first brew ! but i screwed something up please help

[robert2254]

Hey guys.
Just started and am very thankful for this place. What a helpfulsite full or great beer lovers.

So tonight I tried my first brew. A Thomas coopers pilsner. I have a starterbrew kit that has the fermenting bucket and bottling bucket. The "ale pales"
Did the 500g dry malt extract and 300g dextrose. But here's the thing. I didn'tget a starting gravity. Capped it and wasn't enough in the tube. And the big thing, when pushing my airlock into the bucket top. the black rubber gasket fell in the wort and bucket. Lost and sunk!?!?!?

I have the airlock sitting in the hole. It's not snug but nothing is getting in there. Will this tended my first attempt undrinkable ? Will it screw it all up?

Likely worrying too much. But its in there and I ain't fishing for fear ill do worse.

Thanks for any help or comments

 

[kasky99]

Dude. RDWHAHB. It will be fine. Next time take your time and get your process down. Your beer will be fine. What you need to do is get it fermenting in a cool place and don't touch it. Just leave it alone. If you really really want an OG you can still get it, but my advice would be to just not touch it. Don't worry about the gasket, it does not have to be 100% airtight. And if your airlock does not bubble... guess what? Not a problem! That is not an important part of the process and does not indicate anything!

Edit: when you say there was not enough in the tub, did you do a partial boil or full boil? If it was a five gallon batch and you only boiled 3 gallons or so... you did add water afterwards right?

 

[oakbarn]

Do you have some aluminum foil. I would remove the airlock and replace with a sheet of foil. Nasty things cannot lift the foil. I use this on starters all the time and it works fine. I pushed a rubber stopper into a carboy twice and the beer was fine. Just keep the temperature 65-70 and that is more important

 

[kh54s10]

I think maybe he meant that there was not enough wort in the sample tube to float the hydrometer??

Not to worry. Until fermentation starts you can still take a sample. If you don't care to calculate the ABV you don't have to worry about it.

You should take gravity samples in a couple of weeks to confirm that you have reached final gravity. Then you can wait a little longer for the beer to clear up or go ahead and bottle.

For the lost grommet just leave it until the beer finishes. You could wrap some Saran Wrap around the airlock for a seal.

 

[lumpher]

we've all pushed the gasket into the beer at 1 time or another. if we haven't, we will. it's probably safe as is, but i'd do (and have) as oakbarn says. lay a piece of aluminum foil across the top

 

[Pezman1]

No worries about not taking an OG if making an extract kit. As long as you used all the fermentables and ended up with the correct amount of wort you will be within range of the OG printed on the kit.

Pez,

 

[robert2254]

Thanks for the piece of mind guys. Next time I will be much more confident and precise, I am sure I will F up 3 other things, but hey that's part of learning.

I did have enough wort. I didn,t have enough pulled to float my hydrometer.

 

[kasky99]

Thanks for the piece of mind guys. Next time I will be much more confident and precise, I am sure I will F up 3 other things, but hey that's part of learning.

I did have enough wort. I didn,t have enough pulled to float my hydrometer.

In that case everything is ok!

 

[william_shakes_beer]

And remember; The vikings were brewing beer in uncovered vessles for thousands of years before anyone even knew what yeast was. There are still commercial breweries that ferment in open vessels. The reason we exercise control over these elements is so when we brew the most delicious beer in the world, we can recreate it.