Mistake on first brewing test

[Brice2]

Hi!
I'm a beginner at brewing beer, and I did my first batch this weekend.
Of course something had to go wrong, so it did!
I stupidly mixed up the yeast and cleaner pack, so as a result, I have a batch of beer with not as much yeast as It should have had ( probably like half+). And the recipient was not cleaned prior to the fermentation (but it was totally new, so maybe not as nasty as planed).
After like 12h, there was some activity in the bubble airlock, which I felt was a good sign.
But now then, 3 days after, there is no more activity in bubble airlock.
What I would like to know, is, how can I know if it worth it to put into bottle? Or should I just throw it? Thanks!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I'm confused.

Are you saying you pitched powdered cleaner instead of yeast?

 

[Dcpcooks]

Gronkowski said no no no to the tide cleaner challenge for a reason. If you pitched cleaner you won’t want to drink that beer.

 

[JohnK93]

Congrats on your first brew! What was the cleaner, and how much did you add? If it was a small amount of something non-toxic like starsan (don't know if this is available in powder form), you might be OK. If it was toxic and something like C-Brite, don't risk it.

 

[bransona]

Bumping to hear the whole story and hopefully help

 

[Sillybilly]

I read that as accidentally pouring half of the yeast packet to "sanitize" the bucket before realizing it wasn't the cleaning solution and then only having half a pack left to pitch into the wort in an now realized non-sanitized bucket. As long as the new bucket was relatively clean it and sounds like yeast got off to a strong start, should be okay.

 

[bransona]

Gotcha. Sounds like your potential issues here are 1) infection from not sanitizing, and 2) not pitching your targeted yeast amount.

As for 1, only time will tell. I've done some pretty dumb stuff and not had an infection yet. Usually the yeast are tough critters and take over before any nasties can.

For 2, may I ask what was your OG? Batch size? I imagine it was a standard satchet of dry yeast that came with a kit?

 

[bransona]

Also, your activity 12 hours after and inactivity after 3 days *sounds* like a successful fermentation to me.

 

[Sillybilly]

Gotcha. Sounds like your potential issues here are 1) infection from not sanitizing, and 2) not pitching your targeted yeast amount.

As for 1, only time will tell. I've done some pretty dumb stuff and not had an infection yet. Usually the yeast are tough critters and take over before any nasties can.

For 2, may I ask what was your OG? Batch size? I imagine it was a standard satchet of dry yeast that came with a kit?

I'm not saying that is what happened, that's just how I read it, OP needs to confirm or deny that

 

[bransona]

Oops. Silly me. Gotta read those commenter names >:[

 

[Brice2]

I read that as accidentally pouring half of the yeast packet to "sanitize" the bucket before realizing it wasn't the cleaning solution and then only having half a pack left to pitch into the wort in an now realized non-sanitized bucket. As long as the new bucket was relatively clean it and sounds like yeast got off to a strong start, should be okay.

Exactly! Sorry for not being clear!
So I will see some kind of mold?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Exactly! Sorry for not being clear!
So I will see some kind of mold?

You will very likely be fine. Mold is least likely potential. Sounds as if you got a good fermentation out of this batch despite the low yeast pitch. It will be beer.

If you have a hydrometer, by all means check the gravity to see if you are at target and can move on to the next step.

 

[Brice2]

I don't really have this tool! I guess I'll try and see what happens Thanks for the tips!

 

[BrewInspector]

Great. Again like has already been said, sounds to me that fermentation went normally.

Give it some more time in the fermenter and bottle. You will get many opinions and recommendations on how long to leave it. Make your own decision but generally longer is better until we start talking months.

Unless you see a film and or large bubbles on top when you go to bottle it is likely fine. Mold is not something normally seen except with the addition of fruits. Small floating brownish yeast raft bits , krausen foam remains and fine bubbles are normal.