This can't be good...

So I was letting my wort cool down. when it finally got down, I mixed in the yeast. I put the cap on and started to twist in the air lock. Reealizing now i should do hat before i put the lid on, the rubber gromet popped into the wort, it sank to the bottom. If i didn't need the rubber gromet for the air lock, I might just leave it and pull it out when I racked it. I used my lage spon but couldn't find it... I was left with no choice, I had to sanatize my hand. I found it quick and got it out, but my hand and fore arm were in the wort at room temp... I didn't know what else to do.

Don't worry have a homebrew! Is it fermenting? if any nastys got in their the yeast should take care of em..

Did the exact same thing with my very first batch. I was prepared to clean my arm with bleach and go in after it, but I was able to pull it out with my spoon.

Odds are, you'll be fine if you cleaned your hand and arm well.

I dipped my arm in sanitizer rinsed it off and qent in quick... I'm not too worried, just didn't like the idea of having to do it.

I brewed friday night, and added my yeast at 1:15am (saturday morning), I still have no action.
A side note, since it was getting so late and my relaxing and having a home brew(s) during the process, I was needing to get to sleep so I didn't wait for the thermometer on the side to hit 78 degrees. It wasn't really warm, in fact it was room temp to the touch so i added the yeast. Did I drop the ball?

Should it have been going by now?

I wouldn't worry yet. I've been told it can take upwards of 36 hours before you see activity.

bahahahaha man i remember i did the very same thing on either my first or second batch. scrubbed up the arm and hand and then went fishing. brew turned out ok...

uh sorry not laughing at your plight - it's just a common one

I appreciate the laughter, I've been laughing about it as well. The first batch was perfect, started bubbling quickly and tastes great, this one has my hand in it, not using yeast at 78 degress(very close though), no activity...

so still no activity on monday morning (brew time friday night)

your okay under 80 degrees to pitch. did you lick your arm clean when you pulled it out of the primary ??????? i woulda ! :^)

I don';t know the specific temp since the stick on thermometer only goes up to 80... It was cool to the touch... If it wasn't 80, it was damn close. and i did lick it off..haha.

I don't like the way that sounds with the lack of activity. I think when you get home today you will see some bubblin.

DeRoux's Broux said:

your okay under 80 degrees to pitch. did you lick your arm clean when you pulled it out of the primary ??????? i woulda ! :^)

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You can pitch even higher with many yeasts. I pitched in the mid 90s (F) once (impatience is a powerful thing) and the beer turned out great. Most yeasts don't start to have serious problems until temps in excess of 100 degrees F.

Just be sure that you bring the temp down to fermentation temp slowly. If the temp changes too quickly you will shock (and kill) your yeast.

Ok, we have action in the air lock!

Now would be a good time to mention that you should have a spare airlock, grommet, stopper and such, just in case something like this happens. That kinda stuff is pretty cheap, maybe $5.00 worth.

When I pushed the stopper into the carboy a month or so ago, I would have been royally screwed if I didn't have a couple more carboy/airlock setups to cannibalize.

Good point!

This was a lot different than my first brew. I never saw any heavy fermentation. I noticed a bubble here and there. The fermenter is fermenting, if I touch the top of the lid at all, bubbles come out of the lock...but not at any fast rate... Its been 7 days so I'm going to rack to secondary.

it's also possible that you didn't get a good tight seal when you put the lid/grommet/air lock on and the slow activity that you are seeing now is actually the "heavy" part of fermentation....just a thought.

attym said:

This was a lot different than my first brew. I never saw any heavy fermentation. I noticed a bubble here and there. The fermenter is fermenting, if I touch the top of the lid at all, bubbles come out of the lock...but not at any fast rate... Its been 7 days so I'm going to rack to secondary.

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i think your okay. some yeast ferment faster than others, temperature has a roll in the activity, etc. rack it, let it mature for a couple weeks, then prime bottle/keg. it'll great.