Leaky spigot causes emegency wort transfer.

[rnobrew]

A few hours after pitching my yeast last night I noticed that the spigot on my ale pail was badly leaking. I had to move the wort quickly to another vessel. I didn't have time to rack it... so I dumped it into another sanitized bucket. The active fermentation had not started. Is this going to ruin my beer (oxidation)?

There is activity in the airlock this morning. I think it's time to move away from a vessel with a spigot.

 

[bknifefight]

Oxygen getting to the wort pre-fermentation is a good thing. You will be fine. You shouldn't ferment in your bottling bucket though.

 

[Braufessor]

You are fine in regard to O2 as mentioned above.

In regard to fermenting in Bottling buckets...... I do it all the time (6-8 buckets) and love using them. Sort of the poor-man's conical as far as transferring with gravity, harvesting yeast, etc. That said - they can be finicky and more precautions need to be taken in regard to cleanliness, good seal, etc.

 

[rnobrew]

Thanks for the reassurance. I read that the real concern with oxidation is either when the wort is hot or when fermentation has completed. I always aerate the wort prior to pitching the yeast, but I was a little concerned about moving it like that (several hours after th e pitch). I might grab a 6 gallon better bottle for my primary to avoid the whole spigot problem. I do like the buckets though...they are easy to transfer into to and easy to clean.

 

[Toga]

The air will do the yeast some good so no worries regarding your transfer before fermentation started.

The hot side aeration thing many consider a myth.

 

[Zepth]

You shouldn't ferment in your bottling bucket though.

Not to be confrontational but why do you make this suggestion? In my fathers years brewing he always had done so, and I've started every batch in my one and only multi-purpose bucket. Neither of us have had any noticeable ill effects, flavour transfer, or spoiled batches as a result. Plus it gives tons of headroom for krausen.

 

[thadius856]

Not to be confrontational but why do you make this suggestion? In my fathers years brewing he always had done so, and I've started every batch in my one and only multi-purpose bucket. Neither of us have had any noticeable ill effects, flavour transfer, or spoiled batches as a result. Plus it gives tons of headroom for krausen.

Probably because those spigots are notoriously hard to get into the crevices to clean, and they're not made to withstand being disassmbled-then-resassembled repeatedly.

 

[Toga]

zepeth I believe he is recommending not using a bottling bucket due to the possibility of infection from the spigot. Many spigots used for bottling buckets are difficult to thoroughly clean and due to this can lead to infection. That said I use a bucket with a spigot with no issues. The spigots I use can easily be taken apart for cleaning.

 

[bknifefight]

No, I am recommending against it since he posted that his spigot leaks.