First Brew Mishap

[CaptainCaveman]

I ended up completing my first brew last night. I brewed an Amber Bock kit that I got from Midwest Supplies. Everything turned out good until I went to transfer it to the fermenter. So, I get it in my bucket, pitch the yeast and seal on the top. I start to put in the air lock and the rubber seal around the airlock hole drops into the bucket. So, I open the lid in hopes that it'd be floating on top, nope. It had sunk straight to the bottom. The only thing I could think to do is transfer the brew to my carboy and retrieve the rubber liner.

So, I set up my strainer and funnel and transfered it into my carboy and retrieved the liner. I ended up spilling a bit of the brew on it's way in, but not too much. I'm kind of worried how things will turn out now that it's been through all of that. Any ideas or words of wisdom?

 

[frazier]

Words of Wisdom? "Relax, don't worry!" Is that wise enough?

Seriously, I think most everyone on this forum, and that includes all the veterans, have dropped something in their brew at one point or another.

If it had been me, I would have dipped my arm into my Star-San bucket, then just reached into the beer and fished around until I found the thing. The way you did it will also work.

Cheers!

 

[BeerJorge]

That happened to me once... as long as you kept everything clean and sanitized, there is no reason why your beer shouldn't turn out good...

I keep spare grommets now for that reason...

 

[jroot]

The only problem at this point is possibly a sanitation issue but I'm sure you took care in the transfer. Personally I do not use an airlock anymore. I just clean and sanitize a 4ft section of 5/16" vinyl tubing and force it into the fermentor stopper hole and put the free end in a separate bottle of left-over sanitizer from the brew session. Thats all you really need to do as it provides for the possible blow-off and you can see it bubbling as the ferment progresses

 

[hops2it]

I think most of us have done the same thing. Ever since my mishap of an identical nature, I now install the airlock away from the bucket, then put the lid on the bucket with airlock already in place. You should be fine.

 

[ironcash]

Ya I did the exact same thing on my first batch of beer and ended up coating my arm in bleach rinsing it off and fishing for it. I was really worried that it wasn't going to turn out right. That batch technically just got done today, but I've been drinking it for the last few days and it turned out great. you should be fine.

 

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I've done the same thing before, don't worry you'll be fine. I've actually had to reach my entire arm in my beer the day of bottling to tighten up the spigot on my bottling bucket after the nut came loose. Let that be an additional lesson, always check the nut on your bottling bucket before you transfer...............I do it everytime now.

 

[specsman]

Let that be an additional lesson, always check the nut on your bottling bucket before you transfer...............I do it everytime now.

Darn good advice.

 

[CaptainCaveman]

Wow, you guys have really eased my mind. I was really upset that this had happened on my first brew, I figured it just to be my usual bad luck. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who this has happened to. Thanks for the positive comments and thanks for keeping me from having an ulcer.