stupid, stupid, STUPID!

I cannot BELIEVE I did this!

emptied my new fermenter into bottling bucket WITHOUT disconnecting the blow-off tube...16 oz. of Star San into the bucket before I knew it!

damn, damn, DAMN!

 

You could calculate the ph difference in the batch. Might be not that much ?

 

Why do you have your blow off tube in so much Starsan. I only use enough to keep the end of the tube submerged. For suck back reasons....

 

Assuming a 5 gallon batch, there are 40 pints in there. So now each pint of beer will have less than 0.4 ounce of star san. I'm guessing that is below the threshold of altering the taste significantly.

 

appreciate the replies!

there were 5.5 gallons into the fermenter at pitching.

I tasted what was left over in the bottling bucket, and it doesn't taste bad. I guess I was worried it might not be healthful for other people to drink (*I'd* drink it); but this was a batch I made for an occasion; mostly for others.

it was what was left over from the transfer of wort into the fermenter.

I would have been fine, if I would have disconnected the damn tubing prior to draining the fermenter into the bottling bucket.

 

For those who think it's going to alter the taste: maybe to the extent that the pH will change slightly, but have you ever tasted Star-San?

Seriously. Take a sip. See if you can tell it apart from plain water. Bet you can't!

Further: Coca Cola has phosphoric acid in it, the same stuff as in Star-San. According to what you can find online, Coca Cola has a pH of about 2.3 (source). I've measured Star-San's pH, and it's similar.

So--as @IslandLizard says, RDWHAHB, which stands for Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Home Brew.

 

Oddly enough, I'm bottling today and I soak my caps in star-san. So I did have a sip handy and it is not a very desirable flavor straight up, but I would bet it has been sufficiently diluted in the 5 gallons of beer to not be noticeable. If anything, would add a slight hint of tartness (which is what it is used for in Coke). Coke is actually more acidic than vinegar or lemon juice (if you believe the internet), all that added healthy high fructose corn syrup masks the acidity. Rot your teeth, it will. There are experiments where common household items are left soaking in Coke and disappear after a period of time. Good science project for a kid, now that school has started up.

 

I'm not recommending others do this, but I actually don't use blow off tubes when I suspect a batch may need one. I just leave the top loose. The krausen gently lifts the lid and runs down the bucket during active fermentation. You will need a large tub to set your bucket into to avoid a mess in your fermentation chamber. I use a horse feeder pan, a black rubber bucket I got at the animal feed store, it cost $8. Once the krausen subsides, I will take the lid off, clean and disinfect it completely and snap it on with an airlock. I clean the outside of the bucket when its finished with PBW, it gets crusted up after 3 weeks. Why do I do it this way? Glad you asked. I once checked on a bucket and the lid was bulged up about 6" because the airlock clogged. Scared the hell out of me. Came pretty close to calling the bomb squad. After moving to a larger diameter tube, I found them to be cumbersome and uncooperative about staying in the jar or pitcher filled with whatever. Though not an ideal solution, I found the loose lid approach to be the best of the available poor alternatives.

 

update: it was more like 24 oz (yeah, I'm having a bad day); but it was a 5.5 gallon batch.

 

24 oz in 5 gallons, still no big deal. 1 part in 26.7.

You probably wouldn't notice any flavor change. But since you know there is some Starsan solution in there, you might THINK it tastes different (placebo effect). Be sure to pour one for a friend and don't mention the Starsan. Betcha you won't even get a comment on it.

 

I did taste the last from the bottling bucket, and it TASTES okay.

worried more about possible health issues...

 

Do you drink Coca Cola? Are you worried about health issues with that?

Relax.

 

Phosphoric acid in Starsan and at those low concentrations is deemed a food grade substance. The food service industry uses phosphoric for all kinds of things. I'd wager that the addition of 24 oz Starsan solution into 5 gallons of beer would only drop the pH a few tenths. It's not going to cause any harm.

 

I did that for a while - set about a 1 pound weight on top to keep it secure. Now I use a 7.9 gallon ale pale for 5 gallon batches and keep the lid snapped down. I don't make any high gravity beers. It's worked well for several years now.

 

I guess with no weight on top, the krausen might float the top off and send it tumbling? Hadn't thought of that.

 

Heck.. drink it. You may be in your best health for a while... no infections!!! Maybe you've invented the better flu shot!!!

I think about the star san that makes into bottles when bottling... i bet about the same ratio.

Agree you should disclose to your friends but if they are like mine then: free beer is feee beer.

 

24 oz of Star-San SOLUTION (properly mixed) is no big deal.
Now, if you had 24 oz of pure Star San (concentrate)...different story.

We assume the former.
Forget about it and drive on. Make beer, drink beer.

 

What kind of beer was it? I really wouldn't sweat it unless it was something super special like a barleywine, imperial stout, or anything else that costs alot to brew. That would piss me off in perpetuity, knowing that batch I laid up was part sanitizer. Who knows what effect that might have on aging?? Drink up and brew on my friend, consider this a lesson learned!!

 

it is a nut brown ale. btw...like your avatar, Jayjay1976!

 

Eh, extra nutrient for the yeast while priming. Seriously I would feel and react the same way.

 

I too believe the effect on taste will be minimal. I might drink it. However, I would not serve this beer to guests. Guests may expect that the beer has been brewed using best practices, and suck-back of more than a pint of star san in a 5 gallon batch is not best practice. I think a commercial brewery would dump a batch with a proportional mistake, and guests may expect that home brewers would not serve lesser quality than commercial brewers. Anyway, I want my guests to trust that my beer is of the highest quality, and I wouldn't take advantage of that trust to serve something that may not meet their expectations. (Well, they may not think my beer tastes very good, but that's different, and okay.)

I wouldn't disclose the error and then let them choose whether to drink it. That's not fair to the guest. They probably won't understand the potential health hazard (or lack thereof), and they will feel pressured to drink it regardless of their concerns.

Sorry to be the downer in this thread, but I think RDWHAHB is for the brewer. If guests are served home brew that doesn't meet their quality expectations, that may taint home brew in general. I wouldn't want that.

 

I disagree. High-quality homebrew+high-quality sanitizer=high-quality beverage. I wouldn't hesitate serving it to guests, I'd just avoid calling it beer.