Bonehead Rookie Error

[MrBIP]

So, shoved my hop sack full of Citra into the carboy (secondary) with some sinkers in it and a piece of fishing line to help me get it out. It didn't quite sink, so I used the beer thief to poke it down in there. Long story short, now the hop sack, fishing line and beer thief are all in the carboy. Doh! .. so a couple of weeks from now, I might be posting a question asking about easy ways to get stuff out of a carboy.

Next week, I'm going to put the other half of the citra in .... and I'll use more weight.

 

[Nosybear]

As long as everything was sanitized, don't worry, be happy. Once you siphon the beer off you'll find all the junk you dropped in there.... ;-) Seriously, leave it. The damage, if any, is done and you'll just risk more damage by fishing around in there to get the stuff out.

Recommendation on dry hopping: Just leave it in there. Won't affect your flavor nearly as much as the potential for infection by dropping stuff in your beer.

 

[sbaclimber]

with some sinkers in it

lead!? :shock:

 

[MrBIP]

with some sinkers in it

lead!? :shock:

BIG DOH! Ya, never considered that, regular fishing sinkers, I couldn't find any marbles... Dummass me, gotta pull it out today one way or another. dammitt even bigger bonehead.

 

[MrBIP]

Well, the lead is out. Figured the quickest route to fix was so syphon back out to a different carboy. Glad I posted the story here; talked about my follies with a few others and the "sinkers" did not register. They were brand new, I'm thinking less than 18 hours isn't going to give anybody lead poisoning. .. .thanks sbaclimber

 

[sbaclimber]

They were brand new, I'm thinking less than 18 hours isn't going to give anybody lead poisoning. .. .thanks sbaclimber

No worries, just happened to be the first thing that popped into my head when I read the word sinkers, because I grew up biting lead sinkers onto fishing line until one day my mother mentioned how lead can become rather poisonous if you are constantly consuming it.
Definitely not going to give anyone lead poisoning by throwing a couple sinkers into one brew, but probably not recommended as a regular procedure.

 

[LarryBrewer]

Thanks for catching that (pun intended...) :lol:

Here's to learning experiences all around - Cheers!

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Unless the sinker were pretty old, they're not lead.
Lead was outlawed many years ago and now, sinkers are made from other no-toxic materials.
I don't know if I want any heavy metal in my wort/beer though!
In the future, just through the hops into the primary or secondary and give them a good swirl. When you rack to your bottling bucket or keg, just wrap a paint strainer bag around your siphon and that'll filter out the floaters.
Works like a charm. :mrgreen:
Brian

 

[Nosybear]

Find some stainless steel nuts, wash them well and use them instead. No danger of lead poisoning that way.... ;-)

 

[MrBIP]

"LEAD HEAD IPA" got bottled yesterday....

I found a bag of glass bead things in the craft section at Walmart and that worked well .. (boiled them and the hop bag before putting it down)... had about 1oz of Citra on dry hop this way for 1 week and the smell of this beer was awesome..

 

[Hammer1]

I've been down this road (less the lead sinkers) Here's what works for me. I use pellet hops ground into a powder in the secondary for 3 to 5 days (no bag just mixed in) then rack again and cold crash for a week before keg. If your going to bottle don't cold crash just rack the hops will settle out.