Extremely late addition

[gmthomas_13]

I have been a homebrewer for about a year and done 10 or so batches, but recently ran into a problem. I normally use late additions for most of my lme, but this time was extremely late. I was cooling my boil in my wort chiller and was at about 90 degrees when I realized most of my lme was still in the milk jug! I hastily added the rest and stirred (hoping that 90 or so degrees was low enough to keep the bad bugs out) I am about 3 days into fermentation in the carboy and it seems okay but I know there was no pasteurization of any kind. Has any one else made this blunder and what were the results?

 

[RM-MN]

Your LME was pasteurized when it was made so you have little chance of infection by adding it so late. Once the yeast begin propagating they should out compete any other bugs, then cover the surface of the beer with CO2 which limits the kind of "bugs" that can infect your beer. As fermentation continues, the alcohol further limits the "bugs" that can survive.

 

[CrookedTail]

LME is so concentrated that although still possible, it is difficult for bacteria to grow in it.

I did something similar when brewing my honey wheat this past spring. I forgot to add the honey until the wort chiller was in, and the temp was around 120 degrees. I mixed in the honey, and the beer turned out fine.

RDWHAHB

 

[aiptasia]

Pure honey usually has a rather low pH, which is what preserves it and prevents it from bacterial and fungal infection in raw form. The LME has two things going for it: Low pH and sanitary conditions when it was mashed and bottled/canned. Adding it to water or wort actually raises the pH and removes the acidic protection from the LME but this is what you want when feeding it to your yeast. Remember, in essence, you are infecting your wort with a fungus (yeast) in the hopes that it dominates the wort and out competes all other microbes for the available food source.

What you did is fine. I would be surprised if you developed an infection in your beer.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

+1 to all of the above. My book talks about this in the "Efficient Brewing" chapter.