Forgot to sanitize (insert item here)!

[rhertzler]

Hey guys,

Common topic with brewing but just wondering your opinions... I brewed an Irish Stout all grain today, everything went great, cooled to 65F in about 15 minutes and racked into glass carboy through my UNSANITIZED FUNNEL(funnel was visibly clean but had been sitting around for a while)! I pitched liquid yeast right away, so I'm hoping any bacteria that got in will be taken over by the healthy yeast pitch....Do any of you guys have similar experiences or knowledge on if my batch will be ok or ruined? Doing my best to RDWHAHB....

Thanks, Ross

 

[GoCrew]

My first ever batch of Mr. Beer I dumped the HME out of the can into the pot of water. I failed to notice the label was wet and tore thus the whole unsanitized can fell into the wort, even some bits of label.

It turned out fine. That is when I found this forum. I didn't have a home brew to drink, so I went and got the only beer I had at the time (a High Life Light) and drank it and just pushed on with my brew day. The beer turned out just fine.

Ever since then, I keep 2.5 gallons of StarSan in a home depot bucket right at my feet on brew day. Anything I need gets dropped in there at the start of the process and removed when needed. I also dunk my hands if I feel the need.

 

[freisste]

Wait it out. There is nothing you can do now. No sense dumping based on a possibility.

 

[Nuggethead]

Did that myself when just starting out and worried about it for a month but everything came out fine. As long as it was cleaned prior, and your work area is clean, your usually o.k. even if it didn't get sanitized. It's hard to keep organized and remember every detail when just starting out, but will become second nature, especially after a few mishaps like this.

 

[freisste]

Wait it out. There is nothing you can do now. No sense dumping based on a possibility.

 

[strantor]

Once, brewing while already tipsy, I stirred with an unsanitized spoon and hydrated my yeast in an unsanitized coffee cup. Then I dunked that same coffee cup in my wort to get all the yeast out. Then I dunked an unsanitized hydrometer in there. There were a couple other slip-ups too. Very sloppy brew. It was like every time I turned around, another "oops, oh well." A few weeks later when that same batch was done fermenting I filtered it through an unsanitized paper towel and unsanitized strainer. Totally sober that time, just a brain fart.

despite all my attempts to ruin the beer, it prevailed. Sort of made me question the whole affair of anal retentive laboratory grade sterilization that's universally purported as absolutely necessary.

 

[Revvy]

There's an entire thread devoted to just this purpose- What are some of the mistakes you made...where your beer still turned out great!

 

[rhertzler]

Thanks for the help guys, I've got a healthy looking fermentation going (started within 15 hours) and is still going strong. Hopefully the starsan bubbles in the carboy came up and killed off any strange bacterias and the yeast took over soon enough. Brew on

 

[hunter_le five]

I've done stuff like that a dozen times. Forgot to sanitize a stirring spoon, a funnel, water for rehydrated yeast, etc. I haven't had an infection yet.

Sanitizing every component that comes into contact with your beer will dramatically reduce the chances of an infection... but just because you forgot to sanitize something doesn't mean you will definitely get one by any stretch.

Wait it out, odds are you'll be fine.

 

[adamdillabo]

My first 2 brews I didn't sanitize at all. I thought the cleaner was a sanitizer. Still no problems

 

[ron8]

Hi all,

...on my second batch. It was late on Sunday night. I am very relieved to see this thread. guess what I forgot to sanitize, the kegs. On top of that I had troubles with racking. I splashed a lot of beer into the kegs so not only no star san rinse in the kegs, but also a lot of air dissolved in the beer.

let's see what happens. inviting friends to the house Saturday to drink the second batch. first batch went like wildfire, and they are happy to come by to get some more. it's a belgian golden strong ale, around 9% on the first batch, this will be a bit higher because the final gravity ended up at 1.006 (original gravity around 1.085). I hope they like unsanitized beer. with all that alcohol, maybe they won't notice. hehe.