Will this affect my micro brew?!
Will this affect my micro brew?
i am new to micro brewing. my first brew was over the weekend with a friend who had some experience. we did everything correctly until we were insering the carboy (sp?) into the lid which was secured on the top of the brew bucket and ready for fermentation. as he inserted in, the rubber casing piece around the hole in the lid was pushed through and into the brew. it didnt float and it took us about 20 minutes to fish it out with the mixing spoon. does the time we lost (and carbonation from the mixing of waters and yeast) affect the fermentation process? i checked it this afternoon and the carboy didnt show any indication of fermenting (a tiny bit of condensation was on the side) the brew is in my basement away from sunlight and the temp down there is about 60 degrees.
Additional Details2 months ago
all great answers, thank you! as of this morning the airlock bobs up and down every few seconds and some condensation is present, so i assume all is well. ill leave the mixture inmy basement and take notes on how all the fermenting went at the temp down there this time of year.
Answers:
2 months ago
all great answers, thank you! as of this morning the airlock bobs up and down every few seconds and some condensation is present, so i assume all is well. ill leave the mixture inmy basement and take notes on how all the fermenting went at the temp down there this time of year.
Assuming you used a VERY clean spoon, you should be all set. The biggest risk to homebrewed beer (especially from the time you stop boiling the wort until the time yeast starts fermentation) is from contamination from wild yeast (i.e. bacteria). If you did not sanitize the spoon prior to putting it into your brew or the rubber gasket, then you may have introduced some bacteria and might get some off flavors.
You will probably still be OK. Fermentation can take a bit of time to start especially if you used dry yeast. If your airlock does show steady bubbling by 48 hours than your yeast is dead (it may have been too old or added to your wort while it was still too hot). Check online sites or your brewing book (you did buy "The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing" by Charlie Papazian, didn't you?) for directions on re-pitching yeast.
If you didn't do so already, next time around I would suggest using a liquid yeast. They will give you better results and usually start quicker.
Source(s):
Homebrewing and microbrewing experience.
Nah you'll be good. All home brewers have had something like this happen. Most home kits are very forgiving of mistakes.
Sometimes it can take a yeast colony a few days to develop before you can start to see the actual fermentation. Temperature and sugar levels can also affect the time it will before fermentation is noticeable. 60 degrees is a little cool, so if it doesn't start in a few days move it somewhere a little warmer.
The slowest start for a fermentation I ever had was with a batch of mead. It was probably a week before the fermentation was noticeable.
i wish i knew, at least you are trying to brew. let us know if it did any harm.
the 20 minutes it took looking for the piece may lead to a infection in the beer but shouldn't have affected the yeast, if anything it help airate the beer
However, depending on your yeast keeping it at 60 degrees could be too cold for the yeast and in the end make it dorment (fall back asleep) you may want to bring the temp of your basement up to 68 degrees or find a new location for your brew that is around 68 degrees. After doing this aerate the beer to allow the yeast to come back alive. But before doing this check the stats on your yeast and see what temp it is dorment and killed at