Did my airlock gasket seriously just fall into my wort??

So, I brewed last night

My first ever recipe beer (only other brew was a kit) which took me a fair amount of time with steeping and the fact that measuring ingredients and such was new to me. After several hours of effort, I was very tired and it was around midnight. I poured my cool wort into my bucket and dry pitched my yeast on top (decided to try not rehydrating this time).

What could go wrong now? How about right as I'm inserting the airlock, the grommet for the airlock pushes through the lid and into the wort. I really had no idea what to do. I thought for a few minutes about various ways to retrieve it. I narrowed it down to two. I don't really know about yeast that have been pitched and whether it would be good to pour the beer into another vessel to try to retrieve the tiny rubber grommet. I was concerned about the yeast just having been pitched. So, I decided to fill up my bottling bucket with sanitizer, soak my entire arm in the solution for 5 minutes, then reach in and retrieve my gasket. I hope I did the right thing....

You did. That happened to me when I first started brewing. I did exactly the same thing. No issues. Beer was great.

You definitely infected your beer. Send it to me for proper disposal.

Your other choice would have been to find another way to seal the hole. Maybe food wrap then seat the airlock and retrieve the grommet in 3 weeks.

Airlocks are nice. I'd rather have one than not.

But I'd probably do what kh54s10 suggested and just throw some plastic wrap over the top and let it do it's thing. When it's time to rack to secondary, or bottle (depending on your personal preference) recover the lost grommet.

If you are worried about bad flavors, then scrub your arm, sanitize it, and reach in and grab it out. But you have to sing "Never Gonna Give You Up" at the top of your lungs while you do it to prevent an infection.

Homercidal said:

Airlocks are nice. I'd rather have one than not.

But I'd probably do what kh54s10 suggested and just throw some plastic wrap over the top and let it do it's thing. When it's time to rack to secondary, or bottle (depending on your personal preference) recover the lost grommet.

If you are worried about bad flavors, then scrub your arm, sanitize it, and reach in and grab it out. But you have to sing "Never Gonna Give You Up" at the top of your lungs while you do it to prevent an infection.

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Well, I already did it. I cleaned and sanitized my arm very thoroughly.... I'm just hoping that singing "are you *%#*#$&$ serious, you $$&%*@ piece of $*$& airlock grommet, I swear if I get you out I"ll burn you in the fire pit you #*$%#*$*%#$&" is a suitable substitute for "never gonna let you go".

I did the same thing on my first batch but didn't have your presence of mind. Without thinking I went in after it and spent 4 weeks praying to the beer gods. Turned out to be one of the best batches I've ever made.

Totally done that also, I just left it in and used a spare. The lock didn't cause any off flavors. This is also why I use vodka in my airlocks and not sanitizer

I have a few spares for this very reason. There only a dollar or two. Haven't had one go into my wort yet though. I always spray my grommet and airlock really well with sanitizer. Seems to help the airlock slide into the grommet easier.

Justdrinkit said:

I did the same thing on my first batch but didn't have your presence of mind. Without thinking I went in after it and spent 4 weeks praying to the beer gods. Turned out to be one of the best batches I've ever made.

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LOL... maybe you should dry hop your arm in your next batch!

BigTerp said:

I have a few spares for this very reason. There only a dollar or two. Haven't had one go into my wort yet though. I always spray my grommet and airlock really well with sanitizer. Seems to help the airlock slide into the grommet easier.

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Yea, luckily I had just found a new way of sanitizing my lid that I love. After everything sat in the starsan in my fermenter long enough to sanitize, I put my lid upside down in my sink and emptied the fermenter into the sink. The rubber lid acted as a stopper for the sink and thus, the lid sat immersed in the solution for a few minutes before the liquid drained or I moved it. So the grommet was VERY thoroughly sanitized - much more than spraying the lid and letting it sit I guess.

That was one of a few mishaps on my first brew. Now i put in the airlock away from the fermenter so it wont happen again. I had to fish it out but the brew was fine, no infection.

Justdrinkit said:

I did the same thing on my first batch but didn't have your presence of mind. Without thinking I went in after it and spent 4 weeks praying to the beer gods. Turned out to be one of the best batches I've ever made.

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I did the same thing myself. I stood there stupidly for a moment, and then just grabbed the duct tape and duct taped my airlock in place.

After that, I bought another grommet for $.35 and it never happened again!

One thing I learned is that sanitizers make that sucker really slippery. I discovered that putting the airlock on the lid, and THEN the lid on the bucket totally solved the chance of that happening.

I've said this before, but on brewing day I'm like Rain Man, muttering out loud, 'Airlock on the lid, then lid on the bucket. Airlock on the lid, then lid on the bucket' to remind myself to not do that again.

It doesn't hurt the beer a bit, but it's a PITA to try to find it in that trub and sludge after fermentation is over!

If this was me i would have sanitized and poured into another bucket and splash to get a good aeration. but you have done what so many others (myself included) have done and will now order a few extra grommets with your next purchase. i have three buckets and about 25 grommets. (just in case)

LOL... maybe you should dry hop your arm in your next batch!

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Lol.. that's what my wife asks whenever I make that recipe: "Did you stick your arm in it?"

J187 said:

Well, I already did it. I cleaned and sanitized my arm very thoroughly.... I'm just hoping that singing "are you *%#*#$&$ serious, you $$&%*@ piece of $*$& airlock grommet, I swear if I get you out I"ll burn you in the fire pit you #*$%#*$*%#$&" is a suitable substitute for "never gonna let you go".

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We're no strangers to love.

You know the rules, and so do I!

Hockeyhunter99 said:

If this was me i would have sanitized and poured into another bucket and splash to get a good aeration. but you have done what so many others (myself included) have done and will now order a few extra grommets with your next purchase. i have three buckets and about 25 grommets. (just in case)

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Wow! do you think 25 grommets is your beer would lead to any off flavors?

Homercidal said:

We're no strangers to love.

You know the rules, and so do I!

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Did I just get rickrolled?

I usually pour my cooled wort from my brew kettle into a funnel which feeds into my carboy. However, on one particular brew day, the lid part of a 3-piece airlock just so happened to end up in my funnel without me noticing, and it plugged my wort. I sanitized my arm and went diving in the retrieve the lid. Voila....and the beer turned out great. The key is having little lag time so the yeast can attack the sugars before anything else does.

Just wanted to thank the OP and all the commenters for this one. The same thing literally just happened to me today. I googled "what if airlock falls in wort" and it brought me here. I ended up going with the sanitize my arm approach. Thanks for the save!