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TheSmithsEra

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I bought some equipment yesterday and brewed my first batch. Problem is my fermentation is super active. I went to bed and barely anything was happening and now it is shooting out of the airlock and my lid on my bucket is covered.

When I tried to move the airlock and attach tubing for blow off and the tubing was too big. So in trying to fit the tubing into the hole the airlock goes into, the rubber stopper fell in and now I have the tube in there surrounded by some plastic that ive sanitized and wrapped it loosley around that end while still wet with Sanitizer. The other end is dumping into another bucket filled with star San.

1. Could my beer be ruined?
2. Will the rubber stopper that fell in ruin or infect my beer?
3. What can I do to seal the blow off tube if this can be salvaged
4. Am I totally screwed?

My LHBS seemed more interested in me spending money than truly setting me up for success. Currently there is a lot of action and plenty blowing out the tube.
Please someone share their experience and help me save my delicious beer!

I've been this way for almost an hour but can still hear the blow off tube working. Super concerned with infection from air leaking in for the unsealed blow off tube
 
Fortunately, I would say, if it is that active then you have a lot more going out of the bucket than is going to get into it. The CO2 being produced should keep anything at bay. Assuming you sanitized the rubber stopper I doubt it should cause much of a problem. May need a second opinion on whether you should fish it out or not, but there have been many stories on here of people having to dip there unsanitized arm in a bucket because they dropped something in it and it turns out fine. I would keep an eye on your blow off tube and as soon as the rigorous stage starts to die down, have your regular airlock ready to go (with a new stopper?), to prevent anything else from getting in as the fermentation slows.

99% of the time though, you are never totally screwed. Good luck!
 
Fortunately, I would say, if it is that active then you have a lot more going out of the bucket than is going to get into it. The CO2 being produced should keep anything at bay. Assuming you sanitized the rubber stopper I doubt it should cause much of a problem. May need a second opinion on whether you should fish it out or not, but there have been many stories on here of people having to dip there unsanitized arm in a bucket because they dropped something in it and it turns out fine. I would keep an eye on your blow off tube and as soon as the rigorous stage starts to die down, have your regular airlock ready to go (with a new stopper?), to prevent anything else from getting in as the fermentation slows.

99% of the time though, you are never totally screwed. Good luck!

So maybe once he fermentation slows I should open the fermenter and fish out the stopper for my airlock or do you think I'd be better off just getting a new stopper and leaving theblid closed. Thanks forbyour help
 
I don't think fishing the stopper out will help much. If the stopper was going to infect your beer it would have done it by now, but I think that chances of that are pretty low. If you've got a robust fermentation going there should be plenty of yeast in there to kill off a few bacteria that might have slipped in on the stopper.
 
I have seen some brewers do completely open fermentations with no problem. No top. No airlock. Just open to the air. Wait and see what happens. RDWHAHB
 
I'm not 100% sure on this, but if you sanitized the stopper well before installing it, I would think you would be better off not introducing another chance for infection. So getting a new stopper would be my recommendation. Best part about this kind of thing, gives you a great start for a beer name. Rubber Stopper Pale Ale, Stopped Up Stout, etc...
 
Tip #1, plan for "emergencies". I buy an extra of everything small like stoppers, airlocks, thermometers, lid grommets, blow off tube, siphon, transfer tubing. I even have spare Starsan, DME, Turbano Sugar, Hops and yeast.

You can live (brew) without a hydrometer and probably notice a bad brew pail, but those are nice to have spares of.
 
So maybe once he fermentation slows I should open the fermenter and fish out the stopper for my airlock or do you think I'd be better off just getting a new stopper and leaving theblid closed. Thanks forbyour help

Let's talk through this.

IMHO: You dropped the stopper in the fermentor and it's been sitting in your beer. Okay, if it's not sanitized and there happens to be something on there that is going to infect your beer...it's either already happened or it's not going to. Sit back and hope for the best. It'll probably be fine.

-OR-

Try and sanitize your hand or some other tool to fish the thing out. Disturb your fermenting beer and introduce some other "device" into the beer which further risks infecting it so you don't have to worry anymore about the stopper infecting it.

I say, leave the stopper in there. What's done is done. Relax Don't Worry and Have a Good Craft Beer while you wait patiently on your first home brew. All is not lost. :D That's what I would do, anyway.
 
I'm not 100% sure on this, but if you sanitized the stopper well before installing it, I would think you would be better off not introducing another chance for infection. So getting a new stopper would be my recommendation. Best part about this kind of thing, gives you a great start for a beer name. Rubber Stopper Pale Ale, Stopped Up Stout, etc...


Well interestingly enough, on the day I was bringing everything home from the LHBS my dog tried to run out the door. My local microbrew had a bring your own pint in day for discounted beer and when I ran out to catch my dog I slipped when grabbing him and broke two pint glasses in my hand, slicing up my hand..

So I'm calling this Dog Out The Door saison


And thanks everyone I'm glad I didn't botch this. I will go buy a new stopper for the airlock and get some different size tubing and extras for emergencies. I did sanitize the stopper but for only about 25 seconds in star san
 
Star-san I believe works pretty fast, and given the smaller surface area for a stopper, I think you'll be just fine. Not the ideal way to name your beer, but hope your hand is healing well.
 
the ol' stopper in the primary. this happens to a lot of people. nothing you can do about it now. everything will be fine

for better or worse, you are now doing an open fermentation. place something loosely over the hole so air can get out and flies can't get in. even a bottle cap or something would probably be fine.

eventually make your way back to the LHBS for another grommet, then replace it and clean and replace the airlock and carry on
 
I put the tubing through the hole and used Saran wrap that I had sitting in Sanitizer wet around the tubing. I touched it and it seems to have settled well. Now I just hope there are no off flavours or infection
 
You are going to be fine, People have done way worse myself included and the beer turned out ok.
 
Why not go and get another stopper? Sanitize it and put a new airlock on. Blowoff should have settled by now. Next time just set up a blowoff tube from the get go. I would not fish out the stopper, just leave it in there and grab it after you rack to secondary or bottling bucket. Beer can be more resilient than you think...
 
So there's the krausen blow off and then just co2? If I set up a new airlock only co2 will come up and not push out again?
 
Krausen could still form during the active fermentation phase, but it will decrease significantly after the first 48 hours or so. I did an Irish Red Ale and only got about an inch and a half of krausen total. So it really depends on the yeast and beer type. Mine was nowhere near coming out of the airlock, but I used a blowoff for the first two days just in case.

To answer your question, if it's been 48 hours since you noticed fermentation starting, you should be just fine moving to an airlock.
 
Krausen could still form during the active fermentation phase, but it will decrease significantly after the first 48 hours or so. I did an Irish Red Ale and only got about an inch and a half of krausen total. So it really depends on the yeast and beer type. Mine was nowhere near coming out of the airlock, but I used a blowoff for the first two days just in case.

To answer your question, if it's been 48 hours since you noticed fermentation starting, you should be just fine moving to an airlock.

Awesome thanks!
 
The amount of kraeusen is affected by fermentation temperature, too. This might be a sign that the temperature is a little too high (but not necessarily).
 
Heres a picture.

The Guy at the LHBS recommended a white lab saison yeast
I'm doing a Bavarian Hefeweizen with that yeast

20120716_090729.jpg
 
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