Oops...forgot to sanitize keg...

[kharmajavah]

So, I'm kegging a delicious porter. I cleaned everything, sanitized everything, siphoned the beer into the keg, sealed it up...and...

...suddenly, realized that I had forgotten to sanitize the keg itself.

I had cleaned it and rinsed it...just no StarSan like I usually do.

I don't THINK that anything bad will happen. In fact, I'm almost sure that nothing bad will happen. But, has anyone else accidentally engaged in this kind of forgetfulness, and if so...what happened?

Hopefully nothing

 

[hoppymonkey]

yep, I've forgotten to sanitize a keg and a primary and nothing bad happened in either case.

 

[BogusOwnz]

i wouldn't worry about it. Was the keg clean at least? i'm sure the porter will take care of any nasties for you.

 

[apo09283]

Over the years I've had many unsanitized things come in contact with wort but so far I've never had a batch spoil. I tend to keep my brewing equipment meticulously clean so that probably helped.
Bill

 

[malkore]

well, you've increased the risk for it to get infected, but that's not a guarantee. if it was well cleaned, especially the dip tube and poppets, you should be ok. It'll be one of those stories you can share with others that had an accident while sanitizing.

 

[kharmajavah]

Thanks everyone. It was definitely cleaned very well, so I'm just not gonna worry about it...not much I can do, anyway.

 

[ajwillys]

Since it was post fermentation, the chances of infection are very low. You are dealing with a substance that has ~5% alcohol content and a pH of 4.3-4.7 (once its carbonated at least). Also, you're keeping it cold and it has very little sugar content left. There's not that many bugs that could 'take hold' in those conditions. At the worst, it will shorten the kegerator life to, I don't know, maybe 6 months.

On a side note, I once did this exact same thing with my primary fermenter, which is much worse. Well, the beer was fine. I did drink it quick just in case.