Probable contaminaton

[Dopple]

I was checking the gravity of a red ale today and totally blanked out when I was taking the sample. I dunked the enter cylinder into the beer, including my hand. The cylinder and my hand had just been in some star san and the beer is a already a week into fermentation, meaning there is a good 4% alcohol content . Did I just own my beer with contamination or is there no way to know besides waiting?

 

[barrog]

I would say there is a good chance it will be ok. Look for a thread about the things people have droped into their beer and it came out fine.
edit: start here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

 

[ThePonchoKid]

lol what are you using that allows you to dunk your hand in to your brew? Are you lifting the lid right off? Sorry, that just sounds funny. Get a spigot on your bucket perhaps?

 

[Calder]

It will probably be OK. The alcohol should protect it from most contamination. If you are really unlucky, you might have gotten some wild yeast contamination. That would take a long time to get established, and the first thing you would notice is gushers in the bottle ....... which would be a sign to get drinking quickly.

 

[Dopple]

lol what are you using that allows you to dunk your hand in to your brew? Are you lifting the lid right off? Sorry, that just sounds funny. Get a spigot on your bucket perhaps?

Uh yeah that's exactly what I did. My primary doesn't have a spigot. Oops. Gotta get a wine thief or a turkey baster it seems. I did the test this morning before I had my coffee and wasn't thinking things through.

 

[ThePonchoKid]

A spigot is so worth it. Costs $2-4 dollars, and you can draw samples all day

I go with the 3/8" spout. Only time I lift the lid is to dry hop. Good luck!

 

[Dopple]

Do you just drill a hole in the side of your fermentation bucket and go?

 

[rifraf]

Do you just drill a hole in the side of your fermentation bucket and go?

Yep! I used a 1/2" hole saw for one of the red and white spigots sold at your LHBS. You might have to use something to widen the hole slightly (I just used a key). If you check the bottling forum and see Revvy's pictures about using a dip tube you can go ahead and set that up while you're monkeying around. I bought a threaded pvc elbow that fit onto the spigot thread.

 

[ThePonchoKid]

Do you just drill a hole in the side of your fermentation bucket and go?

My supplier pre-drilled the hole and gave me the option of a 1/2" or 3/8" spout. I chose the 3/8" spout so I could get the smallest hose fitted on to it. I figured a big rushing flow of beer in to my keg isn't necessary and might stir up a little of yeast cake.

Below is a two piece threaded spigot with a washer. The washer goes on the outside of the bucket with the tapered side facing outward. Tighten er up until the washer starts to push out from being squished. While you're fastening, it might appear that the curve of the bucket will prevent a good seal, but it doesn't seem to be a problem for my two buckets.

As rif mentioned, to do it yourself you just need the proper size hole saw/drill bit. If you drill the hole on your own make sure you place it high enough to at least make the bottom of the spout flush with the bottom of the bucket. You wouldn't want the spout to hang lower than the base of the bucket

 

[Dan]

Dopple your beer is probably be ruined. You could ship it to me for proper disposal.

No really, I bet it will be just fine.

I think after reading this thread I'm going to put valves on all my buckets. So much easier to transfer.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

Ya, send half that beer to me so you can have a second opinion! A few weeks ago I had a very unsanitary day and my beer's just fine. I drank plenty today. I'm guessing that you'll not drink much if there's been a catastrophe!

 

[Dopple]

Thanks for all the replies. I have another bucket that I just bottled a batch out of that has a spigot. For whatever reason I considered that
My secondary/bottling bucket and the one without to be my primary. When checking the gravity today I realized the loss that I was at not having a spigot on this bucket. I'll attach one and move one.

Any opinions on fermenting?

OG was 1.052 and I'm at 1.01 now. I was thinking of holding it for another week and then bottling it. Maybe transfer it into a secondary but I'm not sure it's essential.

 

[ThePonchoKid]

There seems to be a growing consensus that a secondary isn't needed. I'm doing three to four weeks in a primary with spigot, straight to keg. I might shorten that time to two weeks if I start using more yeast AND hydrating the yeast before pitching.

If you're bottling you can simply add the priming sugar to the primary and give it a very slow and gentle stir, and then bottle away!

 

[BeerChef17]

Maybe its just me but if you add sugar to a primary and stir you are going to mix up all your trub into your beer. Although not necessary I always transfer to my secondary to free up my primaries for more beer and to help it clear up a bit.

As far as spigots go I'm not a fan of them on my primary. Maybe its just me but I'd rather let my beer alone for at least a week before messing with it for samples and all. 1-1-4 for this guy most of the time.

 

[Dan]

ThePonchoKid. Do you add priming sugar straight to the primary?

I go straight from primary to keg. If I was bottling would probably move to a bottling bucket since IMUO stirring primer sugar into the primary might churn up the trub no matter how gentle the stir.

However I've never tried but if it works for you this news could be helpful to brewers who do bottle.

 

[ThePonchoKid]

Many people do make their priming mixture and pour it right in to the primary bottling bucket and give it a really gentle stir. I'm guessing a painstakingly slow stir. I haven't done it myself but the person who got me in to brewing has, and I've also read several accounts on here, or somewhere online. Information is so scattered it's hard to recall where it's sourced lol

I go straight from primary to keg as well, and if i were bottling I'd do it all from the keg. Transfer to keg, add priming mixture, hook up the CO2 to 5psi and a picnic bottling gun attachment.

I know the priming in to the primary sounds counterintuitive, but it seems to work fine if your cake is well compacted.

 

[Dan]

Hmm.. Very interesting. Another brewing myth (bottling bucket) possibly being busted!

 

[Dopple]

Even though I'm new to brewing, I like the idea of using a primary and then using the secondary for clarification and bottling. Getting the beer into a secondary with a spigot and away from the trub just seems like a logical way to kill multiple birds with less stones. The problem comes with priming, because some literature suggests transferring the whole batch AGAIN to get a good mix of the dextrose. Others suggest adding small amounts of sugar to each bottle. Both strategies seem painstaking and require even more sanitization and water use. I am personally trying to stumble upon a streamlined methodology that makes great beer with fewer steps and less waste.

Sorry for thread drift out the ass.

 

[Dopple]

Maybe its just me but if you add sugar to a primary and stir you are going to mix up all your trub into your beer. Although not necessary I always transfer to my secondary to free up my primaries for more beer and to help it clear up a bit.

As far as spigots go I'm not a fan of them on my primary. Maybe its just me but I'd rather let my beer alone for at least a week before messing with it for samples and all. 1-1-4 for this guy most of the time.

What do you mean when you say 1-1-4? Primary a week, secondary a week, bottles four?

 

[Dan]

I think he is referring to 1 week primary, 1 week secondary, 4 weeks carbonating.

 

[ThePonchoKid]

Maybe its just me but if you add sugar to a primary and stir you are going to mix up all your trub into your beer. Although not necessary I always transfer to my secondary to free up my primaries for more beer and to help it clear up a bit.

As far as spigots go I'm not a fan of them on my primary. Maybe its just me but I'd rather let my beer alone for at least a week before messing with it for samples and all. 1-1-4 for this guy most of the time.

Is trub that crud around the sides at the top? After sampling and multiple hydrometer readings that crud is usually a good distance from the brew I find.

Like I said, it sounds counterintuitive, and I'm not really trying to make a case for this method, but I started with only a bottling bucket for a primary and then haphazardly stumbled in to some kegs at just the right time.

If I hadn't found those kegs I would have added my priming mixture (very gently, and timidly) to my brew in the primary, and then to bottle. A 3-4 week ferment in primary should compact the yeast enough so not to stir up much. I'm guessing it would be difficult to notice a substantial difference in the volume of sediment after bottle conditioning was finished.

 

[kh54s10]

I primary for about 3 weeks, siphon to the bottling bucket with the priming solution in there. That mixes it fairly well, I stir a little.

This leaves almost all of the trub undisturbed in the fermenter and not in my bottles.

 

[Dan]

Trub is the stuff on the bottom of the fermenter, or the brew kettle. If you pick some up during bottling the worse that will happen is the bottle will have some trub in it too. Just pour the bottle into a glass and leave the trub in the bottle.

The first bottles racked will have the most trub.

Honestly, When bottling time comes (not kegging) I'd probably transfer to a bottling bucket and leave as much trub behind as possible. The difference in racking to a keg you draw off the beer and leave the trub where it is, some will come through but not much.(just like it is going into a bottle bucket)

Botttling and priming in the primary fermenter is going to stir up the trub, IMUO don't know why it wouldn't.

 

[ThePonchoKid]

Jump in! https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/

My mentor has been only using a bottling bucket single stage primary for three years and is well in to BIAB now


and:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/question-bulk-priming-primary-fermenter-no-racking-227930/

 

[Dan]

Jump in! https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/

My mentor has been only using a bottling bucket single stage primary for three years and is well in to BIAB now


and:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/question-bulk-priming-primary-fermenter-no-racking-227930/

Thanks so very much for posting that link. To be honest I did not read the entire thread. The first post was a discussion between JP and Jamil and I'm pretty sure they were talking about transferring beer into a secondary due to yeast autolisation (sp)

Maybe they went on to say that beer does not need to be moved into a bottling bucket. I didn't read that far.

Only thing I'm saying is there is a whole lot of trub on the bottom of a primary. I cold crash the my primary fermenter, only fermenter and then transfer to a keg.

I've racked quite of few primaries' to kegs. No big deal. Leave the trub/sediment on the bottom. The transfer will still send a little trub to the keg which will settle to the bottom after a few days.

I do all this with as little agitation as possible. I have doubts the same result would work well if I stirred, ever so lightly primining sugar into a fermenter and then tried to transfer it.

Hey! This is homebrewing. Myths need to be debunked.

Please give it a shot and tell us how it works. Like I said before, your method, if successful would help a whole lot of homebrewers.

My friend!

 

[Dopple]

Great reads. Thanks for the links. I was actually thinking about letting this batch stay in the primary for a while. I guess since it may or may not be contaminated it doesn't really matter now. I'm also going to jut use the bottling bucket for priming and bottling and see how that goes. Thanks for some suggestions.