SOB! What Did I DO????

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Photohype

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I cannot believe the mistake I made today! Today was bottling day of my first 5 gallon brew. I went through each step as planned out and then during cleanup afterwards I realized that I couldn't find my Easy Clean no rinse cleaner anywhere. When searching through my equipment and boxes, I came across two packets of priming sugar, which I thought was strange, because didn't I use one of the two just a couple hours earlier? That led me to the trash can to see what I threw away and behold, there was an empty packet of my missing Easy Clean! My friend was helping me out earlier and when I asked him to get the priming sugar and cut open the top he grabbed the Easy Clean instead! Now that every one of my beer bottles are capped, it was Easy Clean instead of priming sugar that was used - So I am guessing I just ruined my entire first batch of home-brew due to not realizing that I added the Easy Clean in place of the priming sugar! Being it is a no-rinse cleanser, I guess at that strength (4 oz) is harmful. So, is there anything that can be done?
 
easy clean is a high oxygen cleaner . it has hydrogen peroxide in it for the oxygen . there are supposed to not be any harmful ingredients in it . So basically you could leave it and prime it and bottle . If it leaves a taste then toss it . Probably depends on how much you poured in the beer . a small amount might not be a flavor problem . the oxygen it is going to produce just might be a problem . you want that oxygen gone before you bottle which happens in the fermentation process. Maybe you could just let the bucket sit for a couple days with an airlock on it and the oxygen may get pushed out . Perhaps go ahead and put in your priming sugar . That will help as the yeast will eat it and make Co2 and push out the oxygen .

you have the two options as far as keeping it .
1. leave oxygen in and hope your beer does not get messed up with oxidation .
2. try to remove the oxygen .

thought I might add in that sodium sulfate has sulfur in it so it may have a sulfur smell / taste . Again I would say depending on how much you poured in .

try taking a drink of it and see if it has a nasty flavor from the sulfur

just noticed you put in 4oz , i missed that . Seems like a lot to leave in . give it a smell . I just really can not see it tasting all that great.
But still I do not think drinking that small amount of it would be harmful as it is only peroxide with sodium percarbonate and sodium sulfate . they are only irritants . Now drinking 4 oz at once may be a problem but not deadly i am sure.
 
There just ain't no way to blow sunshine up your ass on this one. Dump 'em and start again. Lose your helper too.
 
Dump it. You cannot risk ingesting that amount of what could be poison at all. Sorry man.
 
Thanks for the replies. I figured it was a goner when I realized what actually happened. I was going to mention that the test tube sample for my hydrometer reading tasted just fine, a little flat, but nothing bad, and I didn't get sick - but I realized that it was siphoned into the test tube before I siphoned it into the bottling bucket mixed with the Easy Clean mixture. I will toss the beer.
 
brew_ny said:
what did it do when you boiled it to put in your bottling bucket? I am with dump it and move on

sorry for your lose

S_M
Click to expand...

It boiled over on the stove. Being it was my first time ever boiled with priming sugar (so I thought) I thought boiling over was something that was common if added too quickly, as I did. I cut back the temp of the burner and added the rest. I wish I could turn back the hands of time just a few hours earlier and not answer the doorbell when my buddy came by!
 
Is it wrong to really want to keep a couple bottles just to give to my friend and tell him to drink up??? I'm having evil thoughts... but hell, it was my own fault as well by not making sure he handed me the correct pouch!
 
Highly suggest dumping the batch. Even if the cleaner isn't toxic (it's not intended for consumption) you're beer isn't gonna carb, so it's a no drink situation. 100% dump.

If you makes you feel any better (I'm brewing my 7th batch as I type) each time you brew you will get better and more confident. So while you lost the beer you still have the experience you gained. Certainly your next one will turn out awesome. If you're all about numbers like some of us OCD home brewers, just call it batch #0, forget about it and get to having fun on your batch #1 right away.
 
As long as we're talking about dump stories, I've lost two batches over about 30-40 total batches. The first one was a two year old five gallon dunkelweisen extract. I had it covered in the secondary fermenter and completely forgot about it for two years during the brain-fu<king experience of the didactic years of medical school. When I found it and tried it, it had turned to vinegar. The second batch I lost was a five gallon all grain batch. After the mash, sparge, boil, and chill, I was just getting ready to transfer it to the primary when I got distracted. I had the auto-siphon primed, but the end of the tubing still in the brew kettle. When I left, the end of the tubing slipped out of the kettle and dumped all five gallons on my basement floor. What a wet sticky mess that was... and I was pretty darn pissed with myself at that one. That's one mistake I'll never make again!
 
PackerfaninSanDiego said:
I'd dump it but don't blame your friend.
Click to expand...
I'm one never to hold grudges. I'm giving myself time with this one however. Tomorrow I'll be fine and will call my friend and tell him what happened. I'm sure he'll feel horrible about the mistake and offer to compensate, which I will refuse, of course. One day in the future, he and I will reflect back on this moment and have a laugh as we drink some home-brew as I will be well seasoned in the hobby by then!
 
Bummer..... sucks that it happened right off the bat in your brewing - I am sure you were eager to get some finished product. I have had to dump a lot of beers over the years for all sorts of reasons. I have made some incredibly stupid mistakes ..... everyone has. I dumped over a 5.5 gallon bucket of wort as I was filling my fermenter from my boil kettle..... in my basement. What a mess! Dropped a carboy through the bottom of my double basin sink. Forgot to turn off my burner a couple different times after I put my grain in the mash tun and came back to find my mash boiling. Had a picnic tap get caught open in my beer fridge and drain 2-3 gallons of beer in my fridge... and out on to the floor.
Part of brewing is making mistakes. Part of brewing a lot, for a long time, is making a lot of mistakes:)
Grab yourself a six pack of something good, sit down with a brew catalog and pick out another batch and get back on the horse.
 
Braufessor said:
Bummer..... sucks that it happened right off the bat in your brewing - I am sure you were eager to get some finished product. I have had to dump a lot of beers over the years for all sorts of reasons. I have made some incredibly stupid mistakes ..... everyone has. I dumped over a 5.5 gallon bucket of wort as I was filling my fermenter from my boil kettle..... in my basement. What a mess! Dropped a carboy through the bottom of my double basin sink. Forgot to turn off my burner a couple different times after I put my grain in the mash tun and came back to find my mash boiling. Had a picnic tap get caught open in my beer fridge and drain 2-3 gallons of beer in my fridge... and out on to the floor.
Part of brewing is making mistakes. Part of brewing a lot, for a long time, is making a lot of mistakes:)
Grab yourself a six pack of something good, sit down with a brew catalog and pick out another batch and get back on the horse.
Click to expand...

I do have a 5 gallon batch of some Red Ale fermenting in the basement that I brewed a week ago today. And I picked up an American Cream Ale kit this morning while out at my local brew supply store since they had issued a coupon for this weekend. I'll brew that a week from now. I wanted to keep the brewing going in every two week intervals to always keep fresh home-brew in the fridge. I'll just be a little delayed. I must admit I was very much anticipating trying my English Brown Ale. It had quite a great taste when I sampled the hydrometer reading samples. I'll probably purchase it again and brew it in three weeks from now. I had already named it "Introduction" since it was going to be my first 5 gallon home-brew. I may have to rename my Red Ale from "Vermilion" to "Introduction"... will have to see.
 
I did something similar many years ago. I was intending to add Polyclar to my beer to clear it but I managed to add a cleaner to it. Somehow I realized what I had done and immediately dumped the batch.
 
Photohype said:
I'm one never to hold grudges. I'm giving myself time with this one however. Tomorrow I'll be fine and will call my friend and tell him what happened. I'm sure he'll feel horrible about the mistake and offer to compensate, which I will refuse, of course. One day in the future, he and I will reflect back on this moment and have a laugh as we drink some home-brew as I will be well seasoned in the hobby by then!
Click to expand...

MarcusKillion said:
easy clean is a high oxygen cleaner . it has hydrogen peroxide in it for the oxygen . there are supposed to not be any harmful ingredients in it . So basically you could leave it and prime it and bottle . If it leaves a taste then toss it . Probably depends on how much you poured in the beer . a small amount might not be a flavor problem . the oxygen it is going to produce just might be a problem . you want that oxygen gone before you bottle which happens in the fermentation process. Maybe you could just let the bucket sit for a couple days with an airlock on it and the oxygen may get pushed out . Perhaps go ahead and put in your priming sugar . That will help as the yeast will eat it and make Co2 and push out the oxygen .

you have the two options as far as keeping it .
1. leave oxygen in and hope your beer does not get messed up with oxidation .
2. try to remove the oxygen .

thought I might add in that sodium sulfate has sulfur in it so it may have a sulfur smell / taste . Again I would say depending on how much you poured in .

try taking a drink of it and see if it has a nasty flavor from the sulfur

just noticed you put in 4oz , i missed that . Seems like a lot to leave in . give it a smell . I just really can not see it tasting all that great.
But still I do not think drinking that small amount of it would be harmful as it is only peroxide with sodium percarbonate and sodium sulfate . they are only irritants . Now drinking 4 oz at once may be a problem but not deadly i am sure.
Click to expand...

Photohype Have you ever watched "Moonlight in Escanaba"? ...horrible way to start a brewing career.

http://www.heraproject.com/files/6-F-04-HERA percarbonate full web wd.pdf

http://www.heraproject.com/files/10-F-05_HERA_sodium_carbonate_revised_version2 .pdf

4 .oz in how many gallons? ...five gallons?

http://www.codexalimentarius.net/gsfaonline/additives/details.html?id=198

http://www.codexalimentarius.net/gsfaonline/additives/details.html?id=376

It looks like the dry forms are problematic. They put the stuff in food though.

You tasted a sample and it didn't taste "off"?
 
Dynachrome said:
Photohype Have you ever watched "Moonlight in Escanaba"? ...horrible way to start a brewing career.

http://www.heraproject.com/files/6-F-04-HERA percarbonate full web wd.pdf

http://www.heraproject.com/files/10-F-05_HERA_sodium_carbonate_revised_version2 .pdf

4 .oz in how many gallons? ...five gallons?

http://www.codexalimentarius.net/gsfaonline/additives/details.html?id=198

http://www.codexalimentarius.net/gsfaonline/additives/details.html?id=376

It looks like the dry forms are problematic. They put the stuff in food though.

You tasted a sample and it didn't taste "off"?
Click to expand...

It was 4 oz. with a little over 4 gallons. It started off as a five gallon batch, but I guess with not putting nearly as much in the bottling bucket to keep from getting sediment mixed in, as well as from hydrometer reading samples, it wound up coming under 5 gallons. The sample I tasted was siphoned into the hydrometer test tube before it went into the bottling bucket. As I write this, I do recall that I didn't put enough beer into the test tube and I wound up having to add some more beer into the test tube from the contaminated batch. I sampled it and don't recall it having any off flavors other than it being flat due to not being carbonated yet. I didn't get sick, but only a small bit of beer from the contaminated batch was added to the test tube to get it to a proper level in order to take the hydrometer reading.

I have not seen the movie Moonlight in Escanaba. It does suck that this happened on my first 5 gallon batch. My wife criticized me as well stating I knew nothing of what I was doing. She's critical however, and I am not going to let her bring me down... I slipped on the first rung of the ladder, but I have high expectations and will keep on climbing.
 
Photohype said:
It boiled over on the stove. Being it was my first time ever boiled with priming sugar (so I thought) I thought boiling over was something that was common if added too quickly, as I did. I cut back the temp of the burner and added the rest. I wish I could turn back the hands of time just a few hours earlier and not answer the doorbell when my buddy came by!
Click to expand...

I have a question about your boil . Why would you boil the beer after adding in the priming sugar or while adding it in ?
Never heard of anyone doing that is why I ask..
 
MarcusKillion said:
I have a question about your boil . Why would you boil the beer after adding in the priming sugar or while adding it in ?
Never heard of anyone doing that is why I ask..
Click to expand...

According to the step-by-step directions that came with the ingredient kit, step 12 states, "In a small saucepan dissolve priming sugar into 2 cups of boiling water for 5 minutes. Pour this mixture into a clean bottling bucket. Carefully siphon beer from the fermenter to a bottling bucket..."

I am guessing you misunderstood that I boiled the beer again, not sure how you got that from what I stated, but I only boiled the water with what I thought was priming sugar.
 
Photohype said:
According to the step-by-step directions that came with the ingredient kit, step 12 states, "In a small saucepan dissolve priming sugar into 2 cups of boiling water for 5 minutes. Pour this mixture into a clean bottling bucket. Carefully siphon beer from the fermenter to a bottling bucket..."

I am guessing you misunderstood that I boiled the beer again, not sure how you got that from what I stated, but I only boiled the water with what I thought was priming sugar.
Click to expand...

yep that was it . I thought you reboiled the beer with the sugar in it or cleaner as it was .

did you ever smell or taste any of that beer with the cleaner in it ? Just wondering if that 4 oz put any sulfur smell in it .
 
MarcusKillion said:
yep that was it . I thought you reboiled the beer with the sugar in it or cleaner as it was .

did you ever smell or taste any of that beer with the cleaner in it ? Just wondering if that 4 oz put any sulfur smell in it .
Click to expand...

I siphoned some of the uncontaminated beer into my hydrometer test tube and later realized that I didn't add enough because the hydrometer was touching the bottom and not floating, so I added more beer (unknowingly contaminated this time) to get the beer level high enough to take my hydrometer reading. After taking the reading, I drank what was in the test tube. It didn't taste awful, just flat. It had roughly the same taste it did a few days ago when I took a hydrometer reading. I thought to myself both times, "this will be really good once it is carbonated". Although it was very little of the contaminated beer that I added to the test tube, it didn't get me sick and I would have never known that I swallowed contaminated beer if I never discovered my mistake.

I don't recall it having any sulfur smell either.
 
probably was safe to drink . 4 oz of a mild irritant in 5 gallons ? is not much . But I would think when that peroxide started pumping out oxygen it would have messed up the beer .
 
Hate to say it, but you should dump this one. Everyone here has had to dump a batch, you just got yours out of the way on the first try (I dumped my first one too). Just put it behind you and start working on your next batch.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
Dump it & make your buddy buy you a 24 pack of your favorite beers. Then brew again and try again.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Act proud of it and give it away to a friends who you think might freeload of your beer in the future. He will never ask you to give them beer in the future.
 
I'd boil and add some dme to get fermentation going again. Dump it all into the fv and pitch a packet of dry yeast (depending on yeast still in suspension). That might help get rid of the extra o2. Don't know if it would work, just my2¢

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Home Brew mobile app
 
cjgenever said:
I'd boil and add some dme to get fermentation going again. Dump it all into the fv and pitch a packet of dry yeast (depending on yeast still in suspension). That might help get rid of the extra o2. Don't know if it would work, just my2¢

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Home Brew mobile app
Click to expand...

I just don't think it's worth it. At best, he'll save a batch of beer. At worst he'll have something that will make him physically ill. It would require more work uncapping, dumping out, reboiling, cooling, then adding the priming sugar than to just make a new extract batch, for an end-result of a beer that probably won't taste good and could potentially harm him. I'm just not seeing the upside to trying to save this batch. Dumping beer isn't the worst thing that can happen to a homebrewer.
 

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