First time doing all grain, airhead mistakes

[jmluke]

Last night was my first time putting my new mash tun to use. The mashing process was very efficient and went very well. I was actually very surprised at how smooth the process went. I probably lost about 4 degrees but I kept the grains soaking for an extra 8 minutes to make up for the temperature lost. Does that make sense or was that a bad move? The boil went very well, and so did the chilling process. The Zombie Dust clone was looking, tasting, and smelling excellent. I got the beer into the 6 gallon carboy, and left some room on the top. I put my stone (which was sanitized) into the new better bottle fermenter and pumped some oxygen in the beer for 1.5 minutes.

I then went to place the stopper on the better bottle fermenter with the airlock, and quickly realized that the better bottle required a completely different stopper then the ones I had for my last glass carboy that broke. I quickly secured a sheet of plastic (sanitized, and decently thick, thicker than cellophane) with a rubber band. I figured that was the best option, what do you think? The rubber band was fitted very tight. It was around 8:30 pm last night when this all went down. I put the better bottle inside the laundry room sink. This morning I went down to my local home brew supply shop and grabbed the right size stopper. I went to place the stopper on about an hour ago and noticed that there was a hole in plastic wrap that was about 1/10" in diameter. Is there a good chance of bacteria infecting the beer now? I placed the stopper with the air lock on the better bottle, and it fit nice and snug. The only problem is that when I went to move the fermenter, the airlock started acting up and leaked about half of the purified water (which had 1/4 teaspoon of sanstar mixed in) into the beer. Is this going to produce off flavors??

I'm very concerned with bacteria and with oxidation (the bad kind) from the beer sitting overnight without the yeast being pitched in, and the small opening in the plastic fitted covering. I'm also concerned with that sanitized water that dripped inside the beer this morning. If anyone has any answers to these concerns I would very much appreciate it. Sorry if the thread is dragged out and too long, this is my first time posting on HBT.

THANKS!! -Jake

 

[masskrug]

1. That extra 8 minutes soaking won't help or hurt anything.

2-4. Sounds like minor issues. I'll bet that everything is fine.

 

[unionrdr]

So you didn't pitch the yeast till the next day? Makes me wonder how that hole got in the plastic? Was it chilled to pitch temp when you put it in the BB? Or do you have small children? And that was a suck back you experienced with the airlock. When it cools down quick enough,a partial vacuum is created,sucking the airlock liquid like a straw. 1/4tsp Starsan was a bit much,but forgivable. For one gallon of water,measure Starsan 3/4's of the way up to the 1/4oz mark. Pour into water jug & let it sit to mingle. Then use that.

 

[jmluke]

Correct, I pitched the yeast the next day (this morning). I cooled the beer down to 75 degrees Fahrenheit before I placed the plastic wrapping over the top of the BB last night. Yeah it was a lot of starsan. I'll use the appropriate amount next time. I just figured sense it wasn't actually touching the beer and only serving as a filter for the air to release that it wasn't a big deal to be precise. Given the issue that arose this morning, its better to be safe then sorry I learned.

 

[unionrdr]

If the temp of the beer was significantly lower when you pitched this morning,it might've sucked back on the plastic & made the hole. Not absolutely sure on that one...just extrapolating.