Opened fermenter lid

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Balja

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Hi!
Im new to this forum and beer brewing.

I started my first beer brewing set yesterday (Coopers Lager), but
a friend of mine opened the fermenter lid for 1 second today because
he was curious about how it looked..

Is my beer destroyed now (danger for infection etc. etc.) ?
Or should I take the chance to let i ferment untill it's done and bottle it?
 
Your beer will be fine. The yeast culture has dominated the liquid and will outcompete anything that might have fallen in. If you held it open for 10 minutes it might be a different story. I work with fungi in a lab and often have to open petri dishes of fungal cultures in open air for 10 or 20 seconds and very rarely get contamination from the air. So, don't worry, relax and have a home brew.
 
At this point the yeast are creating so much co2 that is it a positive enviroment. No worrys
 
Thank you all for the helpful comments:)
The yeast is working like a champ, thick layer of foam already!
(the temp. is holding stable at 25c)
 
No worries. I woke up this morning to see the batch I pitched last night having zero effect on the airlock. Suspecting a leaky lid, I pulled the bung to see if I had a krausen (I know, RDW right, but this was 6 am an all I was thinking was 'coffee'). Krausen was forming, could smell the co2, nothing's gonna get in that batch.

You may, however, want to worry about your beer being at ~77 degrees. That's too warm for most ale yeasts.
 
Balja said:
Thank you all for the helpful comments:)
The yeast is working like a champ, thick layer of foam already!
(the temp. is holding stable at 25c)
Click to expand...

To further reassure you. By the time it's done with primary you're probably going to end up with a disgusting ring of GOO just above the beer line in your fermenter (depending upon the yeast strain). It's just spent yeast.

To be honest, I think we all take the stopper out or take the lid off to draw samples and take hydrometer readings. Just make sure your tools are sanitized and that you don't sneeze into the beer.

Good luck!
 
sidepart said:
To be honest, I think we all take the stopper out or take the lid off to draw samples and take hydrometer readings. Just make sure your tools are sanitized and that you don't sneeze into the beer.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

That's a really good point. You gotta open the fermenter at some point. And honestly, when it's super active like that, it's "safer" than when we take readings or prepare to package the brew since the active wort will have a co2 blanket and a churning head of foam to keep the nasties out.
 
Back when I did the Coopers' kits a friend of mine always did them with open fermentation (no lid at all). There would be bits of dust and cat hair floating at the top and somehow they wouldn't be noticably infected. Keeping the lid on is perferable though.
 
NordeastBrewer77 said:
No worries. I woke up this morning to see the batch I pitched last night having zero effect on the airlock. Suspecting a leaky lid, I pulled the bung to see if I had a krausen (I know, RDW right, but this was 6 am an all I was thinking was 'coffee'). Krausen was forming, could smell the co2, nothing's gonna get in that batch.

You may, however, want to worry about your beer being at ~77 degrees. That's too warm for most ale yeasts.
Click to expand...

oh?

I says in the instruction for the beer kit that the beer should be fermenting between 69.8 - 80.6 degrees..

I've got that ugly dark ring around already :p so it's doing it's job with fermenting.
 
Balja said:
oh?

I says in the instruction for the beer kit that the beer should be fermenting between 69.8 - 80.6 degrees..

I've got that ugly dark ring around already :p so it's doing it's job with fermenting.
Click to expand...

What yeast are you using? Low 70's is the top of most ale yeast's range, and it's best to keep it a bit cooler. I seldom ferment an ale over 68 (wort temp, thermowell) unless the yeast and style call for it, such as with a saison.
 
Balja said:
oh?

I says in the instruction for the beer kit that the beer should be fermenting between 69.8 - 80.6 degrees..

I've got that ugly dark ring around already :p so it's doing it's job with fermenting.
Click to expand...

Beer kit instructions are notoriously bad. I ferment closer to 60°F-65°F (air temp) for ales.
 
http://byo.com/stories/issue/article/issues/260-marchapril-2009/1923-controlling-fermentation-temperature-techniques

Normal ale fermentation temperatures range from 68 to 72 °F (20 to 22 °C) and lager fermentation temperatures from 45 to 55 °F (7 to 13 °C). Also keep in mind that the heat generated by an active fermentation can warm a typical 5-gallon (19-L) batch of beer by 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 to 8.3 degrees Celsius). Even though a basement in a northern climate may be cool enough to keep ale fermentation from overheating, it is often not cool enough to properly conduct lager fermentation. On the other hand, fermenting below the normal temperature range for a given yeast strain may result in a sluggish or incomplete fermentation. So what if your brewing area does not hold a desirable fermentation temperature during the time you wish to brew? Following are a number of techniques to help manage fermentation temperatures that vary from the simple to the sophisticated.
Click to expand...
 
A lot of the kit "Lagers" are actually supplied with ale yeasts so that beginners can brew a lager like ale without strict temperature control.
 
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/coopers-lager-kit-151614/


samc said:
no idea - if you have the regular Lager you might not have that "special" yeast- here is the email I received.

Heritage Lager is provided with a blend of two strains of yeast - one a
lager and the other an ale. The ale yeast will stall below 16C, after
pitching at 22C allow the temperature of the brew to fall no lower 18C.

Cheers,

Frank Akers
Home Brew Advisor
Coopers Brewery
Adelaide, SA

Toll free 1300 654 455

http://www.coopers.com.au
Click to expand...
 
He got krausen, he got a goo ring, I bet he's going to be fine this time around. In the future I would try to keep the fermenter at a max of 70-74 for ale yeast like this. It's a nice rule of thumb.

If you decide to go FULL RETARD HARDCORE MODE with brewing and use a lager yeast, then you really will need to keep it cold.
 
hum wierd..

Well Im going to lower the temp to about 71 degrees then, that's about how low I can go now (placed the fermenter in the kitchen, Im NOT going to walk with that heavy thing down the stairs to my basement :p )

But in the instructional it says that this yeast doesnt work so much in temperatures lower then 64.4 degrees.

http://www.makebeer.net/Portals/0/docs/microbrew_booklet.pdf
 
Back to the OP: I just read this article last night about open fermentation. http://***********/stories/techniqu...ion/1216-open-fermentation-tips-from-the-pros
 

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