Unsanitised FV

[kratbox]

This is an incredibly basic question, to which I don't know the answer because I've never been stupid enough to do it before: what will actually happen if you don't sanitise your FV?

On Saturday I poured cooled wort into an unsanitised bucket - I had two identical buckets in the kitchen, one fully sanitised and the other there for reserve, but managed to transfer the wort into the one I didn't sanitise. I quickly realised what I'd done and transferred it into the sanitised one - before doing so I sprayed a small amount of peracetic acid solution around the inside and left it there in the faint hope it might kill off any bugs in the wort before the solution breaks down. What I'm not certain of is what is supposed to happen now...the fermentation looks fine, there's a decent yeast head, it smells OK. Can I expect some grim off-flavours to build up over time, or maybe some super-high-pressure carbonation once it's transferred into bottle or cask?

On an asides, how did people manage to get anything to brew hundreds of years ago without all these chemicals? Or did they just drink horrible beer?

[kay-jay]

hi,

like you said people were brewing for hundreds of years before things like bleach were invented. you run the risk of an increased chance of infection i would say....but certainly nothing definate. if the end result tastes like beer then it will be fine imo.

KJ

[mysterio]

I agree with KJ, as long as the thing was basically clean, the chances are you will be fine. It might be a beer you want to drink fairly quickly though.

[kratbox]

Well...it fermented ok and all seemed to be going well at the end of primary. Then I transferred it to cask only to discover a day later that the shive housing had been damaged and it was not totally air/watertight...genius (entirely my fault for removing the previous shive with a screwdriver, and it's a plastic cask...I have since bought a proper shive remover). Was about to go on holiday so I soaked a cloth in peracetic acid and left it over the damaged shive...came back to find a strange sulphury smell like a badly-kept pub pint, and an incredibly bitter tasting brew - doesn't seem like an infection, just too hoppy and way more bitter than I was expecting. Have bottled it...will see how it goes with age. I have a feeling that this batch is going to be written-off as "experience"!

[pantsmachine]

I would not store those bottles inside the house. If you have got an infection in the brew it could continue to ferment remaining sugars and might pop your bottles. Don't get me wrong i wouldn't bin them but i'd store them somewhere outside. Worst case in the garden somewhere with a tarpaulin over them if you don't have a shed etc.

[kratbox]

Good point...have done that, I've already had one explosion in the coat cupboard and don't fancy that again! They are safely relegated to the garage just in time for a bit of warm weather.

After 10 days, I tried a couple and there's no life at all in them but the bitterness is mellowing - I think the whole thing just fermented out completely in the not-quite-airtight cask (US05 seems pretty good at eating it all) and I've just got a lifeless but actually not too bad tasting beer. Of course, now I've said that I'll no doubt open the garage door to total carnage next time I pop out there.

[boingy]

If it was clean then there is nothing for the bugs to live and breed on, hence there will be minimal infection chance. Probably best not to make a habit of it though!

In days gone by I imagine folks had a different approach to sanitisation. Maybe boiling water, or fire, or maybe they just took their chances...