Air in beer

[henrybeggs]

How bad is it? I would like to start taking gravity readings of my beer which has been in primary for 12 days, but I am scared because I keep hearing how you shouldn't add air. Also, since I use a bucket I'd like to be able to steal a couple peeks every now and again just to see what it looks like. What should I do to prevent air from getting in? How cautious should I be?
Thanks

 

[cmybeer]

I hate to break it to you but if you're 12 days in there probably won't be much to see other than maybe some residual krausen that hasn't dropped yet so I'd say just wait it out for another week and you will be good to go. Keep it in the primary for at the very least two weeks with three being ideal.

If you really, really want to see something go get your next kit and then open that bucket up two days in.

 

[twistr25]

I agree with cmybeer to at least wait a few more days. What kind of beer did you make, yeast type and ferment temperature? I took my first gravity readings at 14 days then another at 17 and bottled at 20. Typically if you have a good seal on your ferment bucket, you'll get a layer of CO2 above the beer that'll protect it from other air, and you'd really have to disturb it a good bit to really inject it with O2 and cause any problems. Slowly dunk your sanitized thief in the beer when you take a gravity sample and you'll be fine. Once it's fermented it's much more resilient, but you still want to be careful.

 

[sidepart]

Typically if you have a good seal on your ferment bucket, you'll get a layer of CO2 above the beer that'll protect it from other air, and you'd really have to disturb it a good bit to really inject it with O2 and cause any problems. Slowly dunk your sanitized thief in the beer when you take a gravity sample and you'll be fine. Once it's fermented it's much more resilient, but you still want to be careful.

Came here to pretty much agree with this. Most of the caution you're probably getting is to not aerate the beer. It's alright, it's just beer, not an unstable souffle.

Don't shake it up, stir the hell out of it and you should be ok for the most part. Same goes for when you eventually rack to the bottling bucket. Try not to slosh it around, and you're good to go.