Home brew beginner - airlock question

Hello,

New to this forum has already been helpful!. Me and my friend began brewing our first batch a few days ago and has been fermenting excellent. Well for the day - day and a half we had the airlock on but we had no water in the airlock and just let it brew then after reading a bit there we saw pictures of the airlock with water in it. then after seeing that I added some water to the airlock.

I know that letting it mix with Normal air would change the taste of the beer. Do you think that because we failed to use the airlock properly would affect the taste of the beer at all or do you think the beer would be fine?

I'm sure you guys get these type of questions a lot from beginners like us!

Thanks!

The active fermentation causes CO2 to be produced and pushes oxygen out of the fermenter. You be fine. However after the active fermentation is over avoid oxygenating your beer any.

I use cheap voka instead of water. The primary reason for the airlock is to prevent contamination. Vodka will work much better. I have frequently come home to find a fruit fly in my airlock, and have been extremely happy that the vodka was in there to kill it.

It's not water that you are seeing. It's sanitizer or vodka.

The idea is air goes out but doesn't come in. Sanitizer simply provides a a filter so that the surface of the airlock stays sanitized. It helps but it's *nothing* to lose sleep over.

I too use either vodka or grain alcohol, whichever I happen to have on hand. Vodka is good because there isn't any flavor and should any happen to get into the beer, it won't hurt it any.