empty airlock during secondary

Didn't know if I should ask this here, or in the sanitation area, but here goes. Just brewed a killer Pale. Primary fermentation went perfect, moved it over to secondary to clarify. I use a box made from foam insulation and add frozen 2 litre bottles since its too hot here to ferment in my basement. Anyways, I went to keg it today and realized the airlock was low enough to let air pass freely in and out of my carboy. Probably has been like that for a few days since I add the bottles from the top. I'm not too worried about infection as the beer has completely fermented out in primary and from what I understand, the alcohol shouldn't really let anything grow(besides the fact that nothing is growing in it). My concern is whether I will get an off flavor from possible oxygenation and what that flavor will be so I know what to look for. Will it be a butterscotch flavor from diacetyl? I've had that a couple of times and have being trying to rid myself of that. Either my brewing skills are getting worse or my tasting skills are getting better, cause I keep finding something wrong with my final result. Thanks in advance for your help.

P.S. Happy Fathers Day to those with Brewmeisters In Training

As far as off flavors from O2 in secondary, you probably should be fine. I've gotten into the probably unnecissary habit of purging O2 from my secondary the same way I do my kegs with my CO2 tank from my kegging system, but that's just b/c I'm paraoid. When you transfer to your secondary, some of the CO2 created by the primary fermentation should come out of solution and since it is heavier than air it will for a protective blanket which should keep off flavors at bay. Off flavors from O2 typically are of the wet cardboard variety, it will be fairly noticable if present.

Also it's probably not your brewing skills getting worse, but your tasting skills getting better. This will cause a very positive effect on your brewing skills, as you can find and fix problems you didn't know to look for in the past.

RDWHAHB!

livErD69 said:

As far as off flavors from O2 in secondary, you probably should be fine. I've gotten into the probably unnecissary habit of purging O2 from my secondary the same way I do my kegs with my CO2 tank from my kegging system, but that's just b/c I'm paraoid. When you transfer to your secondary, some of the CO2 created by the primary fermentation should come out of solution and since it is heavier than air it will for a protective blanket which should keep off flavors at bay. Off flavors from O2 typically are of the wet cardboard variety, it will be fairly noticable if present.

Also it's probably not your brewing skills getting worse, but your tasting skills getting better. This will cause a very positive effect on your brewing skills, as you can find and fix problems you didn't know to look for in the past.

RDWHAHB!

Click to expand...

Wet cardboard, huh? Guess I better start soaking them Nike boxes for a comparison. Hahaha. Seriously though, thanks. Ever since moving over to all-grain a couple of years ago, I'm always paranoid about something.