Trouble at the home brewery today! (Gromet fell in()

[Daver77]

Don't know what else to call my home where I have been brewing:cross:

I have 3 beers fermenting right now once of which is an extract honey wheat I brewed last Saturday. Being that this thing had crazy fermentation going on I had switched it to a blow off tube. Worked great all week and since it was slowing down today quite a bit I decided to switch it back to an airlock (No I don't even know why I did that). In removing the airlock / blow off tube rig I had going on the bucket fermenter the gromet slipped off and fell into the krauzen. I thought I could quickly get a sanitized spoon and spoon it out before it sank all the way but I was too late. So all my buckets being occupied I thought of the only thing I could do. The IPA I had sitting in fermenter #1 was sitting for a month. I racked it to my better bottle and dry hopped it (I was going to dry hop it anyway but in the bucket). CLeaned and sanitized the gromet of that lid and put it on the wheat beer. So now I got a free fermenting bucket. The only worries I really have since I practice good sanitation is the gromet infecting the wheat beer.

Not sure what to brew next I was thinking of doing a smash.

Anyways on a brighter note I made a wort chiller today using 50ft 3/8 tubing.

Going to try it out with plain water tomorrow.

 

[Daver77]

BTW way has the gromet thing ever happened to anyone?

 

[Special Hops]

It will be fine. no worries. I think that has happened to anyone at some point.

 

[Yooper]

BTW way has the gromet thing ever happened to anyone?

Yes, it's happened to everyone.

My first post here was asking about the grommet that fell in. I had already duct taped the airlock, then thought I'd ask about it here on the forum. I was an old winemaker, and had all the equipment, but not an extra grommet!

For years afterward, I'd mutter to myself after every brew, "Airlock on the lid, THEN the lid on the bucket" so I would put the airlock on first and then put it on top of the bucket. I sounded like Rainman.

 

[350_Malibu]

Yep, did that with my first brew. Grommet right into the bucket when I was attaching the airlock. Damn...

I dunked my arm into star sans for 30 seconds or so and went fishing with my arm. Beer turned out fine. You'll be fine.

 

[Daver77]

Yes, it's happened to everyone.

My first post here was asking about the grommet that fell in. I had already duct taped the airlock, then thought I'd ask about it here on the forum. I was an old winemaker, and had all the equipment, but not an extra grommet!

For years afterward, I'd mutter to myself after every brew, "Airlock on the lid, THEN the lid on the bucket" so I would put the airlock on first and then put it on top of the bucket. I sounded like Rainman.

HA HA, I do the rainman thing sometimes too!

 

[azscoob]

Dropping the grommet into your fermenter is like a right of passage for the new homebrewer, in the end you will see how hearty beer really is, and in a few more weeks you too can answer with authority when another 'grommet in my beer' question comes up that they will be fine and that we have all done it with no ill effect.

 

[swake457]

Well, this just happened to me this morning too And it was my second brew too.

Thankfully I had a bit of Star-San mix already setup so I sanitized a big spoon and fished it out of the krausen. I brewed this amber ale last week, and I added some candy sugar yesterday to the primary after a week of vigorous fermenting. Over night the fermentation kicked in again big time. I went to check the temperature when I noticed a strong smell of the brew in my ferment box. Closer look and I could see the grommet must have got kinked when I installed the air lock the day before. I went to adjust the airlock, and the grommet wasn't kinked - it was split in half! The bottom half had fallen in when I touched the air lock.

I'm switching to all glass carboy's for my next batch anyway. Looks to be easier to put an airlock on those pre-drilled bungs.

 

[Dude71]

I'm confused, maybe I'm just a noob, but how did the grommet fall into the bucket if you had the lid on? The hole that mine goes into isn't big enough for it to fall through.

 

[dorklord]

Yes, it's happened to everyone.

My first post here was asking about the grommet that fell in. I had already duct taped the airlock, then thought I'd ask about it here on the forum. I was an old winemaker, and had all the equipment, but not an extra grommet!

For years afterward, I'd mutter to myself after every brew, "Airlock on the lid, THEN the lid on the bucket" so I would put the airlock on first and then put it on top of the bucket. I sounded like Rainman.

If the lid is on the bucket after the airlock, then it will definitely be too late.
Eighteen thousand nine hundred twenty seven milliliters of wort...

 

[swake457]

I'm confused, maybe I'm just a noob, but how did the grommet fall into the bucket if you had the lid on? The hole that mine goes into isn't big enough for it to fall through.

From what I could see of the grommet, after I fish the bottom half out, it may have already had a tear in it at the point where sits between the inside/outside of the bucket. I guess the plastic edge of the grommet hole was sharp enough to cut with the air lock in it. Looked fine when I installed the air lock, but the bottom half was sheared almost completely off and finally just fell in when I went to check the air lock.

Maybe it was a bad grommet. The spares I bought are a thicker, "tougher" rubber material. The original was a bit soft, flimsy by comparison.

 

[KAMMEE]

Happened to me on my first brew, and it turned out great. It was still wet with sanitizer so I wasn't concerned, otherwise I might have freaked out. But I just remembered RDWHAHB.... except I didn't have a homebrew since it was my first batch ever so I just grabbed whatever was in the fridge.

 

[K5MOW]

WEll thanks for all this great info. I am going to think befor I put thre airlock on a lid.

Roger

 

[Kyricus]

I know this is somewhat of a necro-post but..this just happened to me last night. I rather thought things would still turn out ok, and am glad to see that it will.

Still, I wish it had fallen into the batch of stout I'd made last time, rather than this Pilsner. Not that I think that little bit of rubber will change the taste any...still.

 

[chezhed]

I've had one split and fall in....didn't even know it till I removed the airlock after 3 weeks. No problem...
I've also managed to push a brand new one in when I forgot to put the airlock on the lid first....again, no problem.

I salvaged the new one out of the yeast cake....just had to remember it was in there, kind of like a stir bar dropped in from a starter batch, not that that hasn't been done before either.

I've since switched to better bottles for primary though and eliminated the problem for most of my brews, except the few times I have more than three batches in a ferment...

 

[Rivenin]

i think i speak for almost everyone when i say we've all had worse stuff fall into the beer

 

[TotemWolf]

I always sanatize my fermenter lid, grommet and all, just for that reason. If you wet the grommet and the airlock stem with a little Star San it slides right in no problem.

A little lube makes it all go smoother.

 

[NorthRiverS]

Brewers,

Get one of these for your airlock and you'll never loose a grommet again.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_53_58_154_234&products_id=924

NRS

 

[azscoob]

Brewers,

Get one of these for your airlock and you'll never loose a grommet again.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_53_58_154_234&products_id=924

NRS

I also use a #2 when I am filling bottles off of my taps, it fits a bottle perfectly, and a racking cane fits perfectly through the drilled hole (I have a bottle filler that was missing the valve, picked it up for 50 cents)
nothing says good brewing gear purchase like a multitasking item!

Buy a few of these to have on hand, but you may need to drill out the lid a tick to get it to fit the fermenter.

 

[emjay]

Heck, if I'm going to drill my lid, might as well just get a bunch of #10.5's, so that I can use my 1" blow-off hose that only my carboys are currently able to use!