Beer Forum

OK, I think I really screwed up this time...because we're freezing our asses off up here in the upper midwest, I had my Scottish 80/- sitting in a water bath with aquarium heater set to 68 degrees, because my basement is at 45. The fermentation slowed to a halt, so I unplugged the heater so it'd be ready to bottle tomorrow. Well, I still had the blow off tube sitting in a quart jar half filled with Starsan, as the beer cooled, it sucked the jar empty, dumping it into my carboy. Is the batch now fucked?

I wouldnt say its fucked dude. It wasnt a huge volume (read not as much as J has put in a beer). If it was mixed to an appropriate ratio you should still be good. Treat it like any other beer and package it and drink that bad boy.

no one here has made the standard you're fucked joke, so let me be the first. you're fucked, it's ruined, pack it up and ship it to me for proper disposal.

Don't worry about it too much. The proof is in how it tastes. Take a hydro sample and check it out.

Yeah, your still gonna worry about it until its in your glass, but it will be ok. I have thought about this since the last white labs show. I really think I am going to try the loose aluminum foil over the carboy until fermentation starts (positive pressure). Can anyone think of an cons to this? I like the idea of no starsan in the beer - although I have never noticed any off flavors when my airlock sucks back in during negative pressure.

hopshead wrote:Yeah, your still gonna worry about it until its in your glass, but it will be ok. I have thought about this since the last white labs show. I really think I am going to try the loose aluminum foil over the carboy until fermentation starts (positive pressure). Can anyone think of an cons to this? I like the idea of no starsan in the beer - although I have never noticed any off flavors when my airlock sucks back in during negative pressure.

I have gone with just tin foil for over a year and had great fortune with my beers in competition. The only time I dont use foil is when I expect a blow off.

sometimes the star san will sit on top of the beer, so check a careful racking may eliminate any problems.
BUB

Charlie Talley, the head of Five Star (the makers of StarSan) and a respected figure in the brewing industry chemical sanitation arena, said in an interview that StarSan will not flavor or scent your beer or harm your yeast and that it actually becomes yeast food when diluted in water. Apparently, it was specifically designed to be metabolized by yeast and not left behind to harm the environment like chlorine or iodine sanitizers...one of the many reasons it's popular in the industry. You have such a small amount of StarSan in your quart jar (now further diluted in 5+ gallons) that I'm sure Charlie himself would say you have absolutely nothing to worry...unless maybe it was pure StarSan. It will probably even help your fermentation with a little added nutrition. Hope that helps!

Here is a link to the interview .mp3 if you are interested:

BasicBrewing Interview
http://cdn4.libsyn.com/basicbrewing/bbr ... e199cca7a7