Starsan sucked back into carboy - half a gallon worth

[saeroner]

Crap i left the blowoff tube on and I guess it sucked all the starsan back into the carboy. I was ready to keg (crap). I siphoned off the top clear liquid. I just drank half a cup of the beer (blond ale) and it taste pretty good. Is it safe?

Any thoughts? It is for a friends wedding -- lucky i have 2 other carboys worth that have no problems.

 

[JonM]

I think I'd keep that one for myself and serve the other 2 at the wedding.

 

[saeroner]

I think I'd keep that one for myself and serve the other 2 at the wedding.

But I kinda hate the bride and her family... maybe just serve it to her side

 

[Col_klink]

I love that you drank some before asking if it is was safe :rockin:

I have had this happen and never noticed any ill affects.

-Klink

 

[jsprinceiii]

Should be totally safe..
I remember listening to a pod cast a few years ago with Charley Talley from 5Star..
Starts at around 54 minutes..
Around 1 hour 9 minutes a discussion about drinking it..
Listen to it on the brewing network..
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/...Session-03-19-06-Sanitation-w/-Charlie-Talley

The entire podcast was great!!

 

[brewkinger]

I've never had that much sanitizer , but I have certainly done the same a couple of times.
Yours is only 10% sbv..... lol

 

[ButcherBoy]

But I kinda hate the bride and her family... maybe just serve it to her side

Ok, at the bar you say... "Are you with the bride or groom?" And then serve the beer, what if the StarSan batch is the best? You'd be denying the best beer to your 'favorite' people. I'd wait it out, it will probably be OK, and serve it to everyone as long as it is drinkable. If it turns out un-drinkable, well you can keep it to yourself as punishment or dump it.

 

[Keiff]

If you have a bottling bucket lying around, you could blend it with the other 2 and reduce the "SBV" lol....

 

[YeastFeast]

I don't get it? How does a half gallon of Star San get sucked through the blow off tube back into the fermenter???

 

[Psylocide]

I don't get it? How does a half gallon of Star San get sucked through the blow off tube back into the fermenter???

Cold crashing with blow off tube in a bucket of starsan, negative pressure in carboy from cooling liquid, sucks it all up.

 

[brewkinger]

Cold crashing with blow off tube in a bucket of starsan, negative pressure in carboy from cooling liquid, sucks it all up.

Yup...Quite impressive phenomenon.

 

[ibrewmyown]

Use a larger diameter blow off hose and it will never happen again. Go to Home Depot and get a large (over 1") diameter hose that fits snug right into the carboy neck. It inexpensive, works great and its easy to clean if I get a real lively fermentation (which happens a lot). I use 2 - 36" pieces because a brew 12 gallons into 2 - 6 gallon carboys. Soak them in star san when your done soaking over things while brewing and they slip right into the carboy opening. You cant really push them in dry so the seal is good. If its gets stuck after it dries, the hose is pliable so squeeze it and it breaks the seal and comes right out. Stick the other ends into a small bowl or bucket of star san and that's it. Never have to worry about a clogged blow off tube or sucking in anything. I've been doing it this way for several years.

 

[ibrewmyown]

Here a video of a brew I did showing the hoses in the carboys. This is the morning after the brew day so roughly 12 hours later

View attachment 2015-03-02 19.48.48.mov

 

[wardens355]

Use a larger diameter blow off hose and it will never happen again. Go to Home Depot and get a large (over 1") diameter hose that fits snug right into the carboy neck. It inexpensive, works great and its easy to clean if I get a real lively fermentation (which happens a lot). I use 2 - 36" pieces because a brew 12 gallons into 2 - 6 gallon carboys. Soak them in star san when your done soaking over things while brewing and they slip right into the carboy opening. You cant really push them in dry so the seal is good. If its gets stuck after it dries, the hose is pliable so squeeze it and it breaks the seal and comes right out. Stick the other ends into a small bowl or bucket of star san and that's it. Never have to worry about a clogged blow off tube or sucking in anything. I've been doing it this way for several years.

This probably won't prevent suck back when cold crashing. You need to remove the blow off tube and cover the carboy in saran wrap or foil while it cools.

 

[thejuanald]

Use a larger diameter blow off hose and it will never happen again. Go to Home Depot and get a large (over 1") diameter hose that fits snug right into the carboy neck. It inexpensive, works great and its easy to clean if I get a real lively fermentation (which happens a lot). I use 2 - 36" pieces because a brew 12 gallons into 2 - 6 gallon carboys. Soak them in star san when your done soaking over things while brewing and they slip right into the carboy opening. You cant really push them in dry so the seal is good. If its gets stuck after it dries, the hose is pliable so squeeze it and it breaks the seal and comes right out. Stick the other ends into a small bowl or bucket of star san and that's it. Never have to worry about a clogged blow off tube or sucking in anything. I've been doing it this way for several years.

I would do something similar but I use a thermowell, meaning I can't use the large diameter blow off tube.

 

[ibrewmyown]

This probably won't prevent suck back when cold crashing. You need to remove the blow off tube and cover the carboy in saran wrap or foil while it cools.

You will never get that much volume through the tubes to get whatever liquid your using into the carboy

 

[kombat]

Cold crashing with blow off tube in a bucket of starsan, negative pressure in carboy from cooling liquid, sucks it all up.

Worse still, if for some reason your bucket of StarSan is elevated above the carboy, then once the suckback has sucked StarSan through the hose, below the level of the bucket, you've created a siphon, and the entire bucket of StarSan will drain into your carboy.

Back when I cold-crashed in carboys (after learning about suckback the hard way), I always either just cover the carboy mouth with sanitized foil, or replaced the 3-piece airlock with an 'S' type airlock that allows air to flow in both directions. Now I cold crash in CO2-purged kegs, under 10 psi of positive pressure. No suckback, no oxidation, no light exposure, no contamination.

 

[Psylocide]

Lol... that's far from the worst I've heard though.

Someone had their blowoff tube going inside the carboy and was down in the wort about half way. Primary fermentation kicked off, started a siphon with the blow off tube and drained half the beer.

 

[ibrewmyown]

Lol... that's far from the worst I've heard though.

Someone had their blowoff tube going inside the carboy and was down in the wort about half way. Primary fermentation kicked off, started a siphon with the blow off tube and drained half the beer.

I would bet they never did that again. I've had air locks clog and shoot of carboys before which wasn't a big deal till a friend of mine had his clog and instead of shooting out, broke the carboy so from them on, I switch to the large blow off hose and have never had a problem. It doesn't create more work for and already time consuming hobby.

 

[ibrewmyown]

Lol... that's far from the worst I've heard though.

Someone had their blowoff tube going inside the carboy and was down in the wort about half way. Primary fermentation kicked off, started a siphon with the blow off tube and drained half the beer.[/

Sorry somehow it did s double post?

 

[Ike]

Sunday was brew day: first time brewing with a buddy, and at his place, so my OCD and "my way or the highway" attitude had to take a back seat. At one point, in my Sheldon-Cooper-like disconbobulation, I drained the StarSan from the AlePail but didn't REALLY shake it out like I normally do. JUST as I was dumping the Centennial-Blonde-to-be, I saw the (admittedly thin) layer of StarSan at the bottom of the bucket. Oh well, too late... the wort was in with it.

So, for the past couple days, I've been sweating if that will affect the taste of the finished product. Based on this thread, I'm going to stop worrying!

 

[brewkinger]

Sunday was brew day: first time brewing with a buddy, and at his place, so my OCD and "my way or the highway" attitude had to take a back seat. At one point, in my Sheldon-Cooper-like disconbobulation, I drained the StarSan from the AlePail but didn't REALLY shake it out like I normally do. JUST as I was dumping the Centennial-Blonde-to-be, I saw the (admittedly thin) layer of StarSan at the bottom of the bucket. Oh well, too late... the wort was in with it.

So, for the past couple days, I've been sweating if that will affect the taste of the finished product. Based on this thread, I'm going to stop worrying!

Don't Fear The Foam.

 

[Ike]

Don't Fear The Foam.

Yep! I know not to fear the foam, but this was more like Don't Fear the Layer of StarSan Glistening at the Bottom of the Bucket...

Either way, nothing to do now but wait and taste!

 

[Dakota21601]

Well, I just did this with about a gallon of starsan with a cream rye stout goin on top of it. Did 11 gallons and xferred the first half into a carboy, but forgot to drain the second carboy before starting to fill because I had a little extra in the first half that I needed to add to the second carboy. So I spaced it. Realized it when I ended up with a gallon extra wort....lol. Soooo, looks like I am gonna keg that half as a "porter". Hopefully it tastes good enough to just drink it, take it to friends houses, whatever....lol. Anybody ever do this and drink it? The podcast definitely took my worry away, but wonderin bout taste. If it is just a "thinner" version of the stout I will b okay. It's 8 malts including 20% Rye so I am not overly worried about it being too watery.