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BrettMan

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Ok - so I decided to go ahead and brew up some beer last night after having a few drinks. By the time the boil was over, I was getting a little sloppy and had a few mishaps. First, as I was cooling the wort, I accidentally broke my floating thermometer IN the wort. Basically it got dropped in from a foot or two and the tip busted on the bottom of the brewpot. Only the glass broke at the tip - the red bulb was still intact and the metal weight was all intact. I went ahead and kept chugging along figuring that by the time I rack to the primary, then the secondary, then the bottling bucket, then to the bottles, then leave sediment in the bottom of the bottles, there won't be any glass left. Is that a reasonable assumption?

Next - the tip of my racking cane fell off as I was pulling it out of the primary - so it's still in there and will be until I rack it into the secondary next week. Is that going to cause off flavors?

Lastly, I tried to use a blow-off tube (1" ID, 1 1/4" OD) rather than an airlock becuase I only have one and it's on my secondary right now. When I tried sticking the tube in the carboy before starting, it was pretty snug. However, once the tube was cleaned and had been soaking in an Iotopher bath for a while, it slipped right in and wasn't that snug anymore. Still tight, but probably not airtight. Since I was drunk by this time I didn't really care and left it. Any problem with a not-so-airtight seal?

I think it'll all be fine, but thought I'd check with more experienced brewers...
 
I made beastII on saturday after a few (read a lot) beers. To cut a long story short, when I pushed in the airlock I pushed the grommet into the beer and ended up using silicon sealant (bathroom style stuff) and now the airlock is at 45 degrees and has a one inch clump of silica sealing it in. It is most def airtight though - i made sure of that!
 
BrettMan said:
First, as I was cooling the wort, I accidentally broke my floating thermometer IN the wort. Basically it got dropped in from a foot or two and the tip busted on the bottom of the brewpot. Only the glass broke at the tip - the red bulb was still intact and the metal weight was all intact. I went ahead and kept chugging along figuring that by the time I rack to the primary, then the secondary, then the bottling bucket, then to the bottles, then leave sediment in the bottom of the bottles, there won't be any glass left. Is that a reasonable assumption?

Personally, there is no way I would risk drinking a beer with even the slightest chance of have shattered glass in it. That's a dealbreaker for me, no pun intended. I say dump it.
 
Torchiest said:
Personally, there is no way I would risk drinking a beer with even the slightest chance of have shattered glass in it. That's a dealbreaker for me, no pun intended. I say dump it.

I missed that bit about the broken glass. (monday morning and still on third coffee).

I would dump it. Not worth it. Put it down to experience. Or filter it properly. I would just dump it but I really hate broken glass :eek:
 
Sacrifice the few beers at the bottom of the primary and you should be fine, but next time, don't break glass in your beer!
 
Broken glass would make me worry about every sip ,but I don't know that I'd dump it. I'd probably leave a good couple of inches at the bottom when you move it to the secondary
 
rdwj said:
Broken glass would make me worry about every sip ,but I don't know that I'd dump it. I'd probably leave a good couple of inches at the bottom when you move it to the secondary

Ohh err, Mrs Grimsdale...
titter titter....
 
So, I just got over my hangover and cleaned out the brewpot. I found glass and some of those little pellets that weigh down the thermometer at the bottom. It had to be most of the glass since it was just a tiny bit to begin with. I'm actually not concerned about the glass since it sinks and I'll be sure to leave a couple inches when I rack it to the secondary. I'm more concerned with the plastic tip in there and now I'm wondering what those little pellets are made of - lead perhaps? Anyone know?
 
Probably lead, but there isn't likely to be enough to worry about. The physical amount of metal and the exposure times would mean almost nothing got into the wort.

I'd go with using a mesh bag on the racking cane.
 
david_42 said:
Probably lead, but there isn't likely to be enough to worry about. The physical amount of metal and the exposure times would mean almost nothing got into the wort.

I'd go with using a mesh bag on the racking cane.


I agree with david about the lead, firstly lead is made out to be a much bigger hazard than it really is, not saying that lead isn't something to be concerned about, just that the amount of metal that was in your wort is really negligible.

I don't know much about the mesh bags, but from the looks of it, that is the way to go, good luck with your beer!

-Matt
 
This batch is AHS Red Wheat. I'm going to call it Lead Red. I'll just have people sign disclaimers before they drink any...
 
ID-TEN-TANGO! Who says glass doesn't float? Sure it does. As does steel (ships) and cement (the landing docks at Normandy were hollowed out cement forms that were floated out into the water then sunk).:D

Even make a sewing needle float? Try it. Take a sewing needle and place it on top of a piece of tissue and place the tissue in a sink of water. Allow the tissue to get saturated and then push the tissue under. The needle will float as long as the water tension has not been disturbed.;)

Glass doesn't float...HA!!
 
BrettMan said:
This batch is AHS Red Wheat. I'm going to call it Lead Red. I'll just have people sign disclaimers before they drink any...

One way to put lead in your pencil (or at least though it) anyhow...
 
Glass? What, me worry? Last year I had my rubber stopper incident--I pushed the rubber stopper into the carboy when I was trying to put my airlock in. The consensus here was that I should just leave it in there instead of trying to fish it out (the theory being that food grade materials wouldn't impart any taste into the beer). The result? The stopper smelled like beer and the beer tasted like rubber. I drank it, though.

At least the glass won't affect the taste!
 
Back to the original title of this thread, isn't it almost necessary to consume a number of homebrews during a brewing session? I think if you don't you run the risk of being too uptight and nervous which could cause the beer to spoil.
 
My whole thing is, I'm so OCD, I never would've continued after the thermometer broke. I would've immediately dumped it, and obsessively washed, scrubbed, and rinsed my pot over and over for the rest of the day. Hell, I may have dumped the pot too!
 
My rule is never start a brew if not 100% sober and never more than 2 before the boil. I try not to drink more than 3 before the carboy get put in it's final resting place. Maybe one while cleaning. That way I can still have a couple when I've finnished. Otherwise I'd be :drunk: part way through. I really need to get 80 pints of session stuff going.
I really don't fancy flames, boiling wort and glass if I'm :drunk:.
 
orfy said:
My rule is never start a brew if not 100% sober and never more than 2 before the boil. I try not to drink more than 3 before the carboy get put in it's final resting place. Maybe one while cleaning. That way I can still have a couple when I've finnished. Otherwise I'd be :drunk: part way through. I really need to get 80 pints of session stuff going.
I really don't fancy flames, boiling wort and glass if I'm :drunk:.

You are really too hard on yourself...

Drinking while brewing is what establishes your house flavor - fact!

Glass shards will gently scrape your tongue (and other stuff) allowing you to gain the full wonder of that brew's flavor!

The only way you will be harmed by lead is if dumping the whole batch really pisses someone off... Drink on!
 
orfy said:
My rule is never start a brew if not 100% sober and never more than 2 before the boil. I try not to drink more than 3 before the carboy get put in it's final resting place. Maybe one while cleaning. That way I can still have a couple when I've finnished. Otherwise I'd be :drunk: part way through. I really need to get 80 pints of session stuff going.
I really don't fancy flames, boiling wort and glass if I'm :drunk:.

Part of the fun is drinking brew while making it. I started a mostly-mash brew on Friday night at 8:30. I'd had 1.5 beers at dinner and a glass of wine at a friend's house after that. I was feeling it. But it all went smoothly and seamlessly...even though I continued to drink while I was brewing. Hell, I finished out the night with Bell's Expedition Stout, which is over 11% ABV.

Though, I gotta say, that's only because most of this stuff is second nature now. I don't get sloshed, but I get a pretty happy buzz on. However, if I was just starting out, and I didn't know what I was doing, I would probably remain as sober as possible. As it stands now, much of those 6 hours is spent waiting. I usually read a book or watch a DVD on my laptop.
 
I usually don't fully recall my brew sessions:drunk: :D I guess mostly because I kinda go into "auto-pilot" mode and always have a HB going whilst making another batch. Never to a dangerous, falling down, passing out point, but I don't OCD over every step. I've learned early on that you have to try really hard to screw it up. As long as you sanitize pretty good, don't let "foreign" stuff get into your brew (a thermometer may qualify) and be able to repeat the processess over and over, it will be fine.

I have to admit though, I would OCD over the little lead balls and broken glass being in my beer, wanting to find every piece. I agree with the filter thingy, it would be the only way I would stop worrying about it.
 
First off, whether or not the glass remains on the surface tension or it sinks, you still have broken bits of glass in there. Are you 100% sure no mercury leaked out?

I would dump. It'll only cost you another $30-$40 to brew again.

As for the rubber gasket, I think almost everyone pushes one in at some point.
 
Personally, I think this situation calls for dumping, too. How can you RDWHAHB when you're constantly worried that the HB is either going to cause internal bleeding or mercury poisoning? $40 lesson learned.

FWIW, I don't drink a lot when brewing; I get clumsy too quickly, which isn't a good idea (especially given how little extra room room there is on the Banjo cooker). Good time for a brew or two, not a good time for too many more than that (at least for me).

I wonder how much of a correlation there is between broken hydrometers and homebrew intake... :confused:
 
Brewpastor said:
I agree, sometimes the beer gods simply demand a sacrifice and I would rather it be the beer then my gut.

Did a Pastor just authorize a sacrifice for a pagan god?

Damn, BP, if you'd been at my church, I'd probably not be an atheist today.
 
I wouldn't bet on it! But maybe you'd have started brewing a bit earlier. "OK youth group, this weekend's High School retreat is going to explore the idea of creation through the art of brewing."
 
the_bird said:
Personally, I think this situation calls for dumping, too. How can you RDWHAHB when you're constantly worried that the HB is either going to cause internal bleeding or mercury poisoning? $40 lesson learned.

As others have noted, any glass will surely sink. The chances of somehow getting glass shards singled out from the trub and sucked into the siphon tube, twice, and then getting poured into a glass instead of just sticking to the bottom of the bottle with the rest of the yeast, are minuscule. Using proper filtering, they are even more minuscule. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. But to each his own. As for mercury...I thought thermometers stopped using mercury years ago.
 
I'm with you Evan!

I'm keeping it and will drink it proudly!

It's bubbling away and making all kinds of crazy beer stank. (I mean that in a good way) I'll let you all know if I go blind, or crazy, or suffer from lacerations of the uvula!

:mug:
 
Yeah, it'll PROBABLY be OK, but........

Personally, I don't think I'd be able to relax and forget about that 0.001% chance that it wasn't fine. That's just me.
 
the_bird said:
Yeah, it'll PROBABLY be OK, but........

Personally, I don't think I'd be able to relax and forget about that 0.001% chance that it wasn't fine. That's just me.

I know, I know. I get that way about being struck by a meteorite. ;)
 
Evan! said:
I know, I know. I get that way about being struck by a meteorite. ;)

My biggest worries revolve around roundhouse kicks to the head. It's not LIKELY to happen, but still - always show the proper respect.
 
I avoid the kitchen and the bathroom as a general rule, seeing how most household accidents and death happen in these two areas.
 
Glad to hear some of the old pros share my concerns about internal damage. Working at a bar, I've witnessed enough weird incidents with broken glass that I want no part of it if it can at all be helped.

Also, the most beers I've ever had while brewing was two. I'm very fastidious, and I like to be sharp as a tack while brewing. Again, bar experience informs this. I've worked with plenty of people who got drunk on the job and acted fools.
 
Ok - a little update for those that might be interested. I racked this beer to my secondary tonight. I tied a nylon mesh bag to the end of the auto-siphon to filter out any potential glass and/or lead pellets from the broken thermometer. Once it was racked over, I poured all of the trub and yeast and everything else into a big mixing bowl and inspected thouroghly for any glass or pellets that may have made it into the primary to begin with. I found absolutley nothing at all - except for that racking cane tip that dropped in when I brewed it....

So - I think I'm in the clear. I tasted it after taking my hydrometer reading and it tasted pretty good for a green beer. No off flavors that I could detect.
 
A couple insights gained when I did the same thing a couple of months ago; the metal pellets are not lead, and the red stuff in the thermometer is alcohol, the old school silver thermometers are the ones with mercury. So I wouldn't worry about it.
 
I made beastII on saturday after a few (read a lot) beers. To cut a long story short, when I pushed in the airlock I pushed the grommet into the beer and ended up using silicon sealant (bathroom style stuff) and now the airlock is at 45 degrees and has a one inch clump of silica sealing it in. It is most def airtight though - i made sure of that!

I have done this too. I'm not handy enough to use silicon tho'. I just wrapped a rubber band around the bottom of the airlock several times and shoved it down into the lid. I had music in the airlock in less than 12 hours and the IPA tasted fine so it all worked out.
 

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