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Possible Oxygenation Problem - Advice?

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taylja06

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Aug 27, 2012
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Apparently the airlock in my IPA, put into primary about 10am yesterday, had a gap the size of a fingernail due to an issue with the gromit. I have corrected it this morning and am seeing C02 bubbles in the airlock, but I worry I may have killed the batch.

Any advice on how to proceed?
 
Relax and have a beer - you should be fine.

If you just went into primary, you won't have an oxygenation problem - yeast will consume the O2 for the next few days. In fact, some really big beers (barlywine, dogfish 120 clones) get oxygenated again early in the fermenting process so the yeast stay healthy.

The biggest concern I'd have is contamination - you should sanitize that gap carefully and then fix it. After that, let it ride and see how the beer turns out.
 
Oh okay. I did the sanitizing and closing immediately, thankfully, and it's great to hear oxygenation won't be a major issue. Hopefully the sanitation and the early notice will avoid some of the issues. Smells absolutely beautiful and I'm hoping it turns out decent.
 
There are people who ferment without sealing the bucket top down, some who don't use airlocks, some that just use foil. And there are people who open their buckets often to take samples or check progress. They all successfully make beer. If this had happened to me I would have sealed it and not put a second though to it. Fermentation creates CO2 which is heavier than air and creates a layer over your beer and prevents oxygen exposure (assuming of course you're not blowing a fan in there or otherwise disturbing it). Anyway, bottom line, absolutely no concern whatsoever.
 
Awesome, really great to hear. Since it was just a fingernail size hole that only let things through with vigorous shaking anyhow, I feel like it should be good.
 
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