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water from blowoff in the fermenter

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Dec 28, 2011
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I recently brewed a strawberry blond.  after a few days when the fermentation was complete i added 4lbs strawberries raw, pureed with 1/2 lb sugar.  This was a violent reaction wich pushed the pectins from the strawberries into the blow off.  two weeks later i decided to cold crash it.  I would say about an 1/8 off a gallon was sucked into the beer.  now the actual water has a small amount of bleach in it. I would say about 1/16 of a tablespoon may have gotten in the batch.  I was about to pitch it, but i have some brewers telling me that it is nothing to worry about.  I hate to waste it , but at the same time i don't want to drink anything harmful.  Help.
 
Are you worried about the bleach or something else?

The small amount of bleach that you sucked in is not harmful.  In addition, it will be gone in a just a day or three.  Chlorine is not stable in aqueous solution, and will be gone in short order. 

I don't use blow-offs....I ferment in buckets.  I don't know what other people use, but I would think that a sanitizer that is more stable would be better for a blowoff....like star-san.  Which is non-toxic, to boot.
 
I never use bleach in any of my cleaning or sanitizing procedures. I recommend using Starsan for your blow off tubes. Because Starsan naturally foams during the blow off, you can also measure how much CO2 is coming off your fermentation. Lots of foam = really active. Little to no foam = switch out the blow off tube for an airlock.
 
Luke- I wouldn't pitch either. By the time you're done conditioning it and have it in a bottle/keg, it shouldn't matter. I never give up and dump a batch until it's time to dump it. You never know, when it seems like it's gone bad and a few weeks later it's one of your best batches yet. Besides, you already brewed it, might as well ride it to the end. You might be rewarded.  ;)
 
Could just give an icky off flavor thats all.I have made some pretty bad beer and drank it.i have a brooklyn lager clone that tastes like dirty pennies I am refusing to pour down the drain.
 
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