The dangers of bottling w/ a friend :)

[jacobelong]

So, this is 100% lighthearted and I'm not really concerned about my beer, but it's a story I thought I'd share since I know I'm not the only one who has experienced something like this

My buddy Ricky and I brewed up an extract Founders Red's Rye "clone" last month and we bottled it last night. Ricky and his girlfriend brewed an IPA a year or so ago, but that's his only experience with homebrewing (and judging from his surprise at the lengths I go to make sure everything is sanitized, he wasn't exactly privy to the science behind the process ha), so I invited him to join me with my latest batch. The brew day was fun and the beer was happily waiting in my closet until last night when we bottled it.

Now Ricky, though his intentions are good, is a rather impatient fellow and has a tendency to act without too much forethought, and he wasn't exactly terribly concerned with my insistence upon sanitation. I decided to use a muslin bag as a filter while racking from the carboy to the bottling bucket to hopefully catch any bigger hop particles, but forgot to put it on the end of the siphon hose before starting the transfer (there was probably a good two gallons of beer in the bottling bucket at this point.) He grabbed the bag out of the sanitizer and went for the hose, so I advised him to either pinch the hose to stop the flow first or at least make sure he was careful not to let the beer splash too much (I was holding the racking cane steady, or else I would have done it myself )

So, instead of pulling the hose out of the beer, he just stuck his fingers into the beer and started rummaging around to put the muslin bag on the end of the hose! I was sort of in shock and so I didn't say anything quick enough to stop him ha, but I'm hoping the fact that he dunked his hands into the sanitizer first will have helped prevent some possible contamination.

So that was my first unfortunate experience with homebrewing with a friend who isn't really a homebrewer! We split a partial fill and this is hands-down the best batch of beer I've brewed yet (and on my first attempt at my own recipe, too!), so I will be rather disappointed if it ends up contaminated. But hey, it's not like I can't just brew it again! So here's to hoping that first bottle will quell my fears and prove that even with a hiccup or two it's still possible to brew wonderful, delicious beer

 

[gmcapone]

HA! This man doesn't work in a restaurant does he?

Grats on the success of your first recipe from scratch! I got two more weeks of conditioning to see how mine turns out.

 

[TyTanium]

99% sure you'll be just fine. The alcohol should kill off anything nasty. And hands dunked in sanitizer beforehand probably means there's nothing in a large enough concentration to do anything. Relax and enjoy your tasty brew!

 

[jacobelong]

@gmcapone - Haha, no he doesn't work in a restaurant If he did, after this incident especially I'd gracefully decline offers to dine there ha. Thanks for the kind words! I'm excited to taste the final product! I've already got a list of tweaks to the recipe for when I brew it next. What did you brew?

@TyTanium - yeah, I'm really not terribly concerned. It's not like he stuck his whole arm in the bucket ha. I just wish I could have seen my face when it happened

 

[samc]

I've seen similar with experienced brewers, so don't be too harsh on your bud.

 

[JiltedEmu]

I think it'll be fine. If you wanted to, obviously there are tons of things to be upset about, but everyone makes their mistakes and figures it out.

I have similar experiences with my buddy who occasionally brews with me. I go through my process with him and explain why we need to do these things, but he's more of a doer than thinker or listener and just jumps right into things as I cringe through out. Afterward, I tell him what he did wrong and how he's supposed to do it.

Don't want to yell at the guy and take all the fun out of brewing. He'll figure it out. I just won't let him help out with my brews until he does

 

[gmcapone]

@gmcapone - Haha, no he doesn't work in a restaurant If he did, after this incident especially I'd gracefully decline offers to dine there ha. Thanks for the kind words! I'm excited to taste the final product! I've already got a list of tweaks to the recipe for when I brew it next. What did you brew?

@TyTanium - yeah, I'm really not terribly concerned. It's not like he stuck his whole arm in the bucket ha. I just wish I could have seen my face when it happened

nice! I made an English Brown Ale that seems like it is going to border on being a porter.

 

[SliPPery_PiGLeT]

what's the phrase? Relax, Dont Worry, Have a Homebrew!
What form of sanitizer where you using? If it turns out alright you may owe it to the potency of that solution

 

[jacobelong]

I use Star San. I didn't really measure it out - I use a clear plastic tub in which some old plastic dishes I bought back in college were packaged that holds around 2 gallons or so. It works well as a catch-all for the random stuff that needs to be sanitized during a bottling session, and I dunk the bottles in there before filling in lieu of using a vinator or something (just fill with a little sanitizer and shake!) I probably added between 1/4oz & 1/2oz of Star San to it. Our hands were pretty clean since we had just washed some bottles in the sink a few minutes prior to the incident, so that coupled with him dunking his hands in the sanitizer to fish out the muslin bag certainly helped I'm sure.

Of course, I won't know for certain until the bottles are all carbed up and ready to enjoy - the waiting is always the hardest part But yeah, I'm not really worried or upset in the slightest, just a story worth sharing