Cold Crashing oops....

[kmiller4u]

Question.... A few days back I started cold crashing a pale batch but realized I forgot to remove the 3 pc airlock hence the vacuum sucked some of the h2o back into the batch... Is the batch ruined due to being oxidized? Should I keg it up and roll the dice?

 

[JosephN]

I've never removed mine and it's never caused issues, but then again I use star San in my airlock. Oxidization hasn't been an issue to me either. It seems to be minimal, depending on how big of a fermenter you have, and how much head space. I'd keep crashing and roll with it. But if you just used normal water then that's highs not suggested. Water automatically carries funk in general. And I can't say if a few oz of water that might have got in would cause an infection, but oxidized, not really

 

[Pancoastbrewing]

One time, I had a momentary lapse of judgment and I forgot to use a 3 piece airlock when cold crashing (I left my blow off tube on the fermentor). Long story short, I sucked up ALOT of water/star San directly into my beer. I wasn't going to wait 6 weeks after lagering to see how bad I messed it up, I just tossed the 3 gallon batch. If you only sucked up the small amount that is in an airlock, I would leave it. Probably not a big deal, especially if you are making an ale.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Was the water distilled/boiled? There is a small chance of infection but not much.

 

[moreb33rplz]

One time, I had a momentary lapse of judgment and I forgot to use a 3 piece airlock when cold crashing (I left my blow off tube on the fermentor). Long story short, I sucked up ALOT of water/star San directly into my beer. I wasn't going to wait 6 weeks after lagering to see how bad I messed it up, I just tossed the 3 gallon batch. If you only sucked up the small amount that is in an airlock, I would leave it. Probably not a big deal, especially if you are making an ale.

Ha. I just did that, but I'm bottling that mofo.

 

[Kwitty]

I cold crashed a beer while I still had the blow off tube in a jar of starsan. I sucked back probably about half a pint of sanitizer into the beer. I keged, carbed, and drank! Hardly noticed a difference. For you, the ounce of sanitizer that made it in is no big deal. If it was water, not as good of a scenario. However there is alcohol and hops in the beer to help fight off spoil. While it is possible to get infected this way I don't think I'd panic. Then there's oxidation. Co2 is heavier than air. I have my doubts that much if any snuck down in there. Even if you pull out the plug I doubt you'd have a bunch of issues unless you stired the beer or had a steady breeze to disrupt the co2. I'd still keg/bottle and don't worry about it. Worst case scenario it is infected but most likely you won't notice anything. We learn from our mistakes. RDWHAHB!

 

[kmiller4u]

Thanks for the info.... It was about an ounce of spring water in the airlock that made it back in. I now know I will be using starsan instead. I'm hoping the alcohol will kill off any impurities. This ale settled around 7.2%abv. Going to keg it today and see how it goes.

 

[day_trippr]

Toss the ridiculous 3 piece airlocks in the trash and get yourself some S-locks.

Used properly they simply will not suck back...

Cheers!