Stirred the hell out of the priming bucket

Had a friend over this past weekend who had helped me brew two batches of beer. Well before I could tell him not too and while I was in the other room he poured the priming solution into the priming bucket and was stirring it into a whirlpool type of action. I told him that you really do not want to jossle it up too muck at this point but it was too late. Question is - is this really going to make a big difference in the final outcome? - the beer is looking good in the bottle and clearing out nicely. I appreciate the responses - you know how we homebrewers obsess over anything that could have gone wrong until we crack our first beer.

It's been about five days - I may pop one open and see how it is today.

OXIDATION! The homebrewing terror, which no homebrew has actually experienced.

Oxidation is a slow process, most homebrew doesn't last long enough to worry about it. Unless you manage to strain out all of the yeast, they will consume the oxygen and then carbonate the ale.

It can be part of the flavor profile of a barleywine.

Thanks 42 - I know that it is a major no no but never really knew why or what effect it would have. I have three "extras" that did not fit neatly back into the boxes - so I'll give one a go here at the crack of noon. The rest must be left alone for another couple of weeks. Patience is an mf'r!

One of these days, I'll run a poll to find out how many people have run into various off-tastes.

RDWHAHB!

To prematurely answer your poll, d_42, one of my brews was a touch cidery, and another had a ton of fruity esters that I didn't care for. The others have been pretty good, and the only "off" flavors were recipe induced (like too much black patent).

Black patent do give a ash taste if used in excess, don't it? I have been using less and less of it recently.

you said it was stirred into a whirlpool. This may not be bad at all, he may have helped you. Isnt it recommended to gently stir the beer every so often to ensure that the priming solution stays mixed evenly? Of course the magic word is gently.

either way.. RDWHAHB.. or eat lots of turkey and let the triptophane(sp) put you to sleep

Tried one yesterday - only in the bottle five days. Minimal carbonation and the taste had yet to mature. No off flavors - overall pretty good considering only five days in. Thanks for the responses. Trust me I RDWHAHB'd my ass off yesterday - only the one homebrew, but several Sierra Nevada Celebration Ales. And a snifter of Wild Turkey Rare Breed with a cigar on the dock during the evening. Still the kids woke me up at 6:30 a.m.!

You know, aerating isn't a bad thing when you first put the wort into the priming bucket. Its ok to mix it up like crazy then. The more oxygen the better, and most of the oxygen gets boiled out. I shake my primary and jostle it around when I put the wort in. Then once I do that I dont touch it again until its ready to go into secondary, thats when you need to be really careful not to oxygenate it.

Ellie-ut said:

You know, aerating isn't a bad thing when you first put the wort into the priming bucket. Its ok to mix it up like crazy then. The more oxygen the better, and most of the oxygen gets boiled out. I shake my primary and jostle it around when I put the wort in. Then once I do that I dont touch it again until its ready to go into secondary, thats when you need to be really careful not to oxygenate it.

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He's already beyond that stage. By "priming bucket," he means "bottling bucket"; the beer's done fermenting, it's going into bottles.