What are the odds I contaminated my wort?

[Hwk-I-St8]

I'm pretty meticulous about sanitation, so this is killing me. Everything about my brew day went perfectly yesterday. I carry my carboy down to the fermentation chamber, put in in and go to set up the inkbird.

I have a combination stopper that has a thermowell port and another hole for an airlock. I take the temp probe from the inkwell and start inserting it down into the thermowell, but it just keeps going. That's when I realize I'm inserting it into the airlock hole and it's down in my wort. #$*&@!

Any chance it's not going to be tainted?

 

[DarthBrewer1]

Rdwhahb!

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Rdwhahb!

Already did that.

Obviously I'll just wait it out and see, but hoping to hear some "I did something like that and had no issues" stories. It's happily gurgling away right now. I'd feel a lot better if it was after fermentation as the beer seems less susceptible at that point.

 

[IslandLizard]

Once the yeast takes off there's not much chance for other microorganisms to spoil the beer.

Just make sure that probe is still working OK over the next few weeks. They're not supposed to be immersed, but the crimp is pretty decent, so a short dunk shouldn't kill it.

 

[hagar]

No worries, bud. Chances you screwed your brew are very low. As mentioned above, the yeast protect their territory. If you pitch an adequate amount of healthy yeast, you're gonna be ok. Combine that with the antibiotic effect of hops, and your doubly protected. rdwhahb!

 

[whovous]

"Did I just ruin my beer?"

That seems to be the most popular question on this forum. Amazingly, the answer is almost always "No." We are always told about the importance of sanitation and good processes, but it is amazingly how rarely breaking those rules has a true negative effect.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

No worries, bud. Chances you screwed your brew are very low. As mentioned above, the yeast protect their territory. If you pitch an adequate amount of healthy yeast, you're gonna be ok. Combine that with the antibiotic effect of hops, and your doubly protected. rdwhahb!

I did a 1.5L starter for this as the yeast was a bit old. I pitched at 5pm last night and it had a huge krausen and was bubbling away nicely at 5am this morning.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Once the yeast takes off there's not much chance for other microorganisms to spoil the beer.

Just make sure that probe is still working OK over the next few weeks. They're not supposed to be immersed, but the crimp is pretty decent, so a short dunk shouldn't kill it.

I didn't even think about the probe being damaged! It seems to be working OK so far.

 

[mongoose33]

This is Schrodinger's wort. It either is, or is not, contaminated; the only way to know for sure is to "open the box" at the end of fermentation to find out.

If I had to bet, I'd give you odds of 10:1 that it is not or, more properly, that whatever nasties might have fallen in will be overwhelmed by the yeast. But then again, it is Schrodinger's wort.....

 

[SlitheryDee]

"Did I just ruin my beer?"

That seems to be the most popular question on this forum. Amazingly, the answer is almost always "No." We are always told about the importance of sanitation and good processes, but it is amazingly how rarely breaking those rules has a true negative effect.

Here's how I like to think about it:

Yeah, I could probably get away with not doing this 90% of the time, but that additional 10% would suck so bad and leave me so heartbroken that it's worth it to do it every time anyway. Never having had a problem doesn't make the first time suck any less.

 

[MHBT]

Last night i had a problem with those thermowell stoppers, it kept popping out, no matter what i did, i dried the stopper and carboy lip with some paper towel to no avail..i was putzing around with this thing for 20-30+ minutes only to give up on it and use a good ol trusty universal stopper and went old school taping the probe to the side with some insulation.i am very meticulous too with my sanitation but i hope all that putzing did not introduce some unwanted company into my wort. 12 hours in almost a blow off so hopefully the the yeasties are Bit$h slapping anything that might have got in, fingers crossed

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Last night i had a problem with those thermowell stoppers, it kept popping out, no matter what i did, i dried the stopper and carboy lip with some paper towel to no avail..i was putzing around with this thing for 20-30+ minutes only to give up on it and use a good ol trusty universal stopper and went old school taping the probe to the side with some insulation.i am very meticulous too with my sanitation but i hope all that putzing did not introduce some unwanted company into my wort. 12 hours in almost a blow off so hopefully the the yeasties are Bit$h slapping anything that might have got in, fingers crossed

is it one of the thermowell stoppers that's silicone? I had problems with it popping out. I finally figured out that I can push the stopper down into the hole in my BMB, then insert the airlock (or blow off connection) into the stopper. That expands it after it's in place and stays put really well.

 

[MHBT]

is it one of the thermowell stoppers that's silicone? I had problems with it popping out. I finally figured out that I can push the stopper down into the hole in my BMB, then insert the airlock (or blow off connection) into the stopper. That expands it after it's in place and stays put really well.

no it is a #7 rubber stopper and i tried everything it kept popping out.

 

[Horseflesh]

I once had occasion to stick my unwashed arm in the wort, all the way to my elbow. The beer was fine.

(Obviously it's not a good habit. These days, I just put my toes in.)