Ruined beer?

[BlackBear]

So I'm on my second batch, it's an Irish red ale, and I'm pretty sure I just ruined it.

Everything was going great, I was adding the second packet of hops, US Goldings, and somehow the top of the hop pellet package were I had cut it open at, fell into the wort.

I tried getting most of it out and I'm still going to strain it, but I'm pretty positive it's a lost cause.

What do you guys think?

 

[itsme6582]

Did it melt??? I'm sure it's fine. Ever microwave anything in Tupperware? That hasn't killed you.

 

[BlackBear]

It broke apart and lost it's shiny coating, but I don't think it melted.

 

[Jud]

Don't worry about it now. Just wait and see how your beer comes out. Might surprise you!!

 

[BlackBear]

Well my girlfriend just found the top of the package in the garbage so I guess that wasn't it. I guess it was just my paranoia getting the best of me.

Although there is a nice layer of burnt looking paper along the bottom of my brew pot, this is what I thought was the hop pellet package, any ideas on what this is? Burnt malt syrup maybe?

 

[itsme6582]

You're just dirty. Maybe you should try washing your pot before hand next time. Your stove too. j/k

It could be anything. The good news is that it's on the outside.

One time I left a kitchen towel on the stove when I was boiling water. Well, the burner got hot and the towel caught on fire. It's a good thing I was in the kitchen when it happened. If I had gone to the bathroom I think I'd have burned down my apartment.

 

[BlackBear]

thanks for the help fellas 8)

 

[Bacchus]

Blackbear......

A friend of mine once dropped the grommet from the airlock hole into his wort. Without thinking, he rammed his entire arm down into the wort, scraped around on the bottom of the bucket until he found it and pulled it out. He just knew that it was ruined but figured "what the hell" and went ahead and brewed as normal. Six weeks later he shared a few bottles of that beer with me and it was great! I did have to spit out a couple of arm hairs while drinking it but other than that.....it was just fine. LOL!

The whole "sanitation" thing gets blown way out of proportion.

 

[BlackBear]

That's really reassuring, but I'm not so worried about it being contaminated as much as I'm worried about it having off flavors or things floating in it.

It's whatever though, if this batch fails I've always got homebrew left from my other batch

 

[Bacchus]

That's really reassuring, but I'm not so worried about it being contaminated as much as I'm worried about it having off flavors or things floating in it.

It's whatever though, if this batch fails I've always got homebrew left from my other batch

I'd just about guarantee that it will be o.k. Keep in mind that after a day or two of fermentation, the alcohol level in your wort rises quite a bit. Most bacteria and fungi can't survive in that environment. So even if you may have dropped some evil rogue creature into your wort, chances are that the ensuing alcohol bath will be its undoing. LOL!!

 

[Nurmey]

Folks have dropped hairbrushes, toothpaste, and cell phones in the pot and the beer came out fine. I laugh at a little scorched malt at the bottom of your pot. You are going to have to work A LOT than that to ruin a beer.

 

[DavidSteel]

It's fine man, don't sweat it. It'll be left in the trub anyway.