Had to reach arm into primary fermenter. Am I screwed?

[dbenjami]

I use plastic primary fermenter and when I stuck the airlock into the hole on the cover, the %&*#ing rubber seal pushed through and fell into to wort.

I attempted to sterilize my arm as good as I could, and I reached in and grabbed the ring.

Anyone else have a mishap like that and had everything turn out okay?

[Payson]

It's happened to just about everyone at some point or another I would guess.... I did something similar and all turned out fine. I've also been meticulously clean and all went to hell. Wait and see is about all I can say, but don't worry.

[mortong]

I don't know how many times I've seen this same thread here. In every case, war stories were shared and I can't remember one of them having a bad ending. You should be fine, but as Payson said, only time will tell.

[wortchillergoal]

I will add to the war stories. Back in 48. Now to the beer story. I reached inti my bottling bucket up to my elbow. I did not wash or sterilize and all came out well.

[dbenjami]

I was thinking more about this, and while proper sanitation is very important, monks have been brewing beer since the Dark Ages right? They did not have any hint of sanitization, and yet they seemed to do all right.

I mean if they brewed up beer that came out rotten, why would they keep making it, and why would we be enjoying it today?

We will see how this one turns out, but my brewing buddy has already decided that we will call this batch "Armhair Ale"

[Payson]

Perhaps reaching the old arm into the mix resulted in the birth of Lambics!

[fretlessman71]

My brother and I created a barelywine for our very first beer years ago, and we managed to drop the tip for the siphon into the beer just before bottling. Needless to say, he had to reach in and find it with a well sanitized arm. We named the batch "Sweaty Palms Barelywine", and it was LEGENDARY. Learn from the fret-meister, who learned the hard way, and follow the directions below..... :)

(Oh yeah... welcome to the boards!)

[ray m]

Last batch I made I forgot to take out the hop bag prior to cooling the batch. Without thinking, I ran into the kitchen, grabbed a pair of tongs, and right away stuck the tongs and my hand/wrist assembly (both completely unsanitized) into the wort to fish out the hop bag. Nothin' bad happened, but we all worry a little when we forget to sanitize something.