would you bottle this beer?

[Hoochin'Fool]

It's a 2.5 gallon batch of amber ale. I'm 99.8% certain that I'd taken that faucet apart, soaked in oxiclean, and then spritzed with starsan...
But after pouring the wort into the bucket, I took a sample from the faucet (for a forced-ferment), respritzed the faucet with starsan, and secured a plastic baggy around it with a rubber band.

I could siphon the beer to transfer to bottling bucket, but not sure if it's even worth the effort. Thoughts?

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Pour or siphoned? I know that's not your question, but did you just oxidize the ever-loving oxygen out of your beer?

To your question... yeah. It should be fine. Whatever the starsan didn't get, the alcohol in the beer will.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

topic question: would you bottle this beer?

no.

Thoughts?

1. if the concern is "bottle bombs" due to contamination, it should be easy to run a "worst case" cost assessment to justify dumping the batch.
2. "oxidation" showed up in #2 (just before I posted). @Hoochin'Fool I'll continue to watch the topic if you have further questions.

 

[fluketamer]

im confused if the question is should you bottle it eventhough there is some mold on the spigot i would say just siphon it off to bottles instead of using said spigot.
i would assume that the mold is from sources outside the FV, and that your brew is not contaminated

 

[MaxStout]

Take a sample with a thief (not from the spigot as that could break loose some of the nasties and further contaminate the batch if they are lurking inside the spigot). Does the beer smell/taste off? If not, I'd go with a siphon and package. No telling from the pic how deep that mold/mildew has gone inside the spigot. If you haven't turned the valve, the beer may not have touched it.

Then replace the spigot, they're cheap.

After use, I always store plastic spigots in a jar of Starsan until next time.

 

[fluketamer]

i was just going to say how did you take it apart? i have a couple that dont come apart and i always wonder if i am truly getting htem clean. i like the starsan soak idea. how long have you kept them in there. i was under the impression extended star san soak can mess with some plastics.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

My concern is that the dark crap is mold or bacteria! Maybe it's pediococcus? (not sure if I've got the right name or spelling for that).

I opened up the fermenter (beer has been "done" for at least 3 weeks) to take a peek, everything looked, smelled, and tasted like normal (this is a frequent recipe). Figuring it was really only a "waste" of 27 bottle caps, I transferred the beer via siphon to bottling bucket. The yeast cake looked fine. I was planning on fermenting a BCBS clone on top of this yeast cake, but think it's best to start from a known clean state, before risking that much on ingredients.

Already threw this spigot and bucket in the trash. I'll post an update in 3 weeks, if the beer is a dumper or not.

I'm definitely regretting putting holes and faucets in all my expensive hardware store buckets now!

@fluketamer you have to soak them in some really hot water to loosen them up, and then they come apart with some effort. But I've also broken one doing this, so I think really the whole point of a spigot on anything other than the bottling bucket is a mostly useless idea!

 

[hotbeer]

Sounds like a reasonable plan. I'd almost always bottle the beer just to see what the final product tasted like. My time and bottle caps are cheap!

For those plastic spigots, if you look around on Amazon or elsewhere you should be able to find them packaged in a dozen or more quantity for very inexpensive prices. So they become toss away single use at that point and no need to clean. Though I'm not sure if you said whether or not the spigot was first use or not.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

My concern is that the dark crap is mold or bacteria!

Consider giving every thing (and place) home brewing related a deeper clean / sanitize.

 

[mac_1103]

you have to soak them in some really hot water to loosen them up, and then they come apart with some effort. But I've also broken one doing this, so I think really the whole point of a spigot on anything other than the bottling bucket is a mostly useless idea!

Mine come apart pretty easily by pushing a small dowel through them. And putting spigots on everything is one of the most useful things I've done. Siphons suck (pun intended).

 

[fluketamer]

yes i love spigots i wouldnt fermetn without one. im going to take a better look and see if mine come apart. i havent siphoned beer in 25 years.

btw that doesnnt look like bacteria its prolly common black mold. that staff is ubiquitous. its in the air. its one of the first things to colonize moist surfacces.

 

[InspectorJon]

topic question: would you bottle this beer?

It should be fine. Whatever the starsan didn't get, the alcohol in the beer will.

no.

HBT in a nutshell.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

@InspectorJon : +1.

And, so far, no one has politely asked me why I wouldn't bottle it.

So ... maybe ... it's "HBT in a nutshell" x 2.

Spoiler: Why?

Thanks for asking.

Spoiler

When I see mold, it's an indication that my cleaning has become "too short / too shoddy". Rather than "hope for the best", I dump the batch and clean everything well.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

@BrewnWKopperKat fair enough. I'd already made the decision to go ahead and bottle before I made it back online to see what, if any, responses had to say!
That's probably the most HBT-in-a-nutshell part of this thread. At any rate, the way I saw it when I made said decision was, worst case: I've wasted some bottle caps and some bottle washing time.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

@InspectorJon : +1.

And, so far, no one has politely asked me why I wouldn't bottle it.

I beg your pardon, fine sir. May I inquire as to why you would not bottle the concoction this fine lad has taken a fortnight to manufacture?

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Thanks for asking. When I see mold, it's an indication that my cleaning has become "too short / too shoddy". Rather than "hope for the best", I dump the batch and clean everything well.

I say it's good because a) mold does not mean inadequate cleaning methods - it means undisturbed moisture at the proper temp and humidity. b) a tiny bit on a spigot like that it not the end of the world. An algebraic mixture table would tell you there's more mold in the air than there could possibly be in the beer after bottling with that spigot. c) it's on the outside d) I've had more mold on growler caps without noticing e) lot's of good stuff comes from mold f) I can't think of an 'f', but suffice it to say, it's probably fine.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I beg your pardon, fine sir. May I inquire as to why you would not bottle the concoction this fine lad has taken a fortnight to manufacture?

"HBT in a nutshell" x 3 (for faux politeness).

 

[InspectorJon]

A lot of this comes down to people’s tolerance for risk and imperfection. Those tolerances vary widely from one person to the next. I once dropped a cleaning towel into my cooled kettle of wort. Clearly not sanitary. I have a high tolerance for risk, so I took the towel out and carried on. The beer turned out fine. I think beer is a lot more forgiving than some people think. I also know some think I am foolish for taking this point of view.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

OP indicated a course of action in #14. I'm moving on.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Just opened a bottle... Nothing looks/tastes/smells weird or anything, but it's still pretty flat, which is unusual (bottled 13 days ago). Fingers still crossed!

 

[hotbeer]

How are you judging it to be flat? If sound, then perhaps you didn't leave the 1" or more headspace that is needed to get that reassuring phffft when you open the bottle.

If you chilled your beer to refrigerator temps and handled the bottle gingerly to keep from getting sediment in your glass, then the CO2 might just not have gotten riled up. So how is your "art" of the pour?

Even for pale ales, I consider the 38° - 42° F normal fridge temps to cold for really enjoyable beer drinking... IMO. So possibly if you've chilled it too much, you may have locked more of the CO2 into solution.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

@hotbeer I think it's just been colder than usual in the basement the last 2 weeks. Everything else has been pretty much the same as always (other than my original concern about the black mold or whatever was on the spigot in the picture, up in first post)

 

[mac_1103]

Even for pale ales, I consider the 38° - 42° F normal fridge temps to cold for really enjoyable beer drinking...

But it keeps better at those temps and it will warm up in the glass.