bad day for brewing, now I've got a problem...

First off, hello everyone!
I have been lurking around for a week or two reading all of the great info here and checking out some of the great recipes. The moment I have get some decent ones I’ll make sure to throw ‘em up.

anyway, yesterday I was going to do an extract recipe I made and even though all signs pointed to "STOP!, DON'T DO THIS TODAY" (came home to find an empty 5# co2 tank and the cider I was forcing completely flat, among other signs that it was not a good brewing day) went ahead anyway and now have a choice that I need some help with.
In short, should I re-boil my strained wort and risk all of the wonderful hop aromas I have or throw caution to the wind and risk a ruined batch?

Situation is this.
My first time using whole hop flowers and I think I botched the straining. I chilled the wort to 100 degrees F first, then strained through cheesecloth into another pot. Found out quick that the 1 oz of Amarillo pellets clogged the cloth after about 1/2 cup of liquid. I removed the cheesecloth and just used a fine mesh colander. It worked well but because I preformed this at 100 F, and both vessels where out in the open and I took some time stumbling around I am worried about contamination. I DID sanitize the second pot, the cheese cloth and the pitcher I was using, but within the full hour it took to complete, it was exposed to air. It was 11pm and I decided that I should bring it back to 210 F to make sure so I put the lid on the 5 gal pot and placed it in the fridge to continue working on tonight.

So if anyone has an idea of what I might be doing to the wonderful 2 oz of Simcoe I added at flame out by bringing the temp back to boil then dropping it to be sure of no invasions of the bad kind I would really appreciate it.
Sorry for the long post and great site!

I could be wrong but I think your best option would either be leaving it and brewing as normal or using campden tablets before pitching.

I am going to go with jmiracle on this one. I think trying to form a solution to a problem that might not even exist may be in your worst interest. I'd just try to get that thing fermenting ASAP. Unless you have some really hardy bugs to outcompete a full pitch of fresh yeast (coupled with the fact that everything was indeed sanitized, and that hops in themselves retard spoilage) then I wouldn't worry.

Just pitch your yeast. I have similar straining problems and it routinely takes me 30 minutes to get all the wort into the fermenter; so far I have not had any problems with infection.

Just use it as a learning experience for next time.

I thought that I was being a bit paranoid but this was the first time the wort was exposed for this length of time. Best advise, take this as a lesson and better prepare for next time for a quick transition into fermenter.
I'll go ahead and just start the ferment and hope for the best. I'm pitching white labs california ale WLP001 so I'll proof it and pitch it tonight after bringing the wort back to 80 F.
Thanks for the feedback!

I would be very surprised if an hour of air exposure caused contamination. Now, if a leaf or something had fallen in, I might worry, but not just being open for an hour.


TL

now that I think if it, is it normal pratice to strain after chilling or am I doing this backwards?

Xinf3 said:

now that I think if it, is it normal pratice to strain after chilling or am I doing this backwards?

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I think its normal to chill first then strain.

Straining can aerate the wort and you only want to aerate cool wort, not hot wort.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but couldn't a larger yeast starter be used to get a good fermentation going quickly be used? This would make it almost certain that your yeast is producing alcohol before the bacteria get a chance to get going.

I also chill then strain.

covered95 said:

Please correct me if I am wrong, but couldn't a larger yeast starter be used to get a good fermentation going quickly be used? This would make it almost certain that your yeast is producing alcohol before the bacteria get a chance to get going.

I also chill then strain.

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Yes, higher pitching rates lead to shorter lag times.

FWIW, I'm pretty sure its the PH level of the beer and not the alcohol content that is protective against infection. Beer yeast and lots of other organisms can thrive in high alcohol environments. Some infections even eat alcohol, not sugar.