First wasted batch

Great. made it to 30 batches before having to dump one. Just went to move the bucket out of the chest freezer, and the blowoff jug is empty. Blowoff tube sucked half a gallon of starsan back into the beer. Freakin' beerstarsanwater is an inch over the krausen line.

Did you leave the beer in there a long time? Did the temperature change suddenly? Usually the yeast is always making CO2 and that would not happen.

Man....you know people have made beer with half a fermenter full....Even Jamil IIRC.

I have not dumped it yet, Hey! This is my first "should I dump it" thread it 572 posts!
I kind of forgot about it in the chest freezer. And yeah, I turned down the temp from 64 to 38 a few weeks ago to crash before bottling.

Um, how should I avoid this next time, and should I siphon the starsan off the top and bottle some of it? The top inch or so is clear.

I doubt the StarSan in there would ruin the beer. It's worth keeping to see. It has a slight acid taste but it's not horrible, with only 10% Star San I bet it's OK.

When I crash cooled my lager I affixed an empty airlock and added the Star San to the airlock after the temp had dropped.

Ahh, screw it. I should know better. I racked everything below the obvious clear layer to a secondary, I'll bottle tonight. Bet it's nasty. Guess we'll see!

How to avoid in future - change from blowoff to triple-bubble after active primary slows down past the need for blowoff - if you don't put too much liquid (me like cheap wodka) the triple-bubble breathes both ways without liquid getting involved.

Also - don't put a half-gallon in the blowoff to begin with - all you need is enough to submerge the end of the tube.

Heh, I have an excuse. Bubbler won't fit in chest freezer. I was about to dump some older starsan, so I just poured it into a milk jug and stuck the blowoff in that. Laziness pays negative dividends....

Although starsan is not normally a problem if you get it in your beer, if the starsan in your your blowoff bucket was full of nasty krausen (which, if your beer was actually in need of a blowoff tube, it probably was), chances are the sanitizing power of starsan was dramatically reduced if not eliminated so it probably wasn't exactly sanitary any more and therefore probably not a great thing to get back into the beer.

I would have racked the beer anyway as you did, however I keg and force carb so I have a lot less fear of the effects of an infection... Since you're bottling I'd just keep a watchful eye on the bottles, looking for gushers, etc.

Chances are you'll still be fine, but you never know.

I didn't need a blowoff, just there is no room in my chest freezer for a bucket or carboy + stopper and airlock, so I use a stopper and a pvc T fitting and run a blowoff. The starsan never had actual blowoff in it.

Look into adding a collar or making a bubbler out of your milk jug. Plumb the blow of hose into the side of the jug and silicone to seal around edges. Then put a grommet through the lid to accept a standard airlock. Fill just with starsan above hose line (I'd suggest putting as low as you could to minimize solution needed) and twist on airlock cap.

Good Idea. I need to come up with something. I am worried about heat loss with a collar. It's Texas. My garage gets up to 120 or more in the summer.

Throw some blue rigid foam on the inside edge of the collar and seal it all up really well.

Okay, dug this thread out of the graveyard just to let you know...

THE BEER IS GREAT!!! NEVER THROW OUT BEER!!!!

^If there's one thing I learned within five minutes of finding this site, it's definitely that. Congrats.

And it usually is!!!