Slip of the mind...the ever important sanitizing

[brewJAC]

Bottled a stout the other night. Somehow forgot to sanitize the bottling bucket. I did soak it in oxiclean for a good hour or longer and rinsed well before bottling. Sanitized EVERYTHING else well.
Wondering how many of you have made this mistake. And for those that have...was an infection the inevitable result?
Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[CUrchin]

Certainly there is a risk of infection, but most likely you will be fine.

 

[user 204491]

Yeah, only time will tell, but I think you'll be fine. Everything else was sanitized, and it sounds like your bucket was very clean. I'd try not to worry about it too much and just pop one in a couple of weeks to check.

Even if you did pick up something minor it might take a while for it to show up, so you might drink through the batch before it ever gets to noticeable levels.

 

[gspot]

^this. This is the beginner forum, and I don't want to steer you the wrong way, but just know that sanitation is like gambling--an infection is only inevitable over some indeterminate time frame. You can get lax with your sanitation and go a long, long time without ever suffering an infection, especially if you keep things clean, or you might get "lucky" right away. At some point, however, one definitely will rear it's ugly head, sometimes even though you used a sanitizer, but especially if you make it easy for the contamination to get a foothold by NOT sanitizing.

So, you will probably be fine, but you never know. Only way to tell is wait and try it. Worst thing that can happen is you dump a batch--not the end of the world.

 

[BobOki]

I am only on my third brew, however I find my advise I am about to give to be AMAZING, and I found it right here on HBT.

Advise: Buy a professional quality glass spray bottle, and fill with star san solution. Even when you clean, sanitize, etc, give it one more spray, everything mind you anything, with that bottle before it is used or put together. Caps, lids, openings, packets, buckets, handles, hydrometers, hell I even spray the outsides of my bubblers.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

My very first brew I used the cleaner that came with my kit, mistakenly thinking it would sanitize. I used it on the fermenter and everything else including the bottling bucket. Everything came out fine with no infection. That said, I obviously corrected that misperception and never did that again. Cleanliness may be next to Godliness but it isn't sanitizing

 

[ifnotuthenwho]

^this. This is the beginner forum, and I don't want to steer you the wrong way, but just know that sanitation is like gambling--an infection is only inevitable over some indeterminate time frame. You can get lax with your sanitation and go a long, long time without ever suffering an infection, especially if you keep things clean, or you might get "lucky" right away. At some point, however, one definitely will rear it's ugly head, sometimes even though you used a sanitizer, but especially if you make it easy for the contamination to get a foothold by NOT sanitizing.

So, you will probably be fine, but you never know. Only way to tell is wait and try it. Worst thing that can happen is you dump a batch--not the end of the world.

I wish I could like this post 100 times. Sanitizing is common sense, not rocket science.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

My first beer was from a kit that came with a powdered sanitizer. When I asked the LHBS guy for more powdered sanitizer, he explained the difference between clean and sanitized. I think that may be because there are few if any really good dry sanitizers. I have given it some thought and one of the great things about Starsan is that when it evaporates it probably leaves very little residue since all of the ingredients are liquid to start with. If you started with a powder and mixed it with water, after the water evaporated you would likely have the residue from the powered chemical in/on your gear.

That first beer was pretty cloudy but tasted good. I suspect however that the cloudiness may have been the beginnings of an infection that would have taken a long time to truly materialize. After that first batch I started using Starsan and my beers have been nice and clear. I am the odd man out though and let my equipment air dry after I sanitize it.

 

[brewJAC]

I don't think anybody on here, including myself, is making the case that sanitizing is rocket science. It was an 'oversight' that brought about this question/post. If you haven't had an oversight yet, you haven't been brewing very long.
Thanks to everyone else for the ease of mind.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

I've never had an over sight .... well, except that time I bottled an entire batch without priming ... or the time I couldn't figure out why my OG was so low until I noticed the bag of extract sitting on the counter ... or the time ...

 

[brewJAC]

^exactly (@BlueHouseBrewhaus)

 

[Pkrd]

Even if it is infected its not likely to take hold overnight. Carb for a few weeks and see how it goes.

As usual, RDWHAHB.