Some of the snow bank made it into my wort

[captainjay]

I had a can of Brewmaker High Gravity Victorian Bitter that was a month away from its "best before" date, so I figured I'd give it a go (I know what you're all thinking... I was thinking it too, but I decided to give it a go anyway).

To make things even more unpredictable, I threw in maybe half and ounce of Kent hops about 30 minutes into the hour-long full boil. (They were nearing the end of their usefulness as well, so I had to use 'em!)

So if all of that would turn out alright (would be a miracle!), I had one other little problem...

I'm in Toronto, there's two feet of snow on the deck - a great way to cool the wort quickly, right? Well, I saw a wee chunk of snow make it into the wort (it was about 150 degrees F at the time) as I was shoveling away.

D'OH!

Can I inspect some wild kind of infection from this?

Sigh, have to get to work on that wort chiller!

Jay

 

[wilserbrewer]

If the snow wasn't yellow, I would not worry! Probably be fine all considered.

 

[barroomhero1234]

should be alright, next time cover it! i use snow as a chiler whenever tis the season.

 

[BrewinJack]

i actully wondered if i could brew with snow water, thought it would be a good gimic... you know... Michigan Snow Melt IPA or perhapes a Artic Melt Red Ale...

Cheers

 

[cellardoor]

i actully wondered if i could brew with snow water, thought it would be a good gimic... you know... Michigan Snow Melt IPA or perhapes a Artic Melt Red Ale...

Cheers

I don't see why not. This guy brewed with iceberg water. I think I should do that same thing myself with my upcoming winter coffee stout. Would lend a certain personality to it.

 

[captainjay]

should be alright, next time cover it! i use snow as a chiler whenever tis the season.

Actually I had it covered, and took the cover half-off to let more of the steam out... That was my folly!

Thanks for the reassurance... I will let post again to see how it all comes out!

Jay

 

[captainjay]

I don't see why not. This guy brewed with iceberg water.

I dunno... I question what is in the air (and the snow) here in Toronto, I don't think I'd want to be drinking it even after a 60-minute boil.

How much snow would you need to melt for 6.5 gallons of water, anyway?

Let us know if you give it a whirl!
Jay

 

[beersydoesit]

Last time I tasted snow it wasn't tasty...Wasn't yellow, but it still tasted bad. I caught it out of the air.
I figured it picked up whatever was in the air, smog wise.

Might work if you are in the country, and not too close to a feed lot.

 

[FxdGrMind]

It was snowing/hailing in my beer as it was just getting down to 70 deg. Tasted GREAT on the last SG check... just flat.
I don't think you have anything to worry about.
Cheers

 

[captainjay]

Well, after sitting in a 62-70 F basement for a month in the primary, I bottled this batch yesterday. The gravity was higher than I expected, 1.024, but maybe that's normal for this kit? I threw out the directions, so I don't know.

I took a taste, it was sweeter than I'd expect, especially considering I used DME instead of the recommended sugar.

Oh well, in a couple of weeks we'll see how it went...
Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement - so far nothing skunky about it!

Jay

 

[captainjay]

For the record, I tried this one last night for the first time - it's about six weeks old, two weeks in the bottle - and it is mighty nice!

Two things I did differently than usual - first, even though this was a kit beer, I did a full 5-gallon boil. Second, I left this in the primary for a full four weeks (usually I'd get nervous in 14-20 days and move to a secondary) and went straight into the bottling bucket.

For some reason this batch has the most head out of the bottle that I've had yet. Maybe it has something to do with the little bit of snow?

Okay, now I'm going to wait until a hail storm to do another batch.

Jay

 

[gmds123]

For some reason this batch has the most head out of the bottle that I've had yet. Maybe it has something to do with the little bit of snow?

Jay

Me thinks the high FG has a lot to do with the heavy carbonation

 

[menschmaschine]

Most water that falls from the sky is too polluted to be good brewing water. Water vapor in the atmosphere over the industrialized world collects too many pollutants, acids, dust, etc.

However, a little chunk of snow in 150°F wort is no big deal. The snow probably didn't contain too much life and the 150°F wort would kill most of it anyway.

Seriously, though, get a lid. Next time it could be falling bird crap.