Oops I forgot to Sanitize...

so, I was brewing last night and as i went to pour the yeast into a cup of water to rehydrate, I realized I forgot to sanitize the cup. Alas, it was too late, the yeast were then swimming in a cup of what I could only assume to be the most vial, disgusting, toxic soup on the face of the earth. (actually while the cup did come from my cupboard, it was only recently used for the same exact purpose. At that time it was washed and sanitized in my dishwasher, though that was several weeks ago).

What can I expect? Death in a bottle? Special off flavors that will create the best tasting beer in the world that will only be able to be recreated by following my proprietary lackluster sanitation procedures?

Very little chance that anything bad will happen. I predict that you will make beer and it will be fine.

At worst you'll get some soured beer....at best, you'll have a fine beer. I'd lean on the later if you sure the glass was a clean one from a cupboard. There might be some bacteria in there, but chances are they won't take over if you're making sure your yeast is strong and healthy. Now if that glass was all cruddy and really looked like a cesspool, then I'm sure you'd have some pretty vial beer on your hands

Now it's up to the beer gods... I agree, I think you'll be just fine. Next time don't push it!!! The gods only forgive you, but so many times...

I had a brain fart during my last brewday, and accidentally mixed up 1/2 strength sanitizing solution. Everything used got 1/2 strength. I believe it is highly likely that there are billions upon billions of bacteria cells and swine flu viruses in there. Hardly any diseases were killed.

Hooray for beer resilience! As of bottling day , it tasted terrific. I never knew several pounds of diseased filth could taste so good!

The first beer I ever made I didn't sanitize a damn thing. It was as good of a brew as you could ask for.

The last beer I made, I forgot to sanitize my autosiphon before I transferred it to the bottling bucket. Came out just fine. I felt pretty stoooopid though.

*slaps forehead* OOPS, i've forgotten to sanitze the cup I rehydrate my yeast in for the last 15 batches or so...(meaning i never do)

Granted it's a good process if you think of it, but not doing it won't automatically gaurentee that you ruined you beer.

Your beer is actually much stronger than even most of our screwups....In fact take a read of this thread, it will give you an idea......not sanitizing your cup is the LEAST of the things people have managed to do, and yet, not screwed up their beer.

Relax and read this. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

Thanks guys, I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal. However, I now have bigger issues. No signs of fermentation after two days! Signal the "give it time responses"! WoooOO OOOoooOO WOOOOOOoooo



No seriously. No sign at all. Gravity is the same at 46 hours. I only checked because there has been no sign of activity in the airlock, and there is no sign of bubbles in the beer. What are my options? Oh, this is my third batch (first was a Brewers Best American Style Pale Ale, and the other was a free Hefe kit from Craigslist) both turned out great!

Brewer's Best California Style Imperial Pale Ale
INGREDIENTS (INCLUDED):
6.6 lbs. Plain Amber Malt Extract added at 15 min
2 lbs. Plain Amber Dry Malt Extract added at 60 min
1 lb. Crushed Crystal Malt 120L 6.5
2 oz. Columbus Hops (Bittering) Added at 55min
1 oz. Columbus Hops (Finishing) added at 15 min
1 oz. Columbus Hops (Aroma) added 1/2 at 5min and 1/2 at 2 min

1 each Beer Yeast (dry Nottingham yeast)

OG 1.070 (recipe said it should be between 1.050-1.060 )
Boiled 3 gallons
pitched at 82 degrees

Relax, drink aa beer, have sex with the wife and if that dont ease your mind..... Well frankely this isnt the hobby for you... orrrr You need a new wife!

lol thats funny sh't there.

Ha thanks! I'm relaxed. Just looking for reassurance.

When you rehydrated your yeast, did you slowly bring the hydrated yeast to the temperature of your wort. If not the yeast may have been shocked. They'll come back though.

not really, I poured the packet of dried yeast into the warm water (while I didn't take a temp reading of the water, I felt it and it wasn't "hot") I let the yeast sit in the cup for a about 10 minutes, dumped it into the bucket, and reinstalled the lid.

I bought a couple packets of Nottingham yeast over my lunch break today, one to repitch and the others to keep on hand for future batches. I plan on repitching when I get home. It will be close to 70 hours by then. I really hope this works, because it would suck to have to toss this batch.

WHy do you feel you need to repitch? Because you didn't sanitize your cup??????

Have you taken a hydrometer reading yet???? That's the only way you know if your yeast is working or not....and what leads you to believe it's not? Yeast's these days don't not take off unless they were pitched in boiling wort..the reason you see so many threads about stuck fermentation is not really that the yeast was bad, it's because the brewer went by something other than hydrometer readings as some sort of fermentation gauge (meaning their airlock isn't bubbling which means noting really and shouldn't be used as a gauge), and they are nervous noobs....
Fermentation is not always "dynamic," just because you don't SEE anything happenning, doesn't mean that anything's wrong, and also doesn't mean that the yeast are still not working dilligantly away, doing what they've been doing for over 4,000 years....

You can't know if your fermentation is "stuck" unless you take a gravity reading.

Airlock bubbling, lack of airlock bubbling, stopped airlock bubbling really is not an indicator of what is happening to your beer. It is NOT a fermentation gauge, it is a valve to release excess pressure, excess CO2...NOT AN ACCURATE INSTRUMENT....

So, get out of the idea of using "airlock bubbling" as a sign of fermentation, you have to realize that airlock activity is not an accurate indication of fermentation...an airlock is a vent for excess co2, nothing more...and half of my beers never bubble.

Read this for why arilock analysing is useless, and what is the only gauge of ferementation...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/1217925-post3.html

And there is a link to my blog in there as well....The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in.....

If you don't have a hydrometer, get one..But don't try to fix something unless first you actually know it's broken......

So why do you think you need to re-pitch???????

*Edit* Just read that ^ Up there. That will answer your question. u go to him first revvy.

Im surprised you didn't reiterate why NOT tossing your beer is a good idea.

Revvy- First, this has nothing to do with not sanitizing the yeast rehydration cup. Secondly, I wrote in post 9 that my gravity had remained the same (1.070) since pitching the yeast. That my initial indicators of no fermintation were that there was no activity in the airlock, and there was no visible sign of fermination going on in the bucket (looking thru the airlock grommet). That prompted me to take the gravity reading with my Hydrometer. Which, again read at 1.070 yesterday afternoon.

This morning I looked again and while I have not taken a Hydro reading yet, I did not see any visible signs of fermination (airlock activity or foam forming on top of the beer).

When I get home from work I will take another Hydro reading to see if it is still at 1.070 and if so, I will repitch (provided that is what the all-knowing-interwebs thinks is the appropriate thing to do). My main concern here is not waiting too long to have fermination take hold and end up with a spoiled batch of beer.

Orangeandblue- Tossing the batch will be the last thing I do. But how long do I wait before I repitch?

imprez25 said:

Revvy- First, this has nothing to do with not sanitizing the yeast rehydration cup. Secondly, I wrote in post 9 that my gravity had remained the same (1.070) since pitching the yeast. That my initial indicators of no fermintation were that there was no activity in the airlock, and there was no visible sign of fermination going on in the bucket (looking thru the airlock grommet). That prompted me to take the gravity reading with my Hydrometer. Which, again read at 1.070 yesterday afternoon.

This morning I looked again and while I have not taken a Hydro reading yet, I did not see any visible signs of fermination (airlock activity or foam forming on top of the beer).

When I get home from work I will take another Hydro reading to see if it is still at 1.070 and if so, I will repitch (provided that is what the all-knowing-interwebs thinks is the appropriate thing to do). My main concern here is not waiting too long to have fermination take hold and end up with a spoiled batch of beer.

Orangeandblue- Tossing the batch will be the last thing I do. But how long to I wait before I repitch?

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Sorry dude....You must realize I answer A LOT of New brewer threads a day (heck in an hour), so some of the details get lost...Kudos on using your hydrometer, and pitch away when you get home....if it's been 70 hours, go for it!!!

I brewed a Amber Ale one week ago today. I took a hydrometer reading after the first 56 hours and the SG reading was the same......1.060. The next morning I woke up and my airlock was going nuts. I haven't taken another reading yet. I would give it one more day....but I am a Noob so I dont know anything.......YET!!!!!

Revvy said:

Sorry dude....You must realize I answer A LOT of New brewer threads a day (heck in an hour), so some of the details get lost...Kudos on using your hydrometer, and pitch away when you get home....if it's been 70 hours, go for it!!!

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Hey, no sweat, and I meant nothing negative in my post. Unfortunatly, the interwebs give little indications in the way of sarcassim or inflection. I appreciate your advice and trust you know what you are talking about.

butta247 said:

I brewed a Amber Ale one week ago today. I took a hydrometer reading after the first 56 hours and the SG reading was the same......1.060. The next morning I woke up and my airlock was going nuts. I haven't taken another reading yet. I would give it one more day....but I am a Noob so I dont know anything.......YET!!!!!

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I'm thinking I'll retest tonight to see what, if anything is going on, and then give it until tommorow morning before making the decision to repitch.


Now to a new question: Rehydrating the repitch? or just dump the dry on top of the batch? If it comes down to this, what should I do?

imprez25 said:

Now to a new question: Rehydrating the repitch? or just dump the dry on top of the batch? If it comes down to this, what should I do?

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I stopped rehydrating in water a long time ago....instead I sprinkle it on top of the wort, let it rehydrate on there for 15-30 minutes, then I give the fermenter a little shake to mix the rehydrate yeast....

That is actually one of the recommended ways of using dry yeast on the fermentis (safale/saflager) website....

Great thanks! That's what I'll do. It seems that the jury is split on rehydration. Some never do others aways do. In the three batches I have under my belt, two of them have used dry yeast, I have attempted to rehydrate them and both have had rather large lags, the first took about 40 hours to start and this one is now pushing up to 70 hours. The one liquid smack pack I used for a hefe took off in about 6 hours and fermented down fairly good.

Back in my Mr.Beer days I would just sprinkle the dry yeast on top of the wort and I never had aproblem with getting fermintation going. It seems like I will go back to that method.

Revvy said:

I stopped rehydrating in water a long time ago....instead I sprinkle it on top of the wort, let it rehydrate on there for 15-30 minutes, then I give the fermenter a little shake to mix the rehydrate yeast....

That is actually one of the recommended ways of using dry yeast on the fermentis (safale/saflager) website....

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Hey Revvy,

The first beer I did was a BB American Amber Ale which we just sprinkled on top and stirred in immediately. I believe it was nottingham yeast

The 2nd beer that is still in my primary is a BB Weizenbier, which I rehydrated the yeast per the instructions first, but I don't remember what type it was.

In any case, the yeast I rehydrated took off like crazy, getting krausen all the way up to the lid of my ale pail. The yeast that was not rehydrated was more of a slow, steady, fermentation. There are so many different factors that I don't know if it had anything to do with rehydrating or not, but to me it seems to make sense that it would be beneficial. But would I know, I'm just a noob :cross:

The reason for rehydration of yeast is osmotic pressure. The sugar in the wort literally collapses the cellular wall of the yeast(Some of them). I know there is probably a really long scientific explanation for this but kiss my ass. This really isnt a factor untill you do really big beers. I have done it both ways and both work. I did a RIS without hydrating, and i've also hydrated for a kolsh. Neither seemed to matter. I'm with revvy on this one, pitch it dry and let her buck!

Imprez25:

Welcome to HBT. Don't mind Revvy -- he's cut-and pasted that same answer so many times, his fingers are numb. The over-under on his meltdown is August 15. :wink:

Do I know you from NASIOC?

Seriously, trust in the Rev. His advice is good.

I've done the opposite of Revvy. I started out as a yeast sprinkler and now I rehydrate. I haven't really noticed a difference, but all the Mr Wizard stuff about osmotic shock made me do it.

jds said:

Imprez25:

Welcome to HBT. Don't mind Revvy -- he's cut-and pasted that same answer so many times, his fingers are numb. The over-under on his meltdown is August 15. :wink:

Do I know you from NASIOC?

Seriously, trust in the Rev. His advice is good.

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Yeah, I've been on NASIOC for about 8 years. I use to have a 98 RS coupe and then a 2002 WRX Wagon. Sold both though. I'm not on there as much any more, except for the occasional visit to teh OT.


Well I went ahead and repitched a packet of dry Nottingham yeast last night at about 71 hours. We'll see what happens from here. Before I repitched my gravity remained at 1.070. This morning there was a very thin layer of foam on the top of the beer. So hopefully we have some major action going on by tonight. :fingerscrossed:

I have another question: Would using tap water for this brew have anything to do with this issue? The first two brews I used bottled drinking water and I thought I would give my tap water a try. We regularly drink the water unfiltered as it is fairly neutral tasting and doesn't have any harsh clorine smell/taste. However, this is something I didn't think of until yesterday, we have a watersoftener that is hooked up to our kitchen sink's water. I didn't boil my top off water (about 2.5 gallons) before adding it to the fermentor.

Thanks for everyones help.

imprez25 said:

I have another question: Would using tap water for this brew have anything to do with this issue? The first two brews I used bottled drinking water and I thought I would give my tap water a try. We regularly drink the water unfiltered as it is fairly neutral tasting and doesn't have any harsh clorine smell/taste. However, this is something I didn't think of until yesterday, we have a watersoftener that is hooked up to our kitchen sink's water. I didn't boil my top off water (about 2.5 gallons) before adding it to the fermentor.

Thanks for everyones help.

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nah, usually, if it's good enough to drink, it's good enough for the yeasties....

so the softener wouldn't cause problems?

I don't know. Usually, water that tastes good is fine. I would guess that for extract brewing, you'd be OK.

If you were mashing (e.g. all-grain brewing), I'd recommend you skip the softened water, because there will be reduced alkalinity and increased sodium from the softener, potentially affecting mash chemistry and final flavor.

I'm happy to hear that. I'm just trying to figure out what I did to cause the yeast to not want to eat up that delicious wort.

WE HAVE ACTIVE FERMINTATION!!! wife just called, airlock is very active! now we wait....

Newbie ?
Will the speed of fermantation affect the taste or quality of the beer?

v99