My first brew is ruined!!

I originally had it in a closet but my yeast were a little to happy and it overflowed a bit. SWMBO has a nose like wolverine and could smell it even though she never goes in that closet... So instead she moved it under my sink in our bathroom (makes no sense) so it has been there hidden and out of the way for the past two weeks. Yesterday prior to having to rush out of the house I placed it in the cooler with an ice water bath to cold crash it and stuck it in the corner of the bathroom and planned to move it to the garage when I got back. Needless to say I got one of my splitting migraines during dinner that completely incapacitates me and I came straight home and crashed out for the night. It was sad that all this destruction was happening no more then 15 feet away from me in the bathroom while I was comatose in the bedroom.

After getting everything out that looked suspect and making sure I didn't smell any off smells that weren't there before I think it will be ok. I wonder if it might help that since it was cold crashing and the temp was so low that it might inhibit any growth that might take place. Of course once I warm it up to bottle condition it will probably negate that.

Ahh man what a story. I feel for you. I am in the midst of brewing my first. Its fermenting as we speak. I'm waiting for my dogs to knock the bucket over or something crazy to happen. Jk, you're story will make me more careful, just cant wait til fermenting is over. If you haven't already, start brewing brew number two ; D

Jay1 said:

I'd drink it. Ill bet its fine. As far as the kids; cold crash em.

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Do you rack your kids before you cold crash them.? Curious minds want to know.

Hold the phone! I just reread the original post. A 5 year old pulled the lid off the bucket? That is a strong kid! I struggle to get mine off everytime.

It's your first batch, just bottle it. It's gonna be great

Bottle it, drink it, name it "Little Bastard Ale."

I dunked my whole arm in a bucket after pitching when my grommet popped out (I panicked) and I'm sure I had nicotine and dog lick all over said arm when I went in.

One of my best batches ever.

But, spit? Really? Are you sure? Who spits in something?

I guess you will answer that question, "What would a beer fermeted with e.coli taste like?"

SiriusStarr said:

Just wait, it will be the best batch you'll ever brew, but you'll never be able to replicate it.

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The man speaks the truth, that's how my "swamp water" stout is. I came home to find the air lock in the swamp cooler, my dished lid covered in swamp water (so who knows how much dirty water funneled in), and match box cars all over...and it's delicious!

sjohnv3 said:

Hold the phone! I just reread the original post. A 5 year old pulled the lid off the bucket? That is a strong kid! I struggle to get mine off everytime.

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well it was a mr beer keg so this was no godlike feat of strength

timduncan200021 said:

I wonder if it might help that since it was cold crashing and the temp was so low that it might inhibit any growth that might take place. Of course once I warm it up to bottle condition it will probably negate that.

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I doubt that its being cold right now will help much, since whatever is in there will still be there when it warms up. However, take some comfort that this is just about the most resistant your beer will ever be to infection now that it's got its alcohol content.

So I bottled it tonight after two weeks fermenting, and the last 3 of those days it was cold crashed. I got 23.5 bottles with the last half bottle being an experiment of a high carbonated beer. I used brewers best carbonated tablets, as per instructions it's says four tablets for medium carbonation and five for high carbonation. I did half my batch with 4 and half my batch with five so that I can see for future reference what they really do.

The cold crash really helped to clear the beer up the trub was cemented to the bottom of the lbk and didn't move all the way till the end. The beer was crystal clear, I was really pleased with that. I did not see any toilet paper particulate or any other matter throughout the beer and an inspection of the trub didn't produce any foreign matter as well.

Thank you guys for talking sense into me and telling me not to throw it out, I think I was just a lil pissed off at first. Now I have two weeks in the bottle to condition and then going to do two weeks in the fridge, it should be ready just in time for the Super Bowl : )

I say bottle it up and save it for when your kids are of drinking age, then share it with them!

So how did your brews turn out?