Crap, I think I might have infected my beer

[BStewie]

As I was finishing my brewing process, I garbed my thief to grab a sample for the gravity reading. I stuck the thief straight into the wort with out sanitizing it. After one thief from the wort, I realized what I did. I really hope i didn't doom the beer before it even gets going.

 

[Revvy]

Why jump to that conclusion? We've all done much, much worse.

What are some of the mistakes you made...where your beer still turned out great?

 

[Zamial]

Humans have been making beer and wine since before we knew how to make glass or steel.

Let me pose this question: Did your wine thief get cleaned or at a minimum rinsed after the last time it was used or did you set it down and let what ever the last thing it touched dry and rot all over it?

If "yes" I cleaned it) Then the odds of you infecting your wort are minimal. Bacteria require SOMETHING to feed/live on.

If "No" I was a lazy slob) You MIGHT be in trouble. There is still no guarantee that it is infected at this point. Let it ferment and taste it.

 

[AndrewD]

Unless you used it for stool samples, you're gonna be fine.

If you're still nervous, try my guaranteed infection test:
Flip a coin 1000 times. If it comes up heads at least 999 times, then your beer is infected.