Plastic particles, sanitation concerns, yeast shock

Crowing · Nov 24, 2014

My mead partner and I racked our first batch tonight which freed up our bucket for a second batch. However...
Our first problem was siphoning water through a siphon that was rinsed but not sanitized. Then we noticed our stirring spoon was chewing up the bottom of the bucket and there are some small plastic flakes now floating about.
Then we rehydrated our yeast and pitched it without atempering at all with our must being 66 and the yeast slurry being probably 85-90
Partner also managed to dunk the entire measuring cup into the must after it had been on several counter tops and there were about a half dozen other "woops that wasn't sanitized" moments.
This went much less smoothly than our first batch, I guess I'll just leave it in the basement and see if anything happens. Recipe was:

Wildflower honey: somewhere around 3.5 pounds plus
A little over 1 gallon water
1g fermaid k
2g DAP
D47 rehydrated in goferm
OG was 1.110 but with I'm sure there was some honey that wasn't dissolved.

Any estimate on chances of success?

GntlKnigt1 · Nov 24, 2014

Not great, but if you have some K1 yeast, that might help. The temp difference between must and starter probably delivered some serious shock to your yeast. Also, rack it through a cheesecloth filter. The plastic pieces are not good, as the scratches are potential hiding places for unwanted infections. The undissolved honey is not a big issue; the yeast will find it. Hopefully, there wasn't so much as to drive your SG over 1.140 or so.

Might make it....

bathtub brewer · Nov 24, 2014

I have had similar moments, mostly with beer, but I find as long as the yeast you are adding gets off to a running start then usually things will be fine. Once your yeast gets established it will usually hamper other things growth.

Crowing · Nov 24, 2014

Well there's some activity for sure, SG is down a few points to 1.106. White foam on top looked a little funky but I've only made my one gallon of cyser before so I don't know if it's funky bad or funky normal. I can't post the pic cause its 54kb too large apparently. If this takes off, when do you guys think I should drop my second nutrient addition?
As for the plastic, I assume the pieces will do no harm as long as they don't make it into bottles/glasses since its the same food grade plastic anyway.

EJM3 · Nov 24, 2014

I've been at mazing for a little over a year now and have had a lot of those oops moments in the beginning. Generally as long as you have a good strong ferment nothing can really survive it. The pH drop alone kills of lots of unwanted critters, and the rising alcohol levels take care of almost everything else. Some sulfite and sorbate also help to get rid of the nasties as well as keep the yeastie beasties from going to town just when you think they are done. I have only had one batch of something go off from a suspected infection to date (knocking on wooden head), and none in the last 10 months. But I use vodka to sterilize everything that comes into contact with my must, fermentor, utensils, etc. Gone through 3 1.75L bottles to date, just remember to not take you sterilizing fluid internally. That is what Mead is for!

The plastic will not hurt you per se, but it is unsightly, and really detracts from the whole of the mead you are making. I had some trouble with a bipolar friend, and one of my batches still has small bits of plastic shavings from whatever he was doing in it. The aroma and flavor are still in line with my original tastings, so the plastic did no physical harm to my mead, but it's pretty nasty looking.

mannye · Nov 24, 2014

I get black plastic shavings from the lid of my fermenting bucket. They are of no concern. The divots left behind in the bucket can be more worrisome because as GK said, they can be safe harbor for bacteria.

skunkboy · Nov 24, 2014

Yeah, once you dig into your buckets kinda hard to clean/sanitize them again. The plastic flakes shouldn't be a big deal, as long as they settle out before you bottle/keg...

Crowing · Nov 24, 2014

Well I figure it's just motivation to get a bigger fermenter and one of those neato degassing wands.

mannye · Nov 25, 2014

I use a slotted stainless spoon that s way too short to reach the bottom of the bucket. That way there's no chance of scraping the bottom. I dropped it once on the last day of aerating/degassing and just left it in there rather than root around with tongs. All was well.

Crowing · Nov 27, 2014

Well this actually seems to be going well. It's at 1.090 (down from 1.110) and its releasing plenty of co2 when I stir it up. It tastes pretty good to me, right now it's just sweet with a bit of a fruity note that I don't understand.
How should this smell? It doesn't smell bad or anything but its got maybe an acidic smell to it? Not really sure what it is I'm smelling.

joemirando · Nov 27, 2014

Crowing said:
Well this actually seems to be going well. It's at 1.090 (down from 1.110) and its releasing plenty of co2 when I stir it up. It tastes pretty good to me, right now it's just sweet with a bit of a fruity note that I don't understand.
How should this smell? It doesn't smell bad or anything but its got maybe an acidic smell to it? Not really sure what it is I'm smelling.

Does it smell kind of like cafeteria orange/grapefruit juice? Most of my batches smell that way from day 2 or so until well into secondary. I've never had it survive to bottling, and never had it ruin a mead. I've never been able to figure out what causes it either.

Joe

Crowing · Dec 7, 2014

Well for an update, this stalled out pretty hard. I added some nutrients and it now has a hideous foam on top, is at 1.062, tastes and smells really bad. It's still probably too cold to get going but we'll see if it moves any this week, if not maybe ill pitch some E1118 on top and see if that helps. I fully intend to drink this, just maybe not in the same decade I had planned on.

skunkboy · Dec 7, 2014

If it is too cold adding 1118 probably won't change much ...

Chevette Girl · Dec 8, 2014

The nice thing about an "it's too cold" stall is that as soon as you warm it up, it should start right up again.

And I had a lid that used to leave plastic shavings floating in my must, I just racked out from under them. Far more concerning is gouges in the bottom of your bucket, as others have stated, it's a great way to harbour bacteria.

You'll eventually get yourself into sanitation habits and procedures... sometimes coordinating all of it together can be a bit much but if you've got a partner ("here, hold this for a second while I get the sanitizer") it can make life a whole lot easier. So can a sprayer of sanitizer.

And yeah, getting the "whoops, that wasn't sanitized" experiences immediately before you start the fermentation is probably better than having "oopsies" after fermentation is complete.

And that fruity note? Probably K1V throwing off esters, which it can do when it's kept cool. I got esters in my apple cider and it was pretty nice.

Crowing · Dec 8, 2014

We actually have a sprayer of sanitizer and we're pretty good about dousing everything liberally and making sure to sanitize everything, the night we made this was just too late and we were far too tired. We've since named this batch Wildflower Mishap.
I have a space heater but I don't want to turn it on because i dont want temps to fluctuate for our first batch which is sitting in a jug down there, finally starting to clear somewhat after refusing to stop fermenting when we racked it.

Crowing · Dec 22, 2014

Update for this batch: I brought it upstairs to the bedroom and wrapped a hoodie around 8 days ago it to reignite the ferment. It kicked back in a bit, went from 1.062 to 1.042 in those 8 days. It looks, smells, and tastes very bad. We decided to leave it in primary and see how far it drops in another week, or longer. Hopefully when we rack this it will be enough to fill a gallon plus a 32oz bottle, 32 oz will be an experiment with juniper berries.

Medsen Fey · Dec 27, 2014

Your pH may be an issue. Can you check it?
D47 works fine at 66F.
Do you have some yeast hulls to add? If not, consider adding some GoFerm or some boiled bread yeast - 2-3 grams may work.

It isn't likely to smell or taste very good now. After it clears and ages for a few months, the change will be dramatic.

Crowing · Dec 27, 2014

It's down to 1.024 now, I expect maybe an fg of 1.004-.010 so it's still actually doing something

Crowing · Jan 11, 2015

This came out to 1.004 before I racked it today. It does not taste good. It is very dry, that's really all I can discern. That and... The 28 yeasty ounces left over after racking can get you feeling pretty good. We have this now in a slightly cloudy gallon jug. I think I need to refine my palate if I want to be good at this.

GntlKnigt1 · Jan 11, 2015

See Medsen's comment above. Will need aging and perhaps back sweetening.

Plastic particles, sanitation concerns, yeast shock

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