Midwest ferocious kit Oops

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carolinakev

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I am brewing my second batch of beer. My first was the Midwest Irish Dry Stout that turned out very good. I had the help of a friend the first time. This time I did everything myself. I followed the recipe through all the steps to the point where I was bringing the wort up to the 5.5 gallon mark by adding distilled water. Unfortunately, the little plastic ring that seals the cap on the water jug fell into my wort after it was cooled to 75 degrees. I was unable to fish it out with a sanitized spoon. Tonight I found it floating on top when I removed the cover from my fermentation bucket. I got it out with a sanitized spoon while adding the dry hops.
What are the chances that this will cause me contamination ? Also, the recipe recommends secondary fermentation, but all I have is the fermentation and bottling bucket. I just added the hops after soaking the bags in starsan. Will this recipe turn out okay without a secondary? I plan on bottling in 7-10 days. Thanks for any input.
 
How long has it been in the fermentor? I couldn't get an idea of the timeline and 7-10 days to bottling is quite early unless it's been in the fermentor for a couple of weeks since the incident happened.

As far as the cap ring falling in, I wouldn't worry too much about it. There's a chance of infection, but I've done much worse without any ill effects. I dropped something in my bucket after chilling and before fermentation and reached in with my whole arm to the bottom of the bucket to retrieve it before realizing what I was doing. I got no infection and everything was fine. I don't recommend it, but it wasn't the kiss of death.
 
The chance of contamination is pretty small and at this point you can't do anything about it so quit worrying. Most kit recipes call for secondaries but that is based on the thought that yeast autolysis was something to worry about. That isn't a problem at the homebrew level but the instructions have not been updated since that has been proven. Nearly all beers will do fine without a secondary. I'd suggest that you bottle it later than what you have scheduled. Your beer will be better if you leave it in the fermenter for 3 weeks before you bottle. Even after bottling it this beer will continue to improve for at least another month and probably more.
 
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