noob sanitation question

[doverox]

hey guys,
it's a bit late for me to ask this as my batch has been in the bucket for 3 1/2 days now but....
i had to put my fermenting bucket on top of a box to keep it off the floor so it's not at cat level haha

however, it just dawned on me that a.) the box is made of cardboard and b.) probably had some dust or debris on it as it's been around a while. it's full which is how it's supporting the weight.

is the bucket going to absorb anything? am i risking infection? this was such a rookie mistake as i was so careful with my sanitation and then i just spaced out on this possibility.

p.s. it started releasing co2 after about 1/2 hour and bubbled consistently for 2 days. now she is burping every 20 seconds or so. i am hesitant to check for infection until day 10.

 

[jekeane]

If the bucket is sealed and you have an airlock on it I am sure you are fine. Don't open it until you are taking your final gravity readings.

 

[wardens355]

The bucket will not absorb anything. The critical part is cleaning inside the bucket, having a good seal, and making sure your airlock has a sufficient amount of sanitizing solution in it.

 

[m00ps]

yeah if there's airlock activity, then you have a good seal on the bucket. With plastic buckets, you only need to worry about stuff like O2 getting through when doing months of conditioning (sours).

What temperature do you have it sitting at? That is much more important than keeping dust off it...hell I ferment most of my beers on the dirty tile floor in my bathroom, like 6 feet from the toilet, because it is the single coldest spot in my apartment. Right under the a/c vent. I've never even had an infection and I've had a tiny bit of mold growing on the outside of the bucket...

 

[doverox]

i'm using us-05 and it's at 72. i know that's cutting it close but i actually like a little bit of fruity esther in my aipa's and apa's (we'll see which this ends up as hahaha)

 

[m00ps]

try the poor man wet t-shirt and a fan technique next time. I can usually get 3-4 degrees below ambient even during active fermentation if I re-wet the shirt every few hours

 

[doverox]

thanks, everyone!