A little help

[Professor Frink]

Hi, I've looked around, but no where really seems to address this issue. I was working on my 4th batch of brew when I did something quite idiotic, but it was bound to happen. When putting the stopper on my glass carboy, I already had my filled airlock in it. I had put One-Step, No Rinse Cleanser (Percarbonates) in my airlock at the advice of my local brewstore. Anyway, somehow it created a vacuum that started sucking some sanitizer into my oatmeal stout :eek: . I pulled the stopper of, but about a teaspoon leaked in to about 5 gallons of beer, before I could stop it.

Well, I'm wondering if I should even bottle at this point. I've talked to the guys at my homebrew store, and they have advised me till fill the airlock last, use vodka, but they have no idea what will happen to the beer.

The beer is still fermenting, and I am pretty sure the small One-Step packets say non toxic. Basically, anyone have any solid idea on whether or not I should bottle and hope for the best, or just cut my losses and pitch it down the drain??? I'm hoping 1 tsp in 5 gallons is diluted enough to have a pretty unnoticeable effect, but I have no idea.

Thx for any advice/help.

[Richard English]

What is the substance in the packet? That will tell you whether it's safe to continue or not. If it's only sodium bicarbonate or a sulphur (sulfur) dioxide type of sterilising compound then you'll have no problems since it will decompose and any gases produced will simply get carried away with the carbon dioxide produced by your fermentation.

The process of fermentation does remove much of what is harmful in any mixture and, of course, alcohol itself is a good sterilising compound.

In London about 150 years ago there was an epidemic of Cholera in Soho which killed many inhabitants. The only ones unaffected were the workers at the local brewery. We now know that this was because they drank beer, not water from the local well which was, as subsequently discovered, connected directly to the local sewer! Although the brewery used the same water, the process of fermentation sterilised it and the beer was quite safe to drink.

Although the tap water in England is now very good, I still take the precaution of having it treated by my local brewery before I drink it!

[paul84043]

One step is a no rinse cleaner/sanitizer and is therefore (supposedto be) safe, the no rinse actually assumes that you are going to leave some in your equipment and ultimately in your beer.
You're talking about such a small amount comapred to the 5 gallon volume of the batch, as long as it was clean, which it will be, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.
The One step uses Oxygen to clean, it's not an acid or an antibacterial, it oxidizes the cell walls of the bacteria and breaks them down. You consume more nasty acid in a can of Pepsi.
The worst thing that could possibly happen is that you oxidize a tiny bit of the alcohol that's being created in the beer before the One step is rendered neutral.

Don't sweat it! You're doing fine.

The Vodka is a great idea, I think I'll start soing that myself.

[Professor Frink]

thanks, the One-Step I have been getting, I assume the store I get it from gets it in bulk and repackages it in ziplock baggies. They also slap a sticker on it, which just has the company name and address, and directions for use, etc... It doesn't specifically say what effect trace amount consumption might have.

It does say contains percarbonates, does not contain chlorine, bisulfites, organic compounds, or phosphates.

Thanks for the reassurance Paul, It just bugs me not knowing fro another month while it ferments in the bottle. I think it will be ok, the One-step seems fairly benign, and the small amount definitely has not killed the yeast. It would just be heartbreaking to have my whole oatmeal stout ruined, but at least I learned from the mistake, and have already picked up some vodka.

[YamahaXS]

don't throw it away... Ship it to me if you don't want to drink it! :D

you should be safe!

[danno]

in the "How do I keep this from happening NEXT time" area, I wonder how warm your wort was when you put the airlock on. The only thing I can think of that would cause the vacuum which caused the suck-back would be the cooling of the wort to room temp after inserting the airlock...

I also agree with everyone else, it will probably be fine. Even worst case, you bottle it, it turns out bad, you're out the bottle caps. If you dump it now, you're out two cases of potentially great beer...

[paul84043]

You don't have to wait a month to test your beer, you can taste it at any time, and I actually think that one should. It's very interesting to note the changes the beer goes through as it ages.

I bottle six or eight mini corona bottles just for that purpose.

After the week carbonation period, give them a good twist or two to dislodge the yeast from the sides of the bottle, then the next day you should be fine to test one. It should still be just a tiny bit flatter than you would like, and will be "young" it may be overly bitter, or sweet, and not very smooth, but you will get a really good idea of how the finished beer is going to taste.

My first batch, an Amber ale was pretty dang good after only one week of aging. It had tons of flavor and a real intense bitter hop finish. After three more weeks, the bitter finish has smoothed out (I was beginning to get used to it..) and it's the most popular beer in the house....in fact, it's nearly gone...:mad:
Be sure to sock away a six pack for later comparison to other batches....