Fermentation concern

I brewed up 10 gallons of Dubbel last night. Checked in on the two fermenters and my spigots were leaking a little. Yes I use bottling spigots on my fermenters. I boiled these two spigots without weighing them down last night. Possibly they were damaged internally due to temp differences while they were floating in the boiling water.

Anyway I found two more spigots and another bucket- cleaned them and transfered the two buckets and swapped out the spigots.

It had only been about 12 hours since I had pitched the yeast. The fermentation appeared to still be in the latent phase (no kreuesen just banana smell), but I'm concerned about oxidation. I figured it was early enough to not harm the yeast or brew. But I'm concerned... Never had to do this before. I made no effort to be gentle in the transfer- loads of foam etc...

I could have just let them each sit and drip out a pint or even more over the next few weeks. But that would bug me- I'd rather risk contamination by transferring instead of leaking out an unknown amount.

I had to make make a decision and act fast before visible fermentation started.

Rad is worried now...

You are fine. Fermentation hasn't really started yet, and the yeast will use the O2 to help the process along. You just aerated later than normal.

Many years ago I got the same results with plastic valves on a fermenter and for that reason I have never used any since for any reason. The other downside is that when you drain the finished beer you can not get all the beer. I like a siphon because you can place it where you want and get all the beer. I never use buckets any more either and have switched to Sanke kegs for fermentation. They don't break like carboys and are not hard to clean either.

I've never had any problem getting the proper amount out- though I've increased the batches to 5.5 gallons per fermenter just to make it easier. That way I have some extra to force carb and sample to see what it's like.

Thanks for the reassurance on the fermentation.

BTW WBC, is this the sanke you are referring to?

Fermenters by Sabco