Cold Crashed with blow off tube

[teeter]

I feel like I've learned a lot from these forums, so for those of you who haven't made this mistake. Remember to switch to an airlock before you cold crash your beer.

I cold crashed two 5 gal carboys from 68 degrees to 40 degrees and this morning when I woke up roughly 1.5 liters of startan had been sucked into the beer.

:smack::smack:

1. is the beer still safe to drink?
2. is there any way to remedy my situation?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[JustLooking]

1. Safe, yes. But so's drinking Bud Light.
2. Next time remove blow-off and cover with sanitized foil and a rubber band.

 

[Travestian]

A longer blow off tube can help this also. Or using a 3 piece airlock with some vodka.

 

[jbaysurfer]

1.5 full liters? Into 10 gallons?

Probably not great, but I'd rack it anyway. FWIW...when you cold crash with an S-type airlock it'll also suck back into your carboy. You can go with a 3 piece airlock or what I do is just remove the blowoff tube, put a #0 stopper in the bung and then cold crash it.

It may not be the end of the world though. I wouldn't drink it straight (it's been done, google around for it) but I have tasted it straight and Starsan really doesn't taste bad. If it's a full 1.5 liters into each 5 gallons...you could have a problem. Only tasting it will tell the tale.

 

[teeter]

It was 1.5 across two carboys so about .75/5 gal. Keggerator's empty so figure I'll give it a shot and just start brewing another batch, keep it on tap until the next brew is ready.

 

[cthulu1975]

You could always make some hop tea and add it to it, or save it for the BMC drinkers. What style was it?

 

[teeter]

coffee stout, and a pale ale

 

[insanim8er]

It happens to the best of 'em...

I did the exact thing, but I didn't have that much starsan but it was 5gal. I had a graff in the fermenter. With out blinking an eye, I set the temp to 40, so it could clear up some. I realized the starsan was gone a couple days later. I still have that graff in a keg down stairs, so I don't know how it turned out yet. I need to tap it and see.

Plus the saftey factor of drinking it really depends on the concentration. Starsan is Phosphoric Acid. It's found in coke and Pepsi.

 

[BigFloyd]

When cold crashing, use an S- type airlock with StarSan in the bottom halves of each bubble as usual. I cold crash every batch (5-7 days at 35*F) and have no issues with suck back. It will allow air in, but it will pass through the sanitizer without sucking that tiny amount of StarSan along with it.

 

[happypanties]

This happened to me once. The starsan that was sucked back into my carboy kind of lingered on top, which was a good thing because I was able to rack the beer under it using an auto-siphon to my keg. I just stopped racking once I started sucking up the starsan. The beer turned out great.

 

[beergolf]

When cold crashing, use an S- type airlock with StarSan in the bottom halves of each bubble as usual. I cold crash every batch (5-7 days at 35*F) and have no issues with suck back. It will allow air in, but it will pass through the sanitizer without sucking that tiny amount of StarSan along with it.

This is the best answer. I do the same thing.

 

[kharper6]

I keep my airlock on during cold crashing, but I fill it with vodka instead of starsan.