What's that red stuff in my beer?

Last night I was mashing some grains on the stovetop. I go to pull the grain bag out and notice there's some red blobs floating around in the wort. Then it hit me what it was. I pulled the thermometer out and found the bottom of it was broken off and the wax and beads were what was floating around. In case you didn't know, wax is extremely hard to clean up. Count that one as a loss.

wow that sucks...

Candle Wax Wit?

Lots of people experience with no ill effects to the beer. You didn't dump it did you??

All you need is a good solvent and the wax will come right off.

At least it wasn't an old school mercury thermometer!

IrregularPulse said:

Lots of people experience with no ill effects to the beer. You didn't dump it did you??

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I did dump it as I wasn't sure if anything was toxic or if there were any glass fragments in the wort. It was only 4 pounds of two-row, some 120L, and an hour's worth of work lost. I pulled out another pot and started over. Made for a longer brew session, but all-in-all not too much of an inconvenience.

Gremlyn1 said:

All you need is a good solvent and the wax will come right off.

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Any suggestions? I have some acetone laying around somewhere. I was going to try and clean it out with a few rounds of boiling water, but if I can just wipe it off that would be preferred.

Acetone might do it, but I've used mineral spirits before. You can also try freezing the pot if you have room, the wax should become quite brittle and scrape off much easier. I wouldn't go the boiling it route, it can just spread it around more and increase the mess.

Won't boiling water melt the wax and take it off?

I'd more worried about the little weighted beads. Wax you can eat, lead, not so much. Anyone know what those beads are made out of?

that sucks, i have a floating thermometer too and will have to be careful so this doesn't happen to me.

scone said:

I'd more worried about the little weighted beads. Wax you can eat, lead, not so much. Anyone know what those beads are made out of?

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Typically the are paraffin wax. The same thing crayons are made out of.

Long gone are the lead and mercury thermometers. Glad to see you still made beer that day. Next time just strain the wort through a fine mesh if you have one.

To get the wax off, you can put the pot in the freezer, if it'll fit, and scrape/pry the wax off with a single edge razor blade. If the pot won't fit in the freezer, you might get the same effect by putting it outside overnight, depending on the temps where you are. The only thing left in the pot after scraping/prying should be a very thin film which should come off easily with hot, soapy water. Regards, GF.

gratus fermentatio said:

To get the wax off, you can put the pot in the freezer, if it'll fit, and scrape/pry the wax off with a single edge razor blade. If the pot won't fit in the freezer, you might get the same effect by putting it outside overnight, depending on the temps where you are. The only thing left in the pot after scraping/prying should be a very thin film which should come off easily with hot, soapy water. Regards, GF.

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+1. Cold is best. Also it may be hard to believe but cold soapy water is also better at removing grease/oil. Once you've rinsed with cold water, then hit it with hot water to remove the soap.

Boil the pot and skim the wax off then use a solvent to remove the residue, and rinse the crap out of it.