Did I ruin my beer?

[Beer-lord]

It's too early to tell and no one can really give me the answer but here's what happened. I made 11 gallons of Drop Kick Nate and had blow off tubes on both. On my Big Mouth, I took off the tube shortly after fermentation stopped but left the tube in my SS Brewbucket (I think I remember some folks saying they leave it in for the duration but I never have). Yesterday I started cold crashing and never even gave it a thought about the star san AND yeast junk that might get sucked back into my fermenter. I went to check on the temp this morning and noticed that the half a mason jar of star san/junk was empty. I know where it went.
If it was just star san, I'd feel better but I know it had a little bit of funk in it and as I left the temp go to 68-69 when I added hops, who knows what that stuff did in that jar. Guess I'll know soon.
I'm glad I made 2 kegs worth since one if going to a crawfish party in 3 weeks and the other was for me to enjoy. Oh well, it is what it is and I'm just hoping that with this light beer, whatever off flavors won't be noticed.
Can anyone BS me with encouragement?

[BlackDuck]

Only time will tell. The exact same thing happened to me a while back on a Pilsner that I made. The temp and pressure change sucked back a 1/2 gallon of water into the ferementer. Luckily, it was only water, and no yeast junk since I swapped it with clean water a couple times. That's why I only use water in my blow off jug, I figure if anything does get back into the fermenter, I want it to just be water and no chemicals. Good luck...hopefully it finished OK.

OH...as for the BS encouragement...the Pilsner turned out OK. Probably just a little lower alcohol and maybe a little lighter flavor. Other than that...no biggie.

EDIT....Here is the link to the thread where it happened to me.

[Inkleg]

Dang dude, sorry to hear that. Yeah it's ruined. You should keg it, carbonate it and ship it to me for proper disposal (I hate dealing with bottles ).

Other that it not being the beer you were expecting, it will be fine.

[Beer-lord]

Dang dude, sorry to hear that. Yeah it's ruined. You should keg it, carbonate it and ship it to me for proper disposal (I hate dealing with bottles ).

Other that it not being the beer you were expecting, it will be fine.

Do I have your absolute, solemn word on that? We all know you can't be trusted as you seem to like the beers I send to you and I send you crap so I'm a bit doubtful.

I've not had an infection since I started brewing again and am due one. Not that I'm asking for it but its in the back of my mind.
Maybe I should bring this beer to the crawfish boil and no one will be the wiser. They'll all say, "this is awesome" because that's what you're supposed to say when someone gives you 5 gallons of free beer and all the crawfish and fixin's you can eat for free! Hell yeah.

Chris, you don't use star san for your blow off container? I'd be fearful of just water after the gases ceased but we all know how anal I am about stuff like that.

Seriously, thanks for the encouragement guys!

[Dawg LB Steve]

Let it ride! You'll find out soon enough!

[Beer-lord]

I can always add 6 oz of hops to the keg and cover any flavors up, right?

[BlackDuck]

Chris, you don't use star san for your blow off container? I'd be fearful of just water after the gases ceased but we all know how anal I am about stuff like that.

Yup....just water. Both in a blowoff container and the airlock. Never had an issue.

[MadBrewer]

This has happened to me a few times when cold crashing. The last time it happened it was with a Kolsch and it sucked up a lot of starsan, at least two cups. I freaked out at first, and was thinking it was ruined but it turned out to be one of the best beers I ever made. Let it ride, taste it before you keg or bottle and go from there. You will know if it turned funky or not. But either way, I would drink it up quick while it is good.

This is why I gave up on blow off tubes and arilocks. I usually just cover the carboy opening with foil during fermentation. Fermenting in a glass carboy I can see fermentaion so covering the top with foil has worked for me. I rarely get a fermentation so vigorous that it needs a blow off tube. I have had some spill over a time or two but I normally leave adequate headspace.

[BigPapaG]

I also think your beer will survive...

It may take on a new character depending on what wild thingies got into and survived the star san bath... But I suspect nothing did as the pH would have been pretty low anyway...

BTW, I never cold crash, haven't had to... (And wouldn't even if I felt I needed to as it all drops out in the bottles and kegs anyway)

But if I did, I suspect there would not be enough temp/pressure change to suck anything back in any way...

My blowoff tube would require quite the volume of liquid to backflow as it's 1" in diameter and 3.5' long...

image.jpeg (65.42 KiB) Viewed 1212 times

Now, do me a favor... Just look here at the little light...

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[Beer-lord]

I have the same size tube for my Big Mouth Bubble and glad I removed it.
While I agree it will all settle out, I have found my beers are better tasting as soon as the kegs are carbed and when I don't crash (cuz me uses lotsa hoppage) it takes many weeks to drop out of the keg.
And, you are a funny guy Papa, you should open a Comedy Club Tap Room!

[BigPapaG]

And, you are a funny guy Papa, you should open a Comedy Club Tap Room!

Hah!

Thanks, I'll be here all week... Try the Belgian and don't forget to tip your barmaid!

[Kealia]

I remember when this happened to Chris. I wouldn't worry either. The yeast and trub were in a pretty safe environment for anything to happen to them and the StarSan will break down.

The great news is that you can compare the two kegs and see for yourself if you can taste the difference. Have your wife pour the beers and not tell you which is which to avoid any testing bias since you'd know which was which if you pour them yourself.

And if for some crazy reason it does taste off - yes, take it to the crawfish boil and make them drink it

Seriously, you likely just created a great story to write up for BYO (and here, of course). You won't be the last person to do this and others will benefit from your learnings. The fact that you have a second keg of it that this didn't happen to is lucky in a sense so you CAN compare.

[mashani]

If your blowoff bucket was covered then the only thing that could have gotten into it came from your beer. So that would be yeast and wort and other trubby stuff. So if that gets sucked back in, so what? Even if it wasn't covered the star san probably killed anything that fell on top of it unless it got diluted to the point where it was ineffective, so still all you likely sucked up was the stuff down below which came from your beer.

So I would say you still make beer.

But I'm like madbrewer, I don't bother with airlocks/blowoffs anymore. I just semi-open ferment with a loose lid or covering that drapes over my fermenter mouth. I can't say it enough, but beer infecting bugs do not crawl up, they can only fall into things from above. So if you have a covering over your fermenter, and it was not already infected, you will not make vinegar contrary to nonsense post in airlock review threads. I actually believe I am making better beer since I started fermenting with virtually no pressure in my fermenting vessel.

[Beer-lord]

You guys are awesome confidence builders. I'm kegging both tomorrow and will know soon.
Big thanks for the confidence. Any lost beer us sad!

[ScrewyBrewer]

I think that StarSan eventually breaks down into water anyway, that's why we can use it to sanitize things and then rack beer or wort on top of it without rinsing or drying. I haven't used a blow off tube in well over a year, since I started fermenting my beer on the cool side and putting just 5.25 gallons of wort into 6.5 gallon fermentors. I would feel safer knowing that a little StarSan got sucked up into the fermenting beer than plain old water though.

Chances are your beer will turn out perfect @Paul, let us know if it does.