Super major screw up! Few will screw up as badly as this during bottling

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hairy

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I type this with a heavy heart. I just kegged an american pale ale. There was nothing wrong with the beer. It is just a simple extract brew with generous amounts of cascade hops.

I am using 5 L mini kegs. I have about 20L of brew and therefore I prepared 4 kegs. By the time I fill my 2nd keg, for some reason, the bottling tube dropped into the keg and there is no way that I can get it out without pouring all the beer out. I tried using chop sticks to grab it but it just refuse to come out. And at that point in time, I have 2.5 kegs of beer more to go. I have no extra bottling tube.

I have no choice but to fill a jug with beer from my fermenter and this caused a lot of splashing to occur. To make things worse, i need to pour the beer from the jug into the keg, causing more splashing in the keg and also wasting precious beer in the process. Now i have 4 kegs of highly possibly oxidised beer. I will attempt to force carbonate 2 of the kegs hoping that oxidation will be halted.

I have been brewing for 3 years and this is the first time that I made such a major screw up. Oxidation is only one part of the problem, I am also afraid of potential infection from the way I transferred the beer.

Oh well. Guess i better finish the beer first before they all develop cardboard tastes or become vinegar. Anyone had oxidation problems before? How severe is the threat of oxidation?
 
Probably not as bad as you think. You could always purge them of O2 and see if that helps. In all reality though it's an APA and you will probably drink it before too many of the ill effects take hold. Also, sometimes the best course of action is to dunk your hand in sanatizer and go for it that way.
 
The mini keg has such a small opening that it is not possible for my hand to go in. I would have stuffed my hand in if i can. The design of the keg is obviously not that good. Well, these design problems dun usually matter until you run into a problem.
 
Sooooo, why didn't you risk just the one keg with the tube in it (by emptying it, retrievinbg the tube, and re-filling it) rather than fill 2 more without the tube?
 
Purge the headspace with CO2 then naturally carbonate them. The yeast will take up the O2 present in solution, so oxidation won't be a problem.

Or just drink them quickly, oxidation is a long term issue, not short term.
 
Sooooo, why didn't you risk just the one keg with the tube in it (by emptying it, retrievinbg the tube, and re-filling it) rather than fill 2 more without the tube?

well good point. The thought did not occur to me. Probably cos I was in panic. Composure is obviously not my strongest trait.
 
Why are you using a bottling wand anyway to fill kegs? Just put a clamp on the hose to stop flow between kegs. This would prevent the same thing from happening again.
 
well good point. The thought did not occur to me. Probably cos I was in panic. Composure is obviously not my strongest trait.

Kepala pening lah!

Ahhhh. Singapore. the only place in the world I have ever had to import my rental car for a day trip. And what the fook is the deal with the dang top up cards, for EVERYTHING! Nice city, wierd systems.
 
well good point. The thought did not occur to me. Probably cos I was in panic. Composure is obviously not my strongest trait.

We all think the worst when we're forced to break a cardinal rule. I have lamented over many batches that turned out fine.
RDWHAHB
 
Curious. Are there many kedai in S'pore that offer HB supply?

Wife is from Melaka Msia and we joke about moving and retireing to tropical life. Have looked at property in Johor Baru as well. A mere skip away from S'pore.

Thoughts were to live in JB (you can take the girl from malaysia but can't take malaysia from the girl) and work in S'pore. Inshallah.
 
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