An "odd" did I ruin my beer question...

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Hokie_Brew

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I've brewed a mild Honey Ale and was careful to properly sanitize all equipment/bottles etc. During the bottling process the spigot/spout on my bottling bucket began to leak heavily all over my kitchen. I quickly rushed to the sink and washed my arm and then reached into the bucket/beer to tighten the spout from the inside.

So 2 weeks of being careful was wasted after I had to dive into my beer. How bad is the damage? At this point it's a done deal but just curious if this completely "ruined by beer"
 
believe it or not, this is not the "odd" did-I-ruin-it? question. Revvy, I believe, has compiled a list of "did I ruin it?" threads to look at, and there is another thread (below) where at least one person relates doing almost exactly the same thing, and guess what....the beer was fine!....that said, you only have time on your hands for a definitive answer, so RDWHAHB pal, and brew another batch in the meantime because beer is good and there's never enough in the world.....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

EDIT: it was Yuri_Rage who compiled: The "did-I-Ruin-It?" masterwork, here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/think-you-ruined-your-beer-set-your-fears-aside-74520/
 
I'm still pretty new at this but I doubt the beer is totally ruined.

You said you were bottling so I'm assuming fermentation is done. That means that the alcohol level in the beer and the lower PH balance won't provide a good place for bacteria to thrive. If you just reached in quickly to tighten the drain after you washed your arm, then I doubt there is any real danger.

Pros out there: correct me if I'm wrong!

Good luck!

-Tripod
 
A similar thing happened to me on my first batch when I dropped a strainer into the bucket and had to fish it out with my hands. My beer turned out fine anyway. At this point there's not much you can do but wait and see how it turns out. Oh, and this happened before fermentation, too.
 
Most folks don't even wash their hand. They just reach in there in impulse and then think "Oh crap" about 30 seconds later.

A spray bottle of starsan is handy at times like that. Spray your hand down, shake off the excess in the sink and go to town. Not perfect, but it's better than nothing.

My spigot started leaking when I was bottling. It was a steady drip, but not a stream so we decided to just bottle as fast as we could. I probably only lost about a bottle's worth at most.
 
A spray bottle of starsan is handy at times like that. Spray your hand down, shake off the excess in the sink and go to town. Not perfect, but it's better than nothing.

+1...I keep the spray bottle of Iodophor for exactly that reason...
 
No good! You will have to dip your penis in the beer before you can claim "odd"....
Actually, I think that has been done here before too..... IrregularPulse I think...
Guys with names like "Tripod" should be especially careful.
 
MMmmmm, Hair of the Arm Honey Ale.

You'll be fine.

(Note to self... never trade beers with Bull8042) :eek:
 
a tip from another newbie who is still waiting for his first batch to carbonate....

I racked the wort from the pot to my bottling bucket...there I topped off with water before I transferred to the fermenter (not sure why I did it that way, but I thought for some reason I needed to...I won't in the future). Anyway, when I did that, being my first batch I saw that my spigot in the bottling bucket was leaking a bit...so I hurried things along. When it came to bottling time I decided to double check that spigot to make sure it was sealed properly. Put the spigot on and fill the bottling bucket up with sanitizer. That way you can sanitize the bucket, sanitize the spigot by running the water out of it...AND be able to double check that the spigot is on tight enough and won't leak your precious beer!

Let the beer sit in the bottles. Then open one in 2-3 weeks and see if you did any damage. No use worrying right now. Just go get another batch started in the mean time! :mug:
 
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