I made a mistake and decided to siphon my hot wort (literally 5 mins after the final boil ended) into a plastic carboy (purchased on Northern Brewer). I used the auto siphon and tubing purchased on Northern Brewer. The beer was so hot that the bottom on the auto siphon in my pan melted. I cannot tell if any of the plastic melted into my beer.
Is my beer ruined?
Is it safe to drink?
Your autosiphon is ruined. Your beer is not.
Why are you transferring near boiling wort?
Thanks.
Yeah I know I made a major mistake. I figured if I got it in the plastic carboy with cold water it would cool down faster and stop the “cooking”.
I don’t transfer wort into carboy/bucket untill its at yeast pitching temp. Even then I just empty my pot by using a funnel not a auto siphone. Using funnel or pouring into bucket aerates the wort too.
The plastic carboys will also melt above about 170F. Better to put your kettle in a tub of cold water to let it cool off somewhat before you transfer. if you change the water out a few times you could get it down under 100F, after that transfer and let it finish cooling in the carboy before pitching.
Don’t be too hard on yourself about this. If anyone on this board says they haven’t done something they regret and learned from, they are either lying or have not been brewing long enough.
Good advice from above from Lennie. Alternatively if you have access to a garden hose where you brew, you might look into getting an immersion coil chiller.
Just to be a bit more explicit about something others have said. The siphons are used for minimizing oxygenation during transfer, and while it is true that oxygen is enemy to good beer, when you’re just done brewing you don’t actually have beer yet.
Before you pitch, or just after you pitch your yeast, you NEED as much oxygen as you can get into that wort. So sloshing that wort through a big funnel is great, and maybe even not enough oxygen. I use an O2 tank, connected to a diffusion stone for a minute, right before pitching the yeast.
And as kcbeersnob said, don’t sweat this.
KMcK makes a very good point, the biggest advantage to syphoning beer is to minimize oxygen exposure during transfers. Of course, a side benefit is not having to lift and tip a big container full of liquid and aim get it aimed properly to spill into another container. I always have problems with that when I pour beers back and forth between buckets to oxygenate.
Maybe look into putting a spigot on your kettle. All it takes is a step bit that can be bought for under $20, and a weldless spigot that is another $20. I finally installed a spigot on one of my kettles, and the ease with which I could transfer wort made me quickly install them on all my kettles.
I agree 100%
Don’t be too hard on yourself about this.
^this
Maybe look into putting a spigot on your kettle.
^ this
you might look into getting an immersion coil chiller
^this
I usually transfer from brewpot to primary so I can leave as much schputz behind in the brewpot. I do run it through a strainer that is on my primary so it splashes, etc. but then I use pure O2 through a stone so the wort is going to get oxygen anyway. To the OP: I would agree that this is just one of the bumps you’ll go over and one day you’ll laugh about it. Bottom line, cool the wort as well as you can before you move it to primary. If your primary had been a 6½ gallon glass carboy, it would have shattered. Careful out there. 
Do you think my beer will be safe to drink and still good or should I dump it and start over again?
It will be fine, the plastic just started to remelt. It was already a polymer so I don’t think it would release anything toxic.
