Help please! Toxicity of month old (infected?) still dregs?

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EDragon
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Help please! Toxicity of month old (infected?) still dregs?

Post by EDragon »

Hi there! This is one of those "ED, I can't believe we're asking this question" stupid questions, but it seems a bit important, and I'm sure someone else can learn from it in the future.

What happened:
I did a stripping run in my AirStill a few months ago: simple sugar wash with Red Star Distiller's Yeast (yay for local brew shops carrying this!), yest nutrient, and yeast starter. Maybe a little honey added for good luck, I can't remember. After the run I decided I'd keep the dregs (what was left in the still) for future use to water down high ABV runs to 40% ABV when doing spirit runs.
Well then my life got really busy and I had these dregs in a metal jar in a cabinet in kitchen to store them. But then I forgot about them and haven't had a chance to do any spirit runs anyway.
Today I got the jar out to use it, was loosening the lid while leaving it on the table next to my bed to go find something that was ready for a spirit run to add it to. Cat jumps up and decides to knock jar over, spilling contents on bed.
Contents no longer resembled what they were like 3 or 4 months ago when I put them in the jar: very yeasty smell (expected that) but there was a layer (like a thick cracker in thickness, and all around the top apparently based on the size) of some culture that had grown in it. Now tthe thing that grew (seems ominous enough) and the few hundred milliliters of stuff below it ended up on my bed thanks to Mister Cat (who shall remain nameless to protect his innocent accident).

What I did:
- used a plastic bag to try to gently throw away whatever the 'cake' thingy was (it was mostly white-ish with some black/gray spots and looked disturbingly like some strange alien flatbread)
- sprayed bed HEAVILY with lysol
- opened window and turned on fan to let fresh air in
- this was a few hours ago

My question:
What exactly was likely growing in that jar???!??!?!?? How toxic is it likely to have been?????? Yeast can survive a stripping run in an AirStill? Shouldn't the heat have killed it all?!??? Is it safe to be in the room????? Is it safe to use the bed tonight???? EVER???

So I guess what I'm asking is, on a scale of 'oh, that's cute, you made something like kombucha but you probably wouldn't want to eat it, but you can sleep in your bed tonight once it's dry' to 'you'll probably have some sinus irritation, keep spraying that thing with lysol and maybe some rubbing alcohol or [x] and/or you might not want to sleep in the bed for a few nights" to "you need to go to the hospital from just breathing that in and bring a sample of it with you or you'd only have 24ish hours to live and/or never sleep in that bed again it's now toxic" how bad did I screw up and how mad is my wife going to be?

Thanks.
ED, apparently the 'D' stands for 'Dumb' today, ragon.
EDragon
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Re: Help please! Toxicity of month old (infected?) still dre

Post by EDragon »

Well to answer my own question (hopefully) a friend of mine that studied biochemistry and knows more about that area than I do says based on everything it's probably just mold that grew on it, and nothing horrid. Just to lysol and bleach the area and use fabric detergent to get any spores up.

Will update if anything changes.
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skow69
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Re: Help please! Toxicity of month old (infected?) still dre

Post by skow69 »

Why would you want to use month old backset to dilute perfectly good low wines?
Distilling at 110f and 75 torr.
I'm not an absinthe snob, I'm The Absinthe Nazi. "NO ABSINTHE FOR YOU!"
goose eye
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Re: Help please! Toxicity of month old (infected?) still dre

Post by goose eye »

So you cuting your low wines with hot slops.
Don't do that
Sound like mother


So I'm tole
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skow69
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Re: Help please! Toxicity of month old (infected?) still dre

Post by skow69 »

Ya, that's what I was trying to say. Goose eye has such a way with words.
Distilling at 110f and 75 torr.
I'm not an absinthe snob, I'm The Absinthe Nazi. "NO ABSINTHE FOR YOU!"
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HDNB
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Re: Help please! Toxicity of month old (infected?) still dre

Post by HDNB »

pretty sure the wife will be ok with it since she gets to pick out a new bed...since that smell aint ever goin away... :sick:
I finally quit drinking for good.

now i drink for evil.
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