how long for first signs of infection

i made a batch of beer the other day, and a accidentally got a few drops of tap water in the wort while cooling it to fermentation temps, and was wondering, if i were to get an infected batch, how long would it take to see the first signs of the infection?

You should just forget about the batch. It's ruined. Send it my way.

Kidding, of course. There's no harm in tap water falling in the beer. I've had MUCH worse fall in a beer and it turned out fine. What I've learned in the last 4-5 years that I've been brewing is...it's a lot harder to screw up a beer than you think. I've infected one beer in that time, and that was because I used a bottling bucket to ferment in. The bottling bucket had grime left over in the spigot that I didn't notice and it infected the batch.

There's so many horror stories out there that it's hard to imagine why people get into this hobby in the first place. Most of those stories are scarce though. They say that most people infect a batch of beer around batch 10-15. Why? Because you're still learning what can and can't be done. If you haven't infected one by then, chances are you'll know what you're doing enough to not have any problems.

To answer your question, 2-3 weeks is about when you'll start to see mold or a pelicle form. But, if you do gravity readings every week or so, you'll notice when the gravity starts dropping a lot farther than it should.

A few drops of water won't hurt anything. I'm sure you'll be fine.

few drops of tap water? RDWHAHB, no seriously, I think it takes much more than that. I was fermenting in bucket with loose lids and fruit flies howering around my brew, it didnt get infected

Read theses two threads that were compiled for nervous new brewers to realize that your beers are not a weak baby that is going to die if you look at it wrong.

And that 99.95% of the time it turns out perfectly fine DESPITE the boneheaded things we do.

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

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

Our beer is really resilient despite the boneheaded things we do to it. And even if something appears to be wrong, often time and the yeasties go along way to correct itself.

take it easy man. dont worry and have yourself a few home brews. i had a friend who was cooling their wort with no lid on their pot for their first 8 or so home brews and never got an infection. hell ive had the vent screen above the stove fall into my beer with 2 mins left in the boil. this thing was disgusting and i came out with one of the best ipa's ive ever brewed.

i wasnt really worried about getting an infection, in the 10 or so batches ive done, ive made a few mistakes and realized that it takes a lot to infect a batch, i was more just curious to know when an infected batch would start to show signs of infection.

A friend of mine dropped his glasses in the wort. Fished them out with his bare unsanitized hands. He had been wiping the sweat off his face.

Beer turned out fine. You coudl probably dunk your head in it and have the beer come out fine. From reading the threads here and from personal experience, the only infections I have seen that were major enough to warrant dumping were because of scratched equipment or recurrent problems due to processes. Accidents rarely hurt anything probably since the contact time is so short and you usually pitch right after so the bugs have to fight the yeast. It's my theory.

I defiantly wouldnt worry about a few drops. For my first batch I put it in a cooler full of ice and water and it shifted and let in a decent ammount of water. Beer came out pretty good (was pretty bitter though which could have been an infection?)

Most likely the bitterness came because you diluted the beer and messed up the SG to IBU ratio.

I think the main risk of infection for most new brewers lies in their worry of infection... which inevitably leads them to start messing with the brew... which inevitably leads to more chances to introduce infection.

Between the acidic nature of the wort, competition for resources by the yeast, and the protective CO2 cap of gas covering it during fermentation, infection isn't as easy as you'd think.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't try to be as sterile as possible - because IF you do have an infection it will suck to lose a batch. But keep in mind that if it is infected, there's likely very little you'll be able to do to correct the situation, and if it isn't... every time you open up that fermenter and displace the co2 layer, you're opening the door for the bad bugs.


Be patient.

tunoffun said:

I think the main risk of infection for most new brewers lies in their worry of infection... which inevitably leads them to start messing with the brew... which inevitably leads to more chances to introduce infection.

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Dingdingding!!! We have a winner!!!!!:rockin:

jfr1111 said:

Most likely the bitterness came because you diluted the beer and messed up the SG to IBU ratio.

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I don't know I just followed the directions lol. It was a kit so it shouldn't have been the IBUs I did only concentrated a gallon and a half. I need a bigger brew pot.

If an infection does show up just drop a couple valtrex in the secondary. Off flavors should only flare up every other month or so after that. Or just bottle it as zombie ale with a blood hand print on the bottle.