water into my beer from my air lock.

I just had some water go from my air lock on my fermenting pale go down into my mixture, will this contaminate the beer, it was a small amount.

Most of us use sanitizer in our airlocks, others use vodka for this reason. You should be fine, but in the future use a sanitizer or vodka.

Was the water boiled/sterile? It should be fine... If not maybe okay but next time use starsan or cheap vodka... I use star san for this reason.

If it wasnt wait it out... Only time will tell...

Ok it was purified water not boiled down, when you guys say sanitizer do you mean the stuff I use to clean my jugs and tools?
Sorry for all the questions its my first time doing a batch.

alpine_guy100 said:

Ok it was purified water not boiled down, when you guys say sanitizer do you mean the stuff I use to clean my jugs and tools?
Sorry for all the questions its my first time doing a batch.

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I mean the stuff you used AFTER you clean your jug and tools. "Clean first, sanitize after." Starsan, Iodophor, onestep.

99.9% sure you'll be fine.

If its actively fermenting, the yeast make it inhospitable for anything else, so even if it were contaminated, 1 drop in 5 gallons stands little chance of overtaking the yeast.

And yes, most of us use the stuff we use to sanitize jugs & tools - but it should be a no-rinse sanitizer like star-san, NOT bleach or a cleaning agent like oxy clean. Vodka or other neutral spirits also work quite well.

Ok sounds good, it is still fermenting it is on day 3 of a possible 5.

Also my carboy is plastic will this matter.

Nope, tons of people use plastic with great success.

One other thing you mentioned "still fermenting...on day 3 of a possible 5". Does that mean you intend to only let it ferment for 5 days? Let it go longer. 7-10 days minimum, but probably 2-4 weeks is what you should shoot for. Tons of threads on here explaining why.

Yrs I am but after 3 to 5 I switch to another jug for 7 ya 10 days. I'm doing a festa brew kit.

So how do I know when to put it over to my carboy.

Maybe im off but, if you take a gravity reading one day then do it again the next, and it is done with primary, you should be the same. This is the advice i was given and mine are usually in the primary 2 1/2 weeks to 3. thats when you rack it over. Again i am not an expert just putting out what i was told. :rockin:

alpine_guy100 said:

So how do I know when to put it over to my carboy.

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Most of us would advocate for primary only unless, dry hopping ,(i dry hop in my primaries though), adding fruit or oaking. The first part of fermentation should take 5~7 days BUT the yeast will still be working off sugars and by products for another 5~7 days... if you have the same gravity reading 2 to 3 times a day apart, you should be ready for bottling kegging or if needed secondary... I don't take gravity readings until at least 2 weeks... Hope that helps.