Help Me RDWHAHB

Brewed up a Kölsch for my dad's retirement party and while cooling, down in the low 100's I dropped an S hook that I hang on my hop bag strings into the wort. A few minutes before the end of the boil I dropped it on the ground into a small puddle. Had I not dropped it I wouldn't worry because it gets scorching hot through the boil but this time I did drop it and sure enough into the wort it went.

Last year I had a run of infections causing me to replace a lot of lines and such. I feel like the beer is probably ok but with such a cheap brew it may be worth it to just dump it and rebrew as I have time before the party. If it is infected and get's into the racking canes, hoses, etc. again I won't know until 2 or 3 batches down the line. I lost 3 batches last time and don't want to go that route again.

So do I RDWHAHB or dump it and not be worried for the next couple months that an infection is gaining ground in the system?

DON'T EVER DUMP IT. Ever!!! You will probably be fine dude. If I were you, I would not dump it, and just rebrew it anyway. Twice as much beer.

Something tells me you've already decided to dump it. I would not, but I've not had the experiences you had.

You still had the wort in the boiling kettle and cooled to 100 when you dropped that hook into it? Why not put the whole thing back on the burner, bring it to a boil and start the chill again? Pasteurized with hook is better than dumped or infected.

Because I was drinking a few to many homebrews in the process and my thought at the time was eh, screw it. That night it did occur to me that I could have just got it back up to a boil but by then it was in the fermenter with yeast pitched.

Glad it's in the fermentor. I would bet... it'll be okay. Rdw.

I had a batch clog my kettle drain valve a few brews back. A combo of pellet hops and whole leaf left enough gunk in the bottom of my kettle to clog my 1/2" drain... I worked on trying to clear the drain for almost an hour with sanitized tools, wires, etc. but could not free the blockage. Finally I decided to get in there with a pair of slip-joint pliers to try to unscrew the elbow inside the kettle. With the help of friends I was able to tip the kettle enough to get access to the elbow, but I dropped the pliers into the hot (160ish degrees) wort. !doh!

These were pliers I used to work on cars, home plumbing, exterior landscaping, etc. so they were very dirty...

Batch turned out fine, in fact it was one of my best because of the long flame-out rest steeping those hops.

Moral of the story is, boil, cool and ferment. It's beer, it'll be good.

although 160ish and 100 are different to be sure... if yours was 100 when you dropped those pliers in... could likely have been a different story...