HELP! 1 litre of Sanitiser solution in my beer!

[Worzell]

When transferring my beer from the fermenter to the bottling bucket I forgot to remove the lid & blow-off from my fermenter and around 1 litre / 1 quart got sucked through the blowoff into my 19 litre / 5 gal batch of fermented beer.

The sanitiser that got sucked in is Star-San diluted per the instructions to 1oz per 4-5 gal water.

My questions are:

1. Is my beer safe to drink?
2. What do you think on whether it will be drinkable or if the flavour be completely ruined?


I have gone ahead and bottled it anyway - it definitely looks a little cloudier than it did before (I took a sample to test the gravity), but not sure how much of that is due to the corn sugar, and also as I know it’s in there I’m struggling be objective on the taste!

Any advice / thoughts appreciated!
Worzell

‍

 

[seilenos]

It is safe to drink.

If you want to get an idea of how it affects the flavor, grab a bottle of commercial beer that is similar to what you brewed. Assuming a 16 oz beer, split into 2 eight ounce glasses. Add 1 tbsp + 1 tsp of properly diluted star-san to one. You can now directly compare how it impacts taste.

EDIT: If you don't want the potential of wasting half the bottle, you can do the same test with two 2 oz samples and adding 1 tsp of properly diluted star-san to one.

EDIT 2: To be clear, while I said it is safe to drink, I'm not advocating that.

EDIT 3: Had the values wrong. For 8 oz it would be 2 tsp properly diluted StarSan. For 2 oz, it would be 1/2 tsp.

 

[Franktalk]

Your beer is 5% sanitizer. That couldn't be good. Just think of the impact that any ingredient has on a beer at 5%. I'd dump it if it were mine.

 

[Worzell]

Thanks both - much appreciated.

It’s in the bottles now so will give one a try after a couple of weeks, but I think you’re right - it’s not going to taste how it should even if it is safe to drink & so it’s very likely to be dumped...

Lesson learned. I definitely won’t make that mistake again!

 

[kh54s10]

I see people getting suck back through blow off tubes often on HBT. Some up to a couple gallons. I always wonder why people feel the need to have the blow off tube in so much sanitizer. I use a margarine cup with about 3/4 inch of sanitizer in it. So maybe a few ounces at most. I then put the cup in the bottom of an old pot in case of overflow. The end of the tube stays submerged and there is not enough solution that it could get sucked back up the tube. There is not enough volume to fill the tube to the top so it would just fall back out into the catch vessel

 

[RPh_Guy]

It's fine. It probably won't taste any different.

 

[Worzell]

It is safe to drink.

If you want to get an idea of how it affects the flavor, grab a bottle of commercial beer that is similar to what you brewed. Assuming a 16 oz beer, split into 2 eight ounce glasses. Add 1 tbsp + 1 tsp of properly diluted star-san to one. You can now directly compare how it impacts taste.

EDIT: If you don't want the potential of wasting half the bottle, you can do the same test with two 2 oz samples and adding 1 tsp of properly diluted star-san to one.

EDIT 2: To be clear, while I said it is safe to drink, I'm not advocating that.

EDIT 3: Had the values wrong. For 8 oz it would be 2 tsp properly diluted StarSan. For 2 oz, it would be 1/2 tsp.

Thanks very much - I’ll do the test - will be interesting to do the taste test irrespective of the result!

 

[kirkcaldybrewer]

I did this test one time after a batch developed a sour note. Starting with a clean beer, I metered in some starsan and tasted to gauge effect. I got up to 10% and couldn’t taste a thing! Amazing!

 

[cubalz]

Drink it, the beer will be fine.

 

[kevin58]

Don't tell my wife but I made a batch of her favorite Kentucky Common did the same thing in forgetting to remove the blow off. Like you, I debated what to do about it and decided to let it ride. After carbonating I sampled it and noticed no off flavors so I served it to my wife who loved it as usual. I never told her and she never noticed any difference.