primary got knocked over

I have a stout in my primary--about to hit 3 weeks. This morning my daughter somehow managed to knock the bucket over in the closet. I went in when I heard the noise and not much appeared to happen. The lid stayed on and a very small amount of beer had spilled though the airlock. I replaced the airlock. How much will this effect the contents of the bucket? I anticipate needing to let it settle out after being shaken up, but how long? Should I move to a secondary (which I hadn't planned to do)?
Thanks.

Let it sit for a few days to settle you will be fine, No need for secondary.

There's a very small chance of infection if the airlock was flooded, but its completely fermented by now and the alcohol content will kill off just about any spoilers that would get in so I wouldn't worry about it. The only other thing that comes to mind is oxidation but thats really not a lot of sloshing around, no more than happens when you move it around for transfer, and in a beer with that strong of a flavor profile, you probably wouldn't notice it much anyways.

And even with a little sloshing around, there's little O2 in the primary, it'll be almost completely CO2. No worries.

Thank you for the quick responses. How stirred up do you think things got? If I bottle in a couple of days will I be rushing it?

borealis said:

Thank you for the quick responses. How stirred up do you think things got? If I bottle in a couple of days will I be rushing it?

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If you want more yeast than usual in your bottles, then yeah. I'd put it in a cool/cold place to have it settle faster; otherwise, I'd just wait a good 5 days.

Dang that's too bad. I'd wait another week or two if you can hold out, but its mainly just so you don't have a ton of sediment in the bottom of your bottles. Did you strain out the hops after the boil. Depending on what you brewed, there could be a lot of hop sludge still floating around. It will all settle out eventually though.

Maybe move it outside (if it is cold, but not freezing outside) the day before you bottle?

Thanks. I did put it in the basement which is high 50's right now. Keeping it in the bucket should be fine for another week right? That will be four weeks.

I keep all of mine in for 4 + weeks so no problem about that. The basement temp should help it get everything to back fall out just fine.

How long can I keep it at that basement temp?

I wouldn't leave it more than a year.

Seriously, it is not going to hurt it to sit for a few more weeks.

I'd be down there with a straw in the bucket before a year went by!

Thank you.