Pencil contamination or what are the signs it's ruined?

[DjinnJah]

Hi first posting and second kit brew.

So I am brewing my second batch of Tom Caxton real ale and was just told that my two year old girl had discovered 3 days ago that a pencil fits perfectly into the airlock and the pencil is still in the beer! Now it's ready for bottling, it has been in the fermenter for a few weeks, but what are the signs of contamination that would tell me the batch is ruined?

[staplefordbill]

Welcome to Jim's!

I've heard of oak chips being added to beer but that's ridiculous.

Smell is the first and main thing to go on. Take the airlock off and have a sniff. Does it smell vinegary? Mouldy? Vegetal? Musty? Any of those can indicate an infection. If you just get knocked backwards by alcohol that's fine. If possible have a taste of the beer, perhaps siphoning a little into a glass first so as not to increase the infection risk further.

The beer's probably not infected. If the pencil went it when the beer was still fermenting, it probably sat on top of a layer of yeasty foam (Krausen) which protects the beer from airborne nasties.

[EoinMag]

Hold on, either the pencil was in the airlock, OR it was in the beer, OR there is beer in the airlock that the pencil was in. The idea of an airlock is that there's no direct path back......explain a bit better.

[DjinnJah]

The type of airlock it is, (I tried to post a pic but it didn't work) she took the top off the airlock, posted the pencil in the hole in the middle and put the lid back on. I have put a drop of vodka back in the airlock and replaced the lid again.

The pencil is definitely in with the beer but as I am trying to get enough bottles to put it in (or drink my last batch which is in the pressure barrel) I haven't taken it out or inspected it yet.

I will thoroughly examine (and taste) the beer when bottling it.

[EoinMag]

Ok so a two piece airlock the round type, got it now.

[DjinnJah]

Quick update, it seemed ok when I bottled it, now conditioning.

[DjinnJah]

And the pencil didn't smell unpleasant either