Tap water splashed into cooled wort...

I had finally got it cooled down, slip of the hand resulted in some tap water splashing in. Not very much. I just went again and pitched yeast and put it away. Are there any chances of this messing up the batch?

There is always a chance, but I think you will be fine.
rdwhahb

call it beer and you're gold

I think you will be fine. I had a hose to my IC spring a leak once mid cooling. Nothing to do but pitch and hope. Everything was fine and the oktoberfest was quite good.

What's the worst case scenario?

bradicalism said:

What's the worst case scenario?

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It's highly infected and undrinkable, but I really feel you will be fine.

Fingers crossed. How will I know?

Better send me several bottles for testing.

bradicalism said:

Fingers crossed. How will I know?

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you'll know

Happened to me on my Hefeweizen a few weeks ago. I said a few choice words, then just stopped worrying and proceeded like it never happened.

Beer tastes fine.

Is there a chance? Yup. A lot of little things we do and don't do add a chance of infection or this or that. At the end of the day, 1 or 2 little things will likely have no impact. Not worth worrying about. I'd say that little splash of tap water lowered the likelihood that your beer turns out great to a meager 99.98%.

You're ****ed man. Better dump it.

J/K you will be fine. RDWHAHB

Let it ferment out, bottle it up and send it to everyone who responded to this post. We'll tell you if there is a problem.

Most likely fine....

bradicalism said:

What's the worst case scenario?

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You see what happened when they crossed the stream in Ghostbusters?

Seriosuly you will make good beer. Worst case scenario is it gets worse and worse over time; the fix, drink it fast!

Haha thanks everyone I feel much better!

bradicalism said:

I had finally got it cooled down, slip of the hand resulted in some tap water splashing in. Not very much. I just went again and pitched yeast and put it away. Are there any chances of this messing up the batch?

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I had some water from the ice bath (which had unsanitized ice packs in it) get in my primary just before pitching the yeast. Beer turned out great, no infection.


here is my thread about it:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=204885

I've had beers turn infected, despite all of my best efforts. I also brewed a beer where I unwittingly stuck my bare, unsanitized hand into the wort to retrieve a hops bag that stuck in the inlet of the kettle valve, and it turned out just fine.

You never know.

Don't borrow trouble. I'm betting your beer will be fine.

When I first started brewing and used to do partial volume boils I would usually top up the fermenter with a couple gallons of water straight from the tap. A lot of people do this. Tap water is pretty clean. You'll be fine.

peterj said:

When I first started brewing and used to do partial volume boils I would usually top up the fermenter with a couple gallons of water straight from the tap. A lot of people do this. Tap water is pretty clean. You'll be fine.

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Yep, I still do the occasional partial boil and I add water from the tap directly to a sanitized better bottle (then add crushed campden). I usually spray the faucet with star san because it makes me feel better but you should be fine.

Pour yourself a glass of tap water. Drink it. Are you afraid of getting sick?

If the answer is "no", odds are pretty good that your beer will be just fine.

Phew I feel much better! I had a feeling it would be totally fine but you google it and people act like wort is the most volatile thing ever just waiting to become infected by anything.

bradicalism said:

Phew I feel much better! I had a feeling it would be totally fine but you google it and people act like wort is the most volatile thing ever just waiting to become infected by anything.

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Well, it is and it isn't. People tend to exaggerate a bit to really beat into the newbies the importance of good sanitation practices. They really are important.

And wort IS a concentrated sugar solution after all. If you're not careful, wild yeasts and bacteria can easily take over. It's an ideal environment for bacteria and wild yeast just as much as it is for the brewing yeast you pitch.

That being said, I've done a lot of stupid $#!t on brew days over the years I've been brewing, and I haven't managed to infect a single batch yet. Though I've had other people's homebrews that were clearly infected, so it certainly is a possibility.

I am OCD-ish with my cleanliness and sanitation so hopefully I'll be ok on the water front!

People seriously over react to how easy infections are to get.

Ive just sprayed my arm with starsan and stuck it elbow deep into my bucket to get something out with no issues, its not like it actually fully sanitized my arm.

I have really ****ty sanitation and cleaning practices compared to other brewers i know, and have never had an infection.

Just to play Devil's Advocate (actually, her name is Becky, and she is very nice*), go to the "Photos of your pellicle" thread.

>:]

*If you understand that reference, I owe you a beer (somehow)

FuzzeWuzze said:

People seriously over react to how easy infections are to get.

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So true. I had a recent pair of brews that I let ferment for a couple weeks with each blowoff tube feeding into a single 1 gal jar halfway filled with unsanitized tap water. Plenty of krausen from each batch blew through into the jar. Then I cold crashed. Without pulling the blowoffs. Basically, a bunch of old nasty unsanitized blowoff water got sucked back into both carboys.

Both batches were great. You'll be fine!

I had a similar situation occur. I was using my hose with my wort chiller. The clamp popped off the copper tubing and hose water went everywhere.

Your best bet is to not worry about it. It's done. The only thing you can do next time is to make sure you watch out for those same mistakes.

Plus, I'm sure your brew will be tasty.

Wait it out and taste your brew... the chances are way more likely that your brew is just fine. I've had splash landings of rogue water in my cooled wort on more than one occasion and have had no problems to date (knock on wood). You'll be fine.

Originally Posted by Bobby_M

You do know that as a new brewer, it's your job to insanely worry that you have the only environment on earth where a billion yeast cells can't figure out how to find all that sugar that they crave. ;-)

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This^

slym2none said:

Just to play Devil's Advocate (actually, her name is Becky, and she is very nice*), go to the "Photos of your pellicle" thread.

>:]

*If you understand that reference, I owe you a beer (somehow)

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brew_ny said:

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You, sir, are owed a beer!

:rockin:

All I have to say, is that didn't most of use start with partial extract boils and add tap water to top off in the bucket to ferment?

I sure did. Infections = 0.

bradicalism said:

I had finally got it cooled down, slip of the hand resulted in some tap water splashing in. Not very much. I just went again and pitched yeast and put it away. Are there any chances of this messing up the batch?

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if you've ever done an extract in a small kettle, you generally add tap water to get your 2.5gallons to 5 gallons.. and many times you also chill the wort this way.

no problem...

bradicalism said:

I had finally got it cooled down, slip of the hand resulted in some tap water splashing in. Not very much. I just went again and pitched yeast and put it away. Are there any chances of this messing up the batch?

Click to expand...

There are far worse things that could go wrong on brew day. Such as forgetting to sterilize some other brewing utensil. I think getting some tap water in your cooled down wort would be the least of it, anyways you should be fine.

Good to know. I've always done full extract boils as I have a large kettle so I've never dealt with top ups but always thought you had to use pre-boiled or bottled water. I feel much better!

The guideline I use is: if i would eat/drink it i will put it in my beer. Every item around you has bacteria on some sort in it, even after sanitization. We do the best we can to suppress unwanted bacteria and promote colonization by the microbes we select to produce beer.

We do the best we can let the beer gods take care of the rest.

I rinse all my equipment in tap water after cleaning it. No problems yet...

bradicalism said:

I had finally got it cooled down, slip of the hand resulted in some tap water splashing in. Not very much. I just went again and pitched yeast and put it away. Are there any chances of this messing up the batch?

Click to expand...

I have a similar situation. I was just cooling down some wort and the tube from the blowoff valve on the Spike Brewing conical 15-gallon fermenter (bada$$) had some back pressure and sucked up a good two or three cups of garden hose water in an un-sanitized bucket I have no idea what I used for last straight into the wort. Fingers crossed