Dropped into Brew pot by mistake:
1- Turkey Fryer Thermometer, one of those stick kind - sank right to bottom
2- Hop Spyder - managed to fish that out with recently bought tongs - see #1
3- little stainless cup i use to measure hops - they sink real fast, and are really hard to find in boiling wort !
I don't worry too much about things that drop into a boil - it is 212F .
Dropped in Fermentor by mistake:
1- Rubber gromet from bucket lid, they push through real easy !
2- Air lock - yup, the hole thing dropped in !
3- White Labs vial - i just let it sink, it was full of yeast & open !
4- More than one White labs Vial Cap - again, it was covered in yeast when it fell in !
5- I left a Hydrometer in a bucket for the whole fermentaion once !
6 - Stir bars - yup more than once ! You would think you would learn from the first mistake ?!
Nothing goes into my wort with out being wiped with 97% Iso Alcohol.
Never put your arm in to wort to fish out a White Labs cap, there is likely more wild yeast on your arm ( if you were brewing outside on that nice warm day ), than too worry about what that cap might do.
Leasons learned !
I no longer drink until my wort is in the sealed bucket !!