First Brew! Did I screw it up already?

[Luckymic]

This is my first attempt at home brewing and I think I might have made a big mistake. After inserting the air lock (3 piece) into the brew pale I didnt put any water in it. It sat for 3 days like that!

After re-reading the instructions I realized my mistake, and filled it with water. I realize it's probably a day late and a dollar short. Should I just toss it out now, or wait and see what happens. If it's going to be junk I'd rather just start on another batch now, if you know what i mean. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

It's fine. There has been enough co2 coming out to protect the beer.

 

[Priemus]

Yepp no problem.

Alot of peopel (ALOT) dont even use an airlock, they just put a towel over the top, leave it open etc and never have problems.

 

[Luckymic]

PHEW! Man I thought I screwed the pooch. Any way to tell if everything is going okay then?

 

[Priemus]

Not really, youll know in 2 and a half weeks when you rack it off into bottles and try your unconditioned uncarbonated beer

Relax, dont worry, have a craft beer while you wait to drink your first homebrew.

 

[stevo155]

You had the cap on the airlock, right? Doubtful much got into those little holes on the cap and once it started, the CO2 would keep everything else out.

For future reference, I put sanitizer ( Star San ) in my airlock in case it gets sucked back in. You can also use vodka.

Welcome to the learning process...bet you won't make that mistake again

Good luck.

 

[Luckymic]

Thanks for the help and the tips. I'll post an update when its done

 

[IrregularPulse]

Ditto on you're fine and Ditto on Cheap Vodka.

 

[MrWiggles]

I dont feel like I even need to comment on this since everyone else already answered buuuuut... I didn't lock down my lid on my weizen and it's fine. On my brown ale I accidentally shifted the lid in a way where it sucked down 2 week old airlock water and it is fine... really nothin to worry about here. As the elders have said, beer (and yeast) are more tolerant and resistant to accidents and abuse than the new brewer would like to believe.

 

[Revvy]

Here, read these stories and you'll see how hardy your beer really is.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/