Fumes contaminating my beer??

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Mattpc
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Fumes contaminating my beer??

Post by Mattpc » Thu Nov 17, 2016 12:57 pm

Hi, I've got a spare kegerator that doubles as a fermenting chamber sometimes. I use heat bulbs like the ones you get for reptiles to provide the heat. Unfortunately some months ago, some beer line and gaffa tape came in to contact with the heatbulb causing a residue to become stuck to the bulb. When I came to use the bulb again to do some lagering the residue was still there and began to stink the fridge out when the heat bulb activated. My question is, could these potentially toxic fumes have got in to my beer and made it less safe to drink? I use plastic wine style cheapo ritchies fermenters. Lid and airlock are fitted but I couldn't guarantee there was a perfect seal as I didn't great the rubber seal on the lid. As much as it loathes me to potentially throw away a good beer, I don't want to be drinking beer that is compromised by the terrible smell which was strong enough to break through the fridge and be detectable in the room. After 5 hours or so I swapped the bulb over to a different one that was free from residue! The original has now been cleaned in nail polish! Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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Kev888
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Re: Fumes contaminating my beer??

Post by Kev888 » Thu Nov 17, 2016 1:51 pm

If you were fermenting, with CO2 coming out of the fermenter, then non of the fumes will have been drawn in and I'd fully expect the beer to be fine.

If you were indeed lagering (or if fermenting but before fermentation had really started) and the temperature/pressure dropped whilst the fumes were there, then very small amounts could have been drawn in and met the beer.

I wouldn't really expect such small amounts to have any noticeable affect on the beer even then, and you probably breathed many magnitudes more fumes in at the time than would have been drawn into the mostly-sealed FV (and been diluted by) the beer. Its not something I've had befall me so this is just an uninformed opinion, but personally if it tastes okay then I'd drink it without any particular concern. Though some people wouldn't drink anything that had been made in plastic anyway, so I guess it depends where you are on the caution scale.
Kev

BenB

Re: Fumes contaminating my beer??

Post by BenB » Thu Nov 17, 2016 2:38 pm

If it tastes okay I wouldn't worry- the alcohol in the beer will be much more dangerous than any gaffa tape fumes :)

Mattpc
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Re: Fumes contaminating my beer??

Post by Mattpc » Thu Nov 17, 2016 3:39 pm

Well since the yeast had just been pitched, I wouldn't have thought that it would yet have an active fermentation.

I do ferment on plastic yes. The logo on the bottom of the Ritchies barrel has the correct accreditation showing it is supposedly foodsafe. I suppose I could go down the stainless steel fermenter but there are studies showing that even that leaches, especially when it's new so perhaps it is not really the wonder metal that we all think it is...

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Kev888
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Re: Fumes contaminating my beer??

Post by Kev888 » Thu Nov 17, 2016 4:11 pm

I'm sure your plastic is fine, most homebrewers ferment in it and consider it perfectly safe, myself included. I was just meaning that as some people manage to be concerned about even that, there is scope for almost any reaction to the fumes; I can only give you my own opinion.

It sounds like you were fermenting rather than lagering when it happened then. Its a pity fermentation hadn't quite got underway, but it had an airlock and would then have begun making/venting gas quite soon so I'd still not be overly concerned myself.
Kev

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