Big Drunken Mistake!

So I brewed up a huge Belgian Trippel on Sunday night and I've been worried about it ever since...To make a long story short, I don't think I ever got around to sanitizing my primary bucket. I absolutely know that the bucket was cleaned with soap and water, but I was in such a rush to get everything cleaned up and put away that....Well, I don't know if I sanitized the bucket before racking the cooled wort and pitching the yeast. I woke up yesterday with a massive hangover and a sinking feeling that I missed something. Does anyone have an opinion on this? Am I guaranteed an infection? The OG was 1.096 and I pitched a 2qt starter, but the yeast seems to be taking it's sweet ass time. There is activity in the blowoff tube, just not what I would expect. Any thoughts?

I guess only time will tell if it gets infected....Next time before you start brewing Fill your Primary up with your water and sanatizer and put all of your tools you will be using in there with the lid on, that way you wont forget and everything will be ready when your done boiling.

nothing is ever guaranteed when it comes to trying to manage single-celled organisms. All 3 of my infections came on batches that seemingly had perfect sanitation records, and were fine going into the bottle. On the other hand, I'd had batches that I thought would be done for (for instance, one of the yeast ice packs that AHS uses to ship yeast in warm months got a hole in it and squirted some of that gel into the cooled wort) and they all turned out fine.

Bottom line is, who the hell knows at this point. You certainly increased your chances of an infection, but if I had to put money on it, I'd say you don't, simply because it's actually relatively difficult to get an infection.

Yeah, so the sanitizing solution in a bucket with all of my tools is the way that I usually go. I pour it all into a separate clean bucket and rack the wort into the freshly sanitized bucket. I just had a few too many homebrews, and I can't remember if I poured everything into a clean bucket or just used the spare bucket...Let this be a lesson to everyone out there. Please maintain some semblance of sobriety while brewing, for the beer's sake!

RICLARK said:

I guess only time will tell if it gets infected....Next time before you start brewing Fill your Primary up with your water and sanatizer and put all of your tools you will be using in there with the lid on, that way you wont forget and everything will be ready when your done boiling.

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+1 oh and hold off on the drinking till the primary is filled. The brew you save may be your own. :fro:

RICLARK said:

I guess only time will tell if it gets infected....Next time before you start brewing Fill your Primary up with your water and sanatizer and put all of your tools you will be using in there with the lid on, that way you wont forget and everything will be ready when your done boiling.

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This is one of the first things that I do on brewday. Get everything out and put it into a bucket with sanitizer. I normally start drinking as soon as I start this step, and I haven't had an issue yet :cross:

rnrchemnerd said:

Yeah, so the sanitizing solution in a bucket with all of my tools is the way that I usually go. I pour it all into a separate clean bucket and rack the wort into the freshly sanitized bucket. I just had a few too many homebrews, and I can't remember if I poured everything into a clean bucket or just used the spare bucket...Let this be a lesson to everyone out there. Please maintain some semblance of sobriety while brewing, for the beer's sake!

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That's no fun. Brewing is too easy when I'm sober...I like the challenge of brewing With Booze (BWB).

Oh man, that sucks! I often have a few too many on brew days, but I try to keep it to 2-3 during the actual brewing session. Hope everything turns out okay.

Thanks for the words of encouragement guys!....Does anyone have any actual experience with unsanitized brewing? It seems to me that beer wouldn't exist if an infection was likely without proper sanitation every time. Did the drunk monks know how to sanitize before Pasteur discovered yeast?

You'll be fine. A violently fermenting primary is the most hostile environment for bacteria. The yeast will chew them up and spit them out.

Unless your cat used the bucket for a litterbox after you washed and rinsed, I'd bet my stock of beer that you have nothing to worry about.

99% of sanitation is in the cleaning. If you used the right strength detergent and water, you are almost home free. The sanitizer just takes care of the last 1%. I'll bet you'll be fine.

People have brewed good beer thousands of years before Onestep and Starsan. Only time will tell if your batch is ruined, but chances are that the yeasty beasties will beat out just about anything else.

Skal !

Jens

Im going on my 3rd Ag and the first 2 well....I found myself getting a tad toasted while waiting on the mash!

I'm a clean freak when it comes to brewing, my wife likes it because the first thing I do is clean the kitchen, then sanitize my bucket and tools. I've had an infected batch before but that was in a house with 4 college buddies, I'm sure there was no way around an infection in that house.

I would bet my hat you are alright. My first all grain was a great brew day until I had my wort cooled and all ready to transfer. When hoisting my keggle up to drain into carboys the lid and all the unsanitized tools that were sitting on it fell in to my wort! I almost lost my cool as this beer was to be my wedding gift to all my groomsmen and ushers! Luckily I had faith in Dianysis and the beer turned out to be my favorite beer of all time. I called it the Bitter Brewer (Original Bitter) because I was so hopping mad.

Hang tough your beer is stronger than it looks. Also, the higher alcohol content may help you out.

Cheers,
I also BWB