First Time and Airlock gasket fell into brew.

[Boubins008]

Hi All,
After doing some research I have seen I am definitely not the only person to have done this. However I handled it a little differently than sanitizing my whole arm...
Here is my situation: made the beer and finished it up Sunday night. Checked all day Monday and then went to work(third shift). Came home Tuesday morning and still saw no bubbling and it is at this point I realise the gasket has fallen in, probably on day one.
So instead of coming here to see what others have done I go on a mad dash wash my hands and sterilize my spoon and open the lid. Lots of foam, but smells good! Swish through the foam hoping the gasket is somewhere on top, it's not... realize spoon will not reach bottom. So I resanitize brewing kettle and spoon. I then pour off 2/3 into the kettle and find the gasket. I reattach the gasket and pour everything back into fermenter and reassemble.
So from what I can gather from other posts I am probably okay with infection, not horribly worried after doing a little research. However my worry now is did I agitate too much or add too much air with pouring back and forth etc... any input would help put my mind at ease. Thanks in advance!

 

[DevilNuts]

I've done this. In fact, I'd be willing to bet most people have done this. The first time, I just sanitized my whole arm and went digging. Beer came out fine.

Next time, put the airlock assembly in place before you cap your carboy/bucket. Saves a world of trouble.

 

[McKnuckle]

Yes, next time... just leave it in there! You risked much more by pouring that beer all over the place than by just covering the opening with some sanitized foil and letting it finish up.

Nobody can tell for sure if anything has been compromised; it depends on the cleanliness of your environment and how much care was taken to move the liquid gently.

But in general, use common sense - a tiny gasket fell into the beer, and whatever germs were on it already either A) died quickly in the CO2 and alcohol; or B) Leaped enthusiastically into the yummy sugar to reproduce and infect your batch. Most likely it's the former, but the "five second rule" had long since passed when you discovered the gasket's incursion.

 

[ArthurDigbySellers]

The exact same thing happened on my first beer! I just left it in there since I figured it couldn't hurt things too much and I was fermenting at a friend's house so the logistics with taking it out of the fermentation fridge and trying to find some way to get it out of there was not worth it to me. Beer came out fine - or as good as a first batch of beer typically comes out.

With all of the pouring back and forth you definitely introduced oxygen into your beer that probably shouldn't have been there. No way to reverse that now so you'll just have to ride it out and see what you get. It will still be beer!

 

[cubalz]

This happens to everyone given enough time. I still remember when it happened to me!

 

[Hello]

The one and only time I dropped all airlocks parts into my carboy to let them sanitize at once, was the time I left the lid of the airlock in the brew. I just left it there. It was sanitized, so I figured if it was going to be a problem then I did all I could short of fishing it out with my dirty ass hand.

 

[Boubins008]

Thanks everyone! Like I stated not too worried about bacteria since I sterilized and took precautions, more worried about the pouring back and forth as it seems like nobody else decided to take it that far before. I kow when bottling you should siphon instead of pour so you do not add too much oxygen. So that is my real concern at this point also a bummer I need to wait like another 3 weeks and put in a whole bottling day to see if the brew was salvaged, live and learn.

 

[Subdivisions]

My first 5 gallon batch I accidentally dropped the hydrometer into the freshly aerated beer. It was all foam on top and I couldn't see it so I thrust my arm in to find it. After reaching around the bottom of the fermenter I realized that the hydrometer floats on top and quickly found it. I felt like an ass but the beer came out fine. I did spray my arm with starsan before going in.