funny thing happened....

[ptjeff]

Thought i'd share the trauma of my first batch. After being diligent with sanitation I may have contaminated my batch.
After my pitch, I placed the bung with the air lock, camped it in a quiet dark corner. A few hours later I couldn't resist myself and went to see the lock bubbling. What I noticed was the bung had slipped up and nearly out of the bottle. OK, no problem, push it back down and move on. Checked again and the stopper did the same thing. Took the lock out and reseated the stopper, this is when my error happened...when I was putting air lock back, I pushed the stopper into the bottle! You can't imagine my feeling of panic. I didn't sanitize my hands before pushing on stopper.
Now being a noob, I don't have a second stopper...doh! Fortunate for me a bottle of honey had a lid with the rubber valve and the thread pattern fit the jug. I put a hose from bottle into glass of water and poof, I'm back in business.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Thought i'd share the trauma of my first batch. After being diligent with sanitation I may have contaminated my batch.
After my pitch, I placed the bung with the air lock, camped it in a quiet dark corner. A few hours later I couldn't resist myself and went to see the lock bubbling. What I noticed was the bung had slipped up and nearly out of the bottle. OK, no problem, push it back down and move on. Checked again and the stopper did the same thing. Took the lock out and reseated the stopper, this is when my error happened...when I was putting air lock back, I pushed the stopper into the bottle! You can't imagine my feeling of panic. I didn't sanitize my hands before pushing on stopper.
Now being a noob, I don't have a second stopper...doh! Fortunate for me a bottle of honey had a lid with the rubber valve and the thread pattern fit the jug. I put a hose from bottle into glass of water and poof, I'm back in business.

That will definitely happen. You most likely need not worry as the small amount of bacteria/whatever transferred from your hands to the stopper to the beer is far far far less than the cell counts of yeast you put in your beer. It should be fine. Nice save, you can also get away with some sanitized foil, or any other way of making a seal on your container. Wait it out and enjoy your batch.

 

[Pappers_]

The odds are that your beer is fine. It is possible that some wild yeast will take over, but unlikely. The cultured yeast are already at their business and will push the stray wild yeast aside, metaphorically.

 

[ptjeff]

Thanks for the words of encouragement guys. Its been just about a week and although it may be early yet, all looks like it should.

 

[dgr]

That's one never do instruction that should come with air locks. Never insert the bung and then the air lock. Nice save with the honey cap.

If you have slip slide problems, it is usually from moisture on the bung and neck of the carboy. I violate all rules of sanitation and wipe them dry with a paper towel.

 

[tyzippers]

I think you're going to have a bacteria monster on your hands!!!! J/k. It'll probably be fine like the offers said. You might want to go invest in a slightly bigger stopper me thinks.