StarSan in Barley Wine (like a half gallon!)

So, I cold crashed my barley wine, and it appears that a vaccuum was created in one of the carboys and sucked about a half gallon of nasty, 6 week old, blow off starsan solution into the blow off tube.

I didn't notice it becuase the tube was so nasty from the blowoff. I kegged both carboys and put them on CO2. They are also sitting in the freezer at 33 degrees, and I plan on leaving them there for a few months.

Question: I tasted the beer and could not detect an off flavor between the two carboys. BUT! If this survies the infection test over the next few months, is it safe to drink with all that starsan solution in there?

If i remember correctly, Star San, mixed at proper levels is safe to consume. Now, I wouldnt go around drinking it tho!

You may want to double check the bottle to verify this info....

Properly dilluted it is drinkable, and has iirc about the same amount as is in coke or pepsi, but that doesn't matter because it will chemically break down into yeast food anyway.

Charlie Talley the inventor as well as a couple folks on here have drank it.

Charlie talks about it and gives a lot of info in this basic brewing podcast. http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr03-29-07.mp3

If it was only about a half gallon in a 5 gallon batch and it were fresh, I wouldn't dump the beer.

But if it's really 6 week old backwash you may have more of an issue with infection that with it being starsan.....

It's a tough call.

I have 12 corny kegs and the room to cold store them, so I think I will let it sit since I am not waiting to drain a keg for another beer. I have listened to the pod cast, but will again now that I did this.

To your point Revvy, I ferment in a chest freezer so mold does develop on the outside of things. My biggest worry is the mold spores sitting on top of the star san solution.

Only time will tell! I'm just glad I did a 10 gallon batch in seperate carboys.

MSUConrad said:

My biggest worry is the mold spores sitting on top of the star san solution.

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Wouldnt the Star San kill those spores?

chode720 said:

Wouldnt the Star San kill those spores?

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Not if the ph had changed on the starsan in the 6 weeks it sat there. It's killing effectiveness could be neutralized by then.

If it tastes good or even ok- drink it
If it tastes bad- throw it out.

Simple as that. There's not anything there that would harm you, so taste is the only real question. Especially with a barley wine, anything that got sucked into it at that point would be dispatched with pretty quickly due to the alcohol content... unless it was acetobacter, in which case you'll have some lovely malt vinegar.

MacBruver said:

If it tastes good or even ok- drink it
If it tastes bad- throw it out.

Simple as that. There's not anything there that would harm you, so taste is the only real question. Especially with a barley wine, anything that got sucked into it at that point would be dispatched with pretty quickly due to the alcohol content... unless it was acetobacter, in which case you'll have some lovely malt vinegar.

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And I don't think it is illegal to sell malt vinegar, so with such an awesome grainbill, you might have some prime malt vinegar that you could bottle up and sell for 10 bucks a pop, and recoup your loses then.

There is a local salad bar close to work.....

MSUConrad said:

There is a local salad bar close to work.....

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This could be the start of something big...Just like Paul Neuman.

Start designing a label just in case.:rockin: