did not get in the wort, only some glass and those metal balls, whatever they are. I'll have to look them up to make sure it's not lead.

Edit: sound like it's just steel shot and wax in the bottom. So I think I'm good, I'll just be very careful rack, and put a mesh on the auto siphon. I'll be using the yeast to rack my barleywine onto, so I'll have tobe careful twice.... Dang it! lol
 
If you just finished brewing it and havnt added yeast, I would rack it back into the brew pot or another fermentor. get all the stuff out now.
 
yewtah-brewha said:
If you just finished brewing it and havnt added yeast, I would rack it back into the brew pot or another fermentor. get all the stuff out now.
Click to expand...

Ya.... Yeast is already added. I figure the glass and metal will be on the very bottom of the fermenter. When I rack, all the trub will be on top of it. I think I'm good. I'm using all my primaries and my only carboy right now. Brew season is in full swing, loving it.
 
That steel shot could easily add some metallic off-flavors during fermentation as it rusts.

I'd rack it, or if you pitched within 8-12 hours, strain it through a paint strainer bag or whatever else you've got that'll get the glass and steel out.
 
Jon_TWR said:
That steel shot could easily add some metallic off-flavors during fermentation as it rusts.
Click to expand...

Yep. I had it happen once. I went ahead with fermentation and bottling. You could definitely taste rust. I ended up suffering through half of the batch and dumping the rest.
 
masskrug said:
Yep. I had it happen once. I went ahead with fermentation and bottling. You could definitely taste rust. I ended up suffering through half of the batch and dumping the rest.
Click to expand...

Hmm, looks like I'm going to have to buy another fermenter to transfer this tomorrow. I'll have to swirl it up a little to make sure I get most of the yeast when racking it. Earliest I can get to it would be after work around 4:30 when I get home.
 
I would guess it is highly unlikely they will rust in the short amount of time they will be in there. Not to mention the lack of oxygen needed to rust. Just my .02
 
It's not a big deal. I had that happen to me. Glass and the beads are heavier than the beer and will sink to the bottom. If you want to be extra careful, get some paint strainer bags and put a piece over the bottom of your racking cane when you rack to another vessel. Or you could just do what I did and make sure the rackinng cane never touches the trub and you'll be fine. More than likely the glass and beads are all under the trub anyways as it was the first thing to sink. Food Grader thermometers don't have anything in them that's toxic, so you are fine. The thermometer I broke imparterd no off tastes or anything.
 
ricksam said:
I would guess it is highly unlikely they will rust in the short amount of time they will be in there. Not to mention the lack of oxygen needed to rust. Just my .02
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking.

Clonefan94 said:
It's not a big deal. I had that happen to me. Glass and the beads are heavier than the beer and will sink to the bottom. If you want to be extra careful, get some paint strainer bags and put a piece over the bottom of your racking cane when you rack to another vessel. Or you could just do what I did and make sure the rackinng cane never touches the trub and you'll be fine. More than likely the glass and beads are all under the trub anyways as it was the first thing to sink. Food Grader thermometers don't have anything in them that's toxic, so you are fine. The thermometer I broke imparterd no off tastes or anything.
Click to expand...

Thats what I figured, it would all be covered up by the trub. The only thing is, I'm using this beer as a starter. I'd assume that it would be fine again to rack on top of the yeast, or I can just make a another starter for my huge barleywine. I think I'm just going to get another bucket and transfer it to be safe and not have to worry about the glass.
 

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