First wine and first big mistake!

Went to home brew store and picked up a Vintner's Reserve: Riesling.

Has anyone tried this?

Mistake: While I was putting in the three piece one way air lock, the small black o ring fell into the must. After many swear words , I grabbed another from a different lid, sanitized it, and was extra careful in putting in the lock. I left the O ring in the must figuring that putting my whole arm in the must would contaminate it more. I hope the o ring in the must will not ruin the wine. What do you think?

Pffft, doesn't even qualify as a mistake. Do you know how many folks do that? A LOT.

Your wine will be fine. That particular wine kit is sitting in my dining room waiting to be made. I have made a couple others and been very happy with the results.

That o-ring that popped out? That was your winemakers cherry.

ChshreCat said:

That o-ring that popped out? That was your winemakers cherry.

Click to expand...

LOL!!!!!

4 hours after pitching yeast, I'm starting to get airlock action!

wait till you push the rubber plug into a carboy, more fun than o ring in the wine

What you just got was MOG - Material Other than Grapes. Most wine gets some mog, I heard of a bicycle that was picked up by a harvester and went in the crusher. Usually it is just stems and leaves, but can be spiders, bees, small lizards etc.

I agree with the others, unless the o-ring was laced with cyanide you'll be just fine.

BTW do you sanitize your lid? I doubt it will matter much, but I sanitize the bottom of my lid, as you end up getting some condensation on the bottom of your lid that will drip into your must. Probably anal, but better safe than sorry.