My mistakes have surley caused an infection

[johnheather125]

Well I made plenty of them, let's start with what I have here

13# 2row pale
2# caramel 20L
Mashed at 152 for 75min
Sparged twice at 170 each sparge rested for 10 min.
1oz Mosaic @ 60min.
1/2 oz Mosaic @ 30min.
1/2 oz Mosaic @ 15min.

Pitched safeale-05 @74 degrees F. OG 1.068 @ 74% efficiency.

Here comes my stupidity, and laziness I didn't sanitize my blow off hose, or my airlock when I put it on after 4-5 days of fermentation. Not only did I not sanitize airlock I forgot to add sanitizer in the airlock, quite sure it has been exposed to to much oxygen as well. Has this happened to anybody? Well I am 3 weeks in primary today and I am seeing more and more bubbles. None are huge yet or anything, and I am probably just over worrying. Here are some pics first one @ 10 days, second @ 14 days, and the third was taken at 3weeks. So I am wondering since no liquid in airlock it will have a cardboard off flavor if I didn't acquire an infection do to my blatant laziness. Let me have it ladies and gentleman, I deserve it

 

[pkrath84]

If its been bubbling away you're probably not at too much of a risk for oxidation, as the CO2 produced will keep gasses flowing outward. Also, your brew might even benefit from the access to oxygen. You dont really need to worry about O2 exposure until fermentation has ceased.

As far as infection, well you increase chances if you left everything wide open. Some people will wrap the opening with a sanitized cloth etc until fermentation finishes to allow for more oxygen during active fermentation. I wouldnt worry too much though, unless you have a lot of air moving in unpredictably. From your pix, everything looks pretty normal. That stuff floating could just be yeast/trub.

Even if it was something else I think you're worrying too much. Don't forget, people made beer in caves at one point. Sanitation and cleanliness is key, but you really gotta be almost intentionally messy to screw things up and ruin a batch that cant be fixed by simply aging.

 

[johnheather125]

Yeah I doubt there is a whole lot of oxygen in a closed temp controlled fridge. I know that I am probably over worrying. But I didn't pull the blow off until vigorous fermentation was done and then I added the airlock w/o liquid in it. I never planed on dumping it. Mor worried about the plastics I use for bottling. My racking cane, bottling wand, & bottling bucket would all be toast or to be used for lambic's, or Saison's at best, if infection is present

 

[uatuba]

Yeah I doubt there is a whole lot of oxygen in a closed temp controlled fridge. I know that I am probably over worrying. But I didn't pull the blow off until vigorous fermentation was done and then I added the airlock w/o liquid in it. I never planed on dumping it. Mor worried about the plastics I use for bottling. My racking cane, bottling wand, & bottling bucket would all be toast or to be used for lambic's, or Saison's at best, if infection is present

I think you are fine, and even if you're not, don't throw away your equipment. Use a dilute clorox solution, then thoroughly rinse and soak in salt water.

 

[chickypad]

Nothing I see looks like an infection. Have you taken gravities or tasted it? If you are worried about oxidation I'd say stop taking the lid off to take pictures and get it packaged. But nothing you described really makes me overly worried about that either.

 

[dgr]

What are you seeing that we aren't that leads you to believe it has an infection? I see some pellet hop material floating in there.

 

[pkrath84]

Dont toss your equipment. Clean thoroughly with PBW?Oxyclean and hot water. Rinse with hot water and soak in starsan. Do all this before storage, and then again before using. Youll be fine. Unless there's pores or scratches for bacteria to hide in I doubt youll ruin further batches.... and thats assuming you ARE infected. Which i do not believe you are.

I see no pellicle, just hops/trub/yeast rafts.

RDWHAHB
Cheers!

 

[johnheather125]

No gravity readings as of yet, and I am not really in any hurry to get it packaged, and probably will not have time to for another week or two. I try not to take a final reading until I bottle. I also find it hard to believe that me taking a few quick pics could do anymore damage than the airlock not having liquid for at least a good 2 weeks. I would assume that it is called an airlock because when filled with liquid it locks air out. No liquid kind of defeats the purpose. I have been wrong before though. If them beer has been exposed to to much oxygen it is not because of my pics. Really?? I look at and smell every batch through the fermentation and have never had an oxygenated beer

 

[kh54s10]

I would also be surley if I thought I infected my beer. I also, don't see anything in your pictures that would concern me. You did make mistakes that were risky and you do need to take precautions. Try to pay more attention.

 

[chickypad]

I also find it hard to believe that me taking a few quick pics could do anymore damage than the airlock not having liquid for at least a good 2 weeks. I would assume that it is called an airlock because when filled with liquid it locks air out. No liquid kind of defeats the purpose. I have been wrong before though. If them beer has been exposed to to much oxygen it is not because of my pics. Really?? I look at and smell every batch through the fermentation and have never had an oxygenated beer

I was being a bit facetious with the picture comment, and I do apologize as tone and nuance are definitely not well conveyed on a message board. My point was if you are really worried about oxygenation then why are you waiting around to package it. I'm not worried. I'd assume there's negligible backward air-flow through a capped airlock during primary even without the liquid. The liquid won't necessarily prevent backward flow anyway, as anyone who cold crashes and has observed suck back will tell you.

It may make you feel even better to know that when I primary in buckets I don't even seal the lids because I can't get the damn things off. I try not to disturb the bucket and don't leave them sitting around too long in there, but no oxygenation problems yet. As far as the infection risk, it's wise to follow good practices but we all get away with a lot worse sometimes. I assume you didn't jam the unsanitized blowoff tube down into the wort. And once good fermentation takes hold the risk goes way down.