Fermenter sanitizing question

[Cuky]

Hey all -

A general question about sanitization, from a guy in the midst of his first brew :rockin:

So I thoroughly sanitized my fermenter. I'm doing a partial boil, so after sanitization I placed the initial (plain) boiled water in to the fermenter. Now, however, this water needs to cool.... So I've left the top off to allow it to cool while my wort is prepared.

As I've been stirring and cooling my wort... I've been wondering.... This doesn't seem very sanitary! Have I completely hosed my batch by keeping the fermenter open while the water cools? I plan on spraying the lid with some star san before placing it after adding the wort...

Input appreciated, please feel free to call me a paranoid noob (that would be my ideal answer, to be honest)

Thanks!

 

[BargainFittings]

It will most likely be just fine unless you are brewing in dusty dirty area.

I brew outside in the garage and stir my wort with no lid on and have done so for many years and not had issues.

 

[Cuky]

Just to clarify... I'm talking about leaving the lid off the fermenter while the water cools, not leaving the lid off the kettle (which should be fine since the wort is boiling)

 

[BargainFittings]

Well leaving the lid off the fermenter to let boiling water cool is similiar. Once it drops below a certain temp you might want to slide the lid over it to keep dust etc from dropping in.

Either way I would not worry about it if you already made the beer.

 

[Cuky]

yeah, it's fermenting.... we'll see in two weeks when I transfer!

Thanks for your input.

 

[Layne]

Sounds like alls good to me.

 

[Cuky]

Is there a different way that anyone can recommend to cool the first part of the partial boil? Maybe boil the day before and let it cool overnight in the sanitized fermenter? Or is this just simply not a concern....?

Thanks again,
Mark

 

[pkeeler]

I wouldn't put hot wort into a glass carboy. Not even sure I'd put it in a plastic bucket.

I put some aluminum foil over the carboy after sanitizing.

You should cool your wort as fast as possible and with a cover. An ice bath is usually how beginners do it. You really don't even want to stir the hot wort after you stop boiling until it is below 75 F. That is hard to do (as it is hard to uniformly cool it without some stirring) so try and keep stirring to a minimum until it is time to aerate (i.e. under 75 deg.).

Your batch is probably just fine if you pitched a good number of yeast (and probably fine regardless, but there is no reason to tempt fate in the future).

 

[Cuky]

once again... not talking about cooling the wort (which I did in an icebath, brought it down to temp in about 30 minutes). I'm talking about the plain water that I boilied -- But maybe I should just cool the water in a water bath with the lid on the pot next time? Or just spring for an immersion chiller and cool it that way

 

[BargainFittings]

You can cool it overnight in the fermenter bucket or on the stove in the kettle you boiled it in.

Both ways will work great.

 

[pkeeler]

Yes, anything sanitized should be covered until used.

 

[rcrabb22]

when I did partial boils I would use a sanitized bucket and lid to store boiled water overnight until the next day. I had a few concerns about the integrity of the plastic when hot so I place the full bucket of hot water nested inside another bucket to carry to the basement where I would let it cool .

I learned the hardway that you should un-nest the buckets b'4 too much cooling as a strong vacuum is created and separating the 2 buckets the next day was near impossible.

 

[Cuky]

What's the consensus -- will this batch be ok (or at least stand a pretty good chance at being ok) even though the lid was (mostly/partially) off for 2 hours or so?

Or should I scrap it? :-(

 

[BargainFittings]

I would bet it will be beer. People top up with tap water all the time and make good beer.

Never dump a batch until you give it every chance to be beer.

 

[samc]

You will be fine. As far as I know most people are not brewing in a high tech clean room so you will be getting other organisms besides the yeast you put in. The point of pitching enough yeast at the correct temps is to overwhelm any invaders and snuff them out!

Drink up!

 

[Cuky]

Never dump a batch until you give it every chance to be beer.

I think that's the quote of the day. Well said

Thanks again for all your input!

 

[SweetSounds]

I stopped boiling after my 2nd batch. No issues.

I use tap water. Just plain old tap water.

You'll be fine as long as your process is clean.

To give you an idea, my process goes like this:
Fill kettle with an appropriate amount of tap water.
Boil, adding ingredients per recipe
Hydrate dry yeast - for later use
Cool - I put it in the sink with the plug in. Tape the sprayer handle down, and set it between the pot and the sink. (Not full blast, just running cold water. It creates circulation around the pot, and the water just overflows into the other sink)
Dump into fermenter
Run sink water - adjust hot and cold until a thermometer reads 70 degrees or so, then collect in a pitcher and dump into the fermenter - Repeat until you reach your final volume - This oxygenates the wort too
Stir (Bucket) or shake (Better Bottle) to mix the wort and water (On batches 2 through 5 I read the gravity WAY high because I didn't mix the top-off water well )
Check the gravity
Pitch yeast
Close fermenter (Lid, bung, whatever it is that you close your fermenter with)
Forget you made beer for at least 3 weeks. Seriously - Just leave it alone

2 to 3 weeks later, check the gravity. 2 or 3 days after that, check it again. If they match, you're good to bottle or keg.

 

[dmfa200]

Typo above, disregard.
I've left my wort uncovered while cooling and haven't run into any problems.
I think as long as you get your wort into a fermenter as soon as it gets to pitching temperature, and pitch enough healthy yeast
you shouldn't have any problems.