Is my beer ruined?

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brew_newbie

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I finished my 1st home brew on sunday, everything went fine followed the recipe perfectly and finally when it was time to put it in the fermenter things went wrong. When i went to go push in the airlock that rubber gromet pushed through and fell into my brew! I flipped I had no idea what to do so after a couple of mins of thinking my only solution was to strain it back into the pot take out the gromet then strain it back into the fermenter. Ive been checking on it all day monday and twice today and I havent seen one single bubble come out of the airlock. Is my brew ruined?
 
The gromet shouldn't cause a problem. You would have been fine just leaving it there. Check your seals to make sure everything is tight. It should be bubbling by now - or very soon.
 
Lol. Sorry.

You probably exposed your beer to much more risk by taking it back out of the fermenter as opposed to leaving the stopper in. Did you use the same stopper? If it is that loose, then you probably won't see a bubble. The co2 will escape around it.
 
I would crack the lid and peek inside to see if there's a Krausen on top (foam/head,etc) or any other signs of fermentation. You may have missed the fermentation too, if it really rocketed off, in which case you should see a line of crud above the fluid level where the edge of the krausen deposited it. The bucket I used for my first batch did not seal, so all the CO2 went right around the air-lock and it only bubbled during the very peak of fermentation. I switched the lid out for a gasketed one I got from my LHBS (as well as a packet of yeast since I was sure it wasn't fermenting), and the airlock started up right away.

If you don't see any activity, and the edges of the bucket are clean, try pitching another packet of yeast. (how are you preparing your yeast by the way?).

I wouldn't worry about contamination due to transferring back and forth the extra time, as long as everything was sanitized well. You may have even aerated the wort more which is beneficial.
 
Before someone else does it I will;

You can send it to me and I will dispose of it properly.

Like the other said it will likely take off and be fine or it already has and you just missed it.
 
if the pot was still sanitized, nothing was really harmed. in fact, all the extra pouring helped aerate the wort.

relax :)
 
Malkore's correct and the extra oxygen is probably delaying the start of the fermentation, because you are getting more yeast growth. Definitely a good thing.
 
Bah Humbug said:
You are not alone.

I think Yooper can help. :)

Sorry to Hijack the thread but Orfy, have you found anywhere you can get Wychwood Bah Humbug, was really looking forward to that this year but all I can find is their Plum Duff.

Better still, do you have a recipe for it?
 
ok just went down to the basement to check on it and there is no foam or head on top of the beer. what does that mean?
 
That same exact thing just happened to me a few days ago. Except the bottom half of the gromet fell in and I hadn't seen any bubbling going on. Decided to just replace the seal last night and everything appears fine now. I wonder if it's going to have any weird added flavor from the gromet, though. (the bottom half is still in there)

kP
 
I did the exact same thing when I made my first brew. Then everyone told me I was fine. They were right. I bet next time you put the airlock on BEFORE you snap the lid tight, :)
 
The same thing happened to my first brew. I reached in with my hand to grab it when tongs wouldn't do the job. Those damn things should float.

It's a coopers euro lager I nuked the yeast on too, so my hopes are low for this batch anyways. I'll let you all know in Jan how awful it truly is.
 
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