disaster

[johnmcfarlane]

Whilst removing my airlock from my fv before taking lid of so the water in the airlock didn't get sucked back into the fv the unthinkable happened, the rubber grommet on top of the fv split in 2 and fell :cry: into the beer and sunk to the bottom. Will the 5 gallon batch be ruined now? The brew is getting bottled tomorrow as it has reached 1.010 on the hydrometer and has been that reading for 2 days now. I really hope I haven't ruined my lovely beer. Any advice please chuck it or bottle it anyway? Also how the ##
#k do you remove the airlock easily so this doesn't happen again?

 

[dennisking]

Never used an airlock on a FV, and never had an infection. I would continue myself i think worts are more robust than some people make out.

 

[johnmcfarlane]

Forgot to say grommet will be in beer for another 12 hours untill I syphon into another fv for batch priming. :evil:

 

[Good Ed]

I wouldn't be too sensitive about this, I think your beer will be fine. Why remove the airlock? just open the lid carefully, no airlock liquid should end up in the wort.

 

[luckyeddie]

Consider using cheap vodka or whisky in your airlock in future. You'll probably be ok this time - especially because you resisted the temptation to dive in after the bung. As others have said, just crack the lid off.

What I do is to cover the FV with clingfilm, then puncture a hole corresponding to where the airlock would sit. I then have no problem just taking the lid off when I want to take a gravity reading - there's just a little hole through which I can poke my turkey baster to draw off some beer. Afterwards, on with the lid again - no problem.

 

[craftyjohn]

I use sodium met in my airlocks, then I know if any does get sucked in it's sterile

 

[John_Henry]

Im sure you'll be fine with it mate. I've only limited experience so could be wrong, but I would guess you sterilised it before using it with everything else, so unless a load of other gubbins fell in, or its fermenting in a particularly grubby place I think you'll be fine. In a brew book a read it says to leave the fermenting bin open to the air (for the yeast), not sure I'd dare, but I doubt you will have contaminated as much as you would leaving the lid off entirely. Good luck with it