Sanitation/Oxidation Emergency!!!

I have a beautiful oaked blueberry melomel. I sterilized when I first started aging with potassium sorbate, and it's been batch aging for the last few months. I just added bentonite either Thursday or Friday, and when I went to check on it today I noticed that the cap was off of the carboy!

It looks like there might be a few gnats in the carboy. I added 4 campden tablets and bubbled a little bit with CO2 just to flush out the air. I haven't tasted it yet, as I was too focused on closing it back up.

So, am I screwed? Should I add more campden tables? More CO2?

Thanks in advance.

How much headspace do you have?

It sounds like you have taken all the steps you can take to protect it, and the good news is that berry melomels can tolerate a fair amount of oxygen exposure without damage. However, you're making a good argument against bulk aging; this doesn't happen to bottled mead.

if the gnats introduced acetobacter, I don't think any amount of campden will help.

I do wish you luck though!

MedsenFey - thanks for the reassurance! Quite a relief knowing berry melomels are stronger than I previously thought. If your glass carboys have ridges on them, it's full to just above the top ridge. If I had to guess, about an inch or two below the neck.

Malkore - you've just negated the relief I felt from MedsenFey's post. That said, who wouldn't like five gallons of oaked blueberry melomel vinegar? So many culinary possibilities!