MRMcGovern

Recipes 

Hey all, I waited way too long to put my airlock on my fermenter and the water/sanitizer in the blowoff evaporated, exposing my beer to the air. This happened after a few weeks, so there was already alcohol. It's been like that for months now out of sheer laziness/fear of contamination.

Is my beer still safe to bottle and drink?

COLObrewer

Recipes 

It's probably the best beer you ever brewed. Nothing harmful can live in beer. Co2 is heavier than air so it blankets the beer, etc, etc, etc. . . . .

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nickharbour

Recipes 

You'll probably be fine. The only real threat would be fruit flies or something similar. The beer may be fine but the bacteria can easily colonize the krausen ring above the beer if you have one. If you don't see any obvious bacteria colonies when you pop the lid then you're home free.

I only use blowoffs and never switch to airlocks, even on my long-term aging. I used to have to constantly monitor my evaporation but now I just loosely cover the blowoff vessel (I use mason jars, each fermenter gets its own) with aluminium foil and the evaporation rate goes down drastically.

dozer5454

Recipes 

Other than the hop loss of an IPA the beer should be fine. But in the event it is not just PM me and I would be happy to take it off your hands.

MRMcGovern

Recipes 

Forgot to mention that it fermented at about 80F. Is it still worth bottling? Thanks!

david_42

Recipes 

The high fermentation temperature might be a problem. Try a sample. If it tastes okay but a bit flat, prime and bottle.

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edecambra

Recipes 

The big question is, how does it taste?

MRMcGovern

Recipes 

Thanks for your help everybody. Unfortunately due to high fermentation temp, there is a horrible bitter after taste, very different from what my scotch ale should taste like. Back to the brewery.