Will it make me sick?

[boomslang]

Hey guys, still a bit unsure on this topic.

Basically I spontaneously soured a pale ale a few month back (left to cool in an open kettle then US-05 added). I let the glass carboy soak in a bleach solution when I dumped it, then racked in a raspberry pale ale to let it clarify.

After a drunken decision to add whole nutmeg to it, it's gone sour. Either because of the nutmeg, or some residual bacteria in the carboy.

Basically, it's crystal clear now and looks amazing, doesn't even taste that bad (like a young fruit lambic). But, since this has happened accidentally and not through controlled practice, will it make me ill? Like bad guts/the ****s aha.

Please let me know guys as I hate to waste drinkable beer!

Thank you!

 

[mredge73]

The alcohol will get you sicker than anything else in there.
Trust your nose/tongue, they will tell you if it will make you sick.

If you have mold it will smell like death; likely it is just a little lactic bacteria.
High acidity and high alcohol will kill pretty much anything else that gets in there.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Maybe just an explosive #3


Just kidding. If it smells good and looks good, try a glass. Or offer a pint to a "friend" first

Your nutmeg may have had a new strain of wild yeast or bacteria on it that will make you a millionaire in the brewing industry.

 

[user 246304]

To my memory - so take it for what you will - no pathogenic organisms (salmonella et al) can live in beer. You might drink vinegar and if you down that too much, you might not feel too swell, but no, commonly, the pathogens can't exist in beer.

That was common knowledge back to at least 2005, which would be the last time I thought of any of this. BUT, I do recall some research in Japan that picked up on a new strain of something...Zymomonas?...that turned out to be pathogenic, and could live in beer. The odds of that being in your beer, I would think, is astronomically low.

And again, this is only faint memory at this point. I'm sorry I can't give a more authoritative answer.

 

[MaxStout]

If you bleach-bombed the carboy before racking, that's probably not the infection source. Likely the nutmeg introduced something. Probably an infection from lactic or pedio, or perhaps some wild yeast, which won't be harmful to drink. It's up to you if it tastes good. Don't dump it until you've tried it.

 

[boomslang]

To my memory - so take it for what you will - no pathogenic organisms (salmonella et al) can live in beer. You might drink vinegar and if you down that too much, you might not feel too swell, but no, commonly, the pathogens can't exist in beer.

That was common knowledge back to at least 2005, which would be the last time I thought of any of this. BUT, I do recall some research in Japan that picked up on a new strain of something...Zymomonas?...that turned out to be pathogenic, and could live in beer. The odds of that being in your beer, I would think, is astronomically low.

And again, this is only faint memory at this point. I'm sorry I can't give a more authoritative answer.

Yeah, I've heard the same thing to be honest, I'm sure it'll be fine I just wanted some second opinions to make sure I wasn't diving into something irresonsible. Wish I could post pics of this because its an amazing blood red colour. Cheers mate.

 

[suprchunk]

To my memory - so take it for what you will - no pathogenic organisms (salmonella et al) can live in beer.

But they can in wort. Which is what he had when he "spontaneously" fermented it. It's really the pH that would prevent most things from growing and surviving. Here's a small study, and I'm not sure what they used as a base for mid-strength of full-strength.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22004814

and

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24674433

I'm not a scientist, but google leads me to science-type people who know more about some of the questions I, and others, seem to have. I also don't ask questions that could provide information that could kill me to people that will answer without knowledge. Just look at some of these answers in here...

...not directed at you, personally, just all the information in here.