Dropped my fermenter

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

spiffcow

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Messages
150
Reaction score
1
Location
Oklahoma
So I dropped my fermenter the other day. No, it didn't burst (it's plastic), and it didn't even spill, but it did shake this crap out of it during high krausen. So, any bets on whether my dubbel is oxidized enough to taste like wet cardboard?
 
spiffcow said:
So I dropped my fermenter the other day. No, it didn't burst (it's plastic), and it didn't even spill, but it did shake this crap out of it during high krausen. So, any bets on whether my dubbel is oxidized enough to taste like wet cardboard?

You don't mention if oxygen got in. Did it?
 
No. Here's a cleverly hidden message:

RDWHAHB_license_plate.JPG
 
I'm just imagining the mess that would be created if it had been glass and it had burst.
 
spiffcow said:
Yeah, probably.. I opened it up right before that to check the temperature.

Opening a fermentor to check temperature? Get yourself one of those stickers that does it for you. They're like 99 cents. I'm still trying to imagine how significant oxygen got in without spilling beer. I suspect you are fine. Do what the license plate says. :D
 
Why does it matter if oxygen gets in? Doesn't oxygen get in when you rack to a secondary?
 
Why does it matter if oxygen gets in? Doesn't oxygen get in when you rack to a secondary?
Not if you do it right. The idea when racking beer, weather to secondary or bottling is to keep it as smooth as possible. Keep the agitation to a minimum to keep oxygen out.

Supposedly, if you aerate your beer (after or during fermentation) it can give it the flavor of wet cardboard.

Example:

Depends on how aerated the beer was...I've tasted very mild examples of wet cardboard and extreme examples that would be best described as wet cardboard pulled from a NYC restaurant dumpster in mid-July. It's a pretty unmistakable flavor.

That's one of the reasons why you're supposed to siphon your beer as opposed to just dumping it around in various containment vessels. :rockin:
 
Once I totally spaced and let my beer splash the entire time racking to the bottling bucket - enough to have a full covering of the surface in foam. That beer is 6 months old now and I taste no staling whatsoever. I'm not advocating being sloppy, but I think you need lots more agitation to cause oxidation. Definitely RDWHAHB.
 
I'm trying to figure out why you were lifting up your beer in the middle of fermentation. Seems like a lot of work just to check the temp. Are you sure you weren't just hugging it or something? Sometimes I like to spend some quality alone time with my beer as well, but the relationship hasn't turned physical yet:D

Seriously though, get a stick on thermometer. I wouldn't worry about your beer at all.
 
I'm trying to figure out why you were lifting up your beer in the middle of fermentation. Seems like a lot of work just to check the temp. Are you sure you weren't just hugging it or something? Sometimes I like to spend some quality alone time with my beer as well, but the relationship hasn't turned physical yet:D

Seriously though, get a stick on thermometer. I wouldn't worry about your beer at all.

Hah, guess I should have expected that one.. I keep my fermenter on a shelf, but there's not enough room above it on the shelf to take off the lid. I use a floating thermometer that I leave in the beer so that I always get the temp of the beer, and not the container. I often take a gravity reading at the same time anyway, so opening up is no big deal.
 
Back
Top