uh oh

[Talyn]

So I'm two days into fermenting my first homebrew. When I checked on it this morning I noticed my airlock was clogged and very nasty looking so I removed it to clean it. Upon reinstalling it, the little gasket on the bucket lid that made the airlock air tight fell into the wort. How big of an issue is this and is there anything I need to do about it? Thanks in advance.

 

[passedpawn]

Not ideal of course. But I think a lot of brewers have had EXACTLY the same thing happen without any adverse effect. Yep, there is a little risk there, but I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Brulosopher]

So I'm two days into fermenting my first homebrew. When I checked on it this morning I noticed my airlock was clogged and very nasty looking so I removed it to clean it. Upon reinstalling it, the little gasket on the bucket lid that made the airlock air tight fell into the wort. How big of an issue is this and is there anything I need to do about it? Thanks in advance.

Assuming the gasket was sanitized, you'll be just fine. I've dropped worse into fermenting beer (wort is no longer wort as soon it comes into contact with yeast), and I've yet to have an infected batch. Enjoy!

 

[aiptasia]

I wouldn't worry either. I've had it happen a few times and as long as your sterilization procedures include cleaning the gasket on the bucket, you'll probably be fine. Get yourself another gasket and remember to fish the old gasket out of the trub when you rack to your secondary or bottling bucket.