Uh-oh

[ducksfan]

So I've commited my first brewin mistake. Well maybe and maybe not.

When I was siphoning my first boil water (no wort), I had sanitized my racking can and siphon tube with StarSan (1 oz to 5 gal). I filled the racking cane and siphon hose with the solution from a bucket, and started siphoning from my boiling pot into my primary fermentation carboy. Problem was, I meant to spit out the star san solution into another cup. Instead, it went right into the carboy with the bioled water.

Am I ruined? Should I throw out the water and start over again? Problem is, I've already got my steeping grains steeping...

 

[Kephren]

If all you have is water, then dump it and start again. No use risking it. Sparge your grains and hold the runoff so you can boil it with the rest.

 

[ducksfan]

Well, I took your advice. I dumped the boiled water and started over. Kinda sucked because I had to cool that water too (glass carboy) but I got everything done. I shoulda mentioned, I'm making Nut brown ale using Nottingham yeast, Willamete finishing hops, and Nugget boiling hops.

I tried as hard as I could about the sanitation thing...sprayed Star San everywhere I thought it needed it...but I still worry about contamination. Oh well, this is my first time, so if anything goes wrong I guess I'll just try it again.

 

[Justin Chomel]

Don't sweat it. There will almost always be some contamination. The idea is to keep the wild yeast count down so low that the yeast you pitch has time to take off and ferment the sugar before any wild yeasts multiply and get a leg up.

 

[ducksfan]

I pitched the yeast at about 6 last night, and when I went down into my basement to check the wort this morning at 8, the airlock was bubblin' away and there is a nice looking krausen (sp) head on top! I hope it isn't wild yeasts that are fermenting in there...but I'm hoping for the best! I think I'll just relax...have a homebrew (err, Sierra Nevada Porter) and try not to worry!

 

[Sir Sudster]

Kephren gave you some good advice. Lottsa nasties in ones mouth. Knew one guy who had to go to the Doctor because he had fungus on the back of his tongue. He always had extreme bad breath and found out it was the fungus. Yuuuck! No tellin what else survives in there no mattter how much you brush. Just ask a Dentist.