Oh No! Live and learn...

So, 2 weeks ago Sunday, I brewed up 5 gallons of EW's Haus PA & 5 gallons of Cascade Orange Ale, both my first 2 AG brews..So the other night I put my carboy of Haus in the fridge to crash cool (1st time doing this), being lazy I left the blow off tube in the neck & put the catch bucket in there with it.

The container still had some bleach solution in it (I ALWAYS use Star-san, but I was out so I used bleach solution). So today, I go to check out the beer and I notice a MUCH lighter colored section of beer at the neck of the carboy....SUCKBACK!!

Of course it had to be the ONE time I use a bleach solution & of course my first AG!!! I'm SO disappointed! The container was level with the base of the carboy...did the temps cause suck back?

Live and learn...At least I brewed 2 batches that week, unfortunately, the Haus was the one I hit my #'s perfectly with! Oh well, such is life. At least I got my new 6 gal BB & grain for EW's Robust Porter for this weekends session.

HopheadNJ said:

did the temps cause suck back?

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Yup. Cold makes things shrink. When the air inside your carboy shrunk, the pressure inside it dropped compared to the outside, which caused the pressure to equalize via the only release available: the blowoff tube.

bernerbrau said:

Cold makes things shrink. .

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Ain't that the truth!

I really have to stop doing brew related things late at night I guess! :cross:

Oh well, at least I've still got a delicious keg of an extract version of Haus PA I brewed & dryhopped w/ 1.5oz cascade, mmmmmm.....

I wonder if some commercial chlorine remover could fix this? Like amquel or something.


probably a bad idea.

Just a friendly reminder to NEVER use anything in a blowoff container that you wouldn't use in an airlock.