Might be trouble.. I hope not

[hindsy]

Okay so, my first beer brew. I know I should prolly relax but I have made such a great bond with this Oatmeal stout. I made this batch saturday and I must say i was really pleased with how well it was working as of ysterday. It was bubbling like mad. I had to head out for the week for work so I had the wife watch over our new little one. She added water to the airlock this morning because the little guy had been blowing water out. (prolly use the different style next time). Any way, she added so much water to the airlock that water got into the beer. I should have showed her a third time I guess, my bad. The bubbles have stopped( not sure if it was the water?). Should I just check everthing is tight, use vodka instead of water? I was planning on racking it into the secondary this wekend should I continue with this idea?

Thanks for all your help..

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

RDWHAHB nothing is wrong. That has happened to all of us many times. I would leave it alone for another week at least before racking to secondary though. A lot of people on here don't use secondary at all. They leave the beer in primary for 2-4 weeks, then bottle or keg. But one week may not be enough to ensure complete fermentation and let the yeasties clean up after themselves.

Welcome to the obsession!

 

[mixedbrewer]

Take your own advice " I know I should prolly just relax". Just think of it as making soup. Just because its beer, people seem to get so paranoid. The best time to think about something is before it happens, to prevent it. After the fact there isn't really anything you can do, so its pointless to worry. Like it says above... relax and have a home brew.

 

[hindsy]

Cool, I have relaxed now. I am still really excited and am thinking of doing another batch when i get back home saturday.. Do y'all ferment in the glass? That is how I was taught for the mead we make. The lady at the store told me to use this bucket I got it in now. I just think it would be a cleaner process.

Thanks,

 

[hindsy]

Jason, I just noticed where you were from. I just moved up to IL from Plano. My gramps Lived there in Mckinney. In country Ridge, right off 75.. small wolrd.

 

[VTBrewer]

One of the top three questions (along with did i ruin my beer and i see no bubbles is it fermonting) asked. All up in the sticky section.

**EDIT: i mean the glass vs platic as oen of the top three.

Nice work on your first batch man, cool that you're so excited about it. Hopefully you'll be just as excited about your 100th.

 

[Smokeater233]

Stout's can take some time to ferment out completely - I have one in bottles now that took a month to ferment out (although I did boost the ABV). Make sure to check the final gravity with a hydrometer before racking to secondary (although there's little need to move to secondary anyway). With regard to your original question - the move to secondary is a riskier move than the extra water in the air lock. Don't get me wrong, if you clean and sanitize properly, racking to secondary is almost perfectly safe, but a little water in the beer from the airlock won't hurt it.

 

[hindsy]

Okay so I was just thinking about it. Could there be a problem due to my OG being high?
I had added 12 onces of honey to kind of kick up the ABV some. my OG was at 1070 when I added the yeast.

 

[mixedbrewer]

You wont know if there is a problem until you take a hydro reading... many beers have a high OG.

 

[hindsy]

I will let it set till Friday night then do the reading as I am out of town.

 

[Special Hops]

That will probably be bad beer. My suggestion is to let it ferment out, bottle it, then ship it to me for proper disposal.

 

[RedIrocZ-28]

I've had water dribble into the fermenter on a few occasions. I have only made 1 bad batch of beer in 2 years. Relax, it'll be fine

 

[WildGingerBrewing]

Jason, I just noticed where you were from. I just moved up to IL from Plano. My gramps Lived there in Mckinney. In country Ridge, right off 75.. small wolrd.

Very cool. I'm on the opposite side of town near the Frisco border. But I know exactly where you're talking about. Hate to see you leave TX for IL hahaha

 

[hindsy]

Okay so I took a hydro reading. It was at 1030 down from the OG at 1070. I racked it off into my secondary and had a sample. It tasted awesome! I figure I will let it set in that for at least two more weeks. Is there anything else I shoulda done besides the the cleaning of everything?