Conical sample port - introduction of oxygen

[hlmbrwng]

The sample port on my fermentor is both a blessing and a course, as those who have them probably know. I love taking samples regularly to see how the flavor changes. I have been brewing an extra 1/2 to 1 gal more lately to account for random losses of beer, including my liberal sampling.

Well, it is kinda cool in the house and I no longer have the temperature control running on the fermentor. It's been 3 weeks that the yeast was pitched and I'm not too worried about the temps, so I used the controller for a new batch of beer. I went to sample the beer, and when I opened the port, air got sucked up into the fermentor. It was a sort-of slurpy gurgling sound, so I assumed that is what happens. I was kind shock that no beer came out. Now, granted, I didn't follow open the port. But I was surprised that air got sucked in and no liquid came out. I guess there must have been enough negative pressure to keep the liquid from coming out. Has this happened to anyone else? At this point, I dare not sample again until I'm ready to keg.

I was sooo careful up until this point about oxygen with this batch. I'm usually careful, but I was trying to be extra careful. I'm planning to bottle at some point, from the keg, and I'm worried about long-term storage and any oxygen that is present. I'm probably freaking out and shouldn't be.

 

[kevink]

It's totally fine to freak out about it, but you didn't "ruin" it. If anything, you might have just decreased the amount of time before the beer oxidizes. I would actually purge the headspace really good to make sure you get most of it out of the fermenter. Don't believe anyone who says that it's not necessary because there's a "blanket" of CO2 covering the beer! This has happened to be before, but only after fermentation has slowed down and there's not a lot of CO2 production. Now, whenever taking samples or dump trub, I hook up a low pressure CO2 source so CO2 flows into the fermenter while the beer/trub comes out. It's also useful for transferring and cold crashing. If you're into these beers, it's a worthwhile investment.

Edit: I just saw that you're going to bottle it. That is going to expose the beer to much more O2 than what got sucked in through the sample port.