Went to work and I come home and Oh no!

My stopper and airlock blew off. So, I find my stopper in one place and after about 5 minutes of searching find my airlock. So as this is about my 4th batch I freaking out. So I read up on the forums and I believe it was Revy saying something along the lines of yeast can cure about anything if you give it time. I do and the beer was the most carbonated beer I've had yet. Good flavor and I was very delighted with it. My concern was with oxidation. Not sure when or how long my carbos was open to the wind. I also know that contamination is the reason for having a sealed container. It was 2 weeks from start to finish and I bottled after 3 days of fermentation. What I would like to know is if being exposed to air helped it carbonate quicker. Thanks for your help all.

my guess would be that you bottled before primary fermentation was completed. Still some sugar left when you bottled which led to the over carbonation. Oxydation wouldn't have caused it. Primary result of oxydation is off flavors.

Exposure to air won't carbonate the beer anymore. Nor does the lack of an airlock mean your beer was oxidized. No oxygen was getting into the fermenter because the gases were escaping, not sucking in. Hence why your airlock went bye bye. Many things could be the reason for the extra carbonation. Like Sarrispius said, it may not have fermented out all of the way. You may have put too much priming sugar in your beer before you bottled. Or, maybe the priming solution wasn't spread equally and some of your bottles will be fizzy and others flat. It's hard to say.

Hammy71 said:

Nor does the lack of an airlock mean your beer was oxidized. No oxygen was getting into the fermenter because the gases were escaping, not sucking in.

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His airlock and stopper blew off. If the airlock isn't there, oxygen is definitely getting in. The beer may have off flavours if the airlock wasn't present for a long period of time.

atchinator said:

His airlock and stopper blew off. If the airlock isn't there, oxygen is definitely getting in. The beer may have off flavours if the airlock wasn't present for a long period of time.

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Unlikely. Beer used to be (and still is, often!) fermented in totally open containers. Unless you're mixing hard or splashing fermented beer around A LOT, you're not going to oxidize the beer. Chances are the beer carbonated better because you gave it more time and potentially conditioned longer/warmer than usual.

Nevermind

Every single beer was carbonated evenly. Different size bottles too. I did add priming sugar to secondary. I am thinking temp was to high. Thanks for the food for thought, it will help me pay more attention.

atchinator said:

His airlock and stopper blew off. If the airlock isn't there, oxygen is definitely getting in. The beer may have off flavours if the airlock wasn't present for a long period of time.

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Wrong. Positive pressure would push any oxygen out. The only way oxygen could get in is if the fermentation had completely stopped and the beer cooled and contracted, creating a negative pressure.

Fermentation definitely hadn't completed. After I found my stopper and airlock I immediately washed and sanitized. Then replaced, fermentation took another day and a half.

It will be fine (assuming nothing else went wrong).

sudsmcgee said:

Wrong. Positive pressure would push any oxygen out. The only way oxygen could get in is if the fermentation had completely stopped and the beer cooled and contracted, creating a negative pressure.

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Wrongo. Look up partial pressures of gases or Dalton's Law or such. O2 will diffuse into the container. The idea that the blanket of CO2 completely blocks lighter gases is an old chestnut that never dies. We should be quite happy about this, too. Might have trouble breathing if the air stratified into its various components

I guess I'll add that the OP shouldn't worry, and have a homebrew, yada yada.

passedpawn said:

Wrongo. Look up partial pressures of gases or Dalton's Law or such. O2 will diffuse into the container. The idea that the blanket of CO2 completely blocks lighter gases is an old chestnut that never dies. We should be quite happy about this, too. Might have trouble breathing if the air stratified into it's various components

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I am quite familiar with Dalton's law and the laws of passive diffusion/equilization. We are talking the span of one work day here under an active positive-pressure fermentation. Even if the fermentation had stopped, there is no way enough oxygen passively diffused into that tiny hole to make a difference. Plus, the oxygen wouldn't have time to go into the beer unless it was under pressure, which it was not.

I get your point, but in the real world under these circumstances, no oxygen "got in".

I just wanted to point out that a warm keg needs weeks at 30 PSI to fully carbonate. How long would it take oxygen to passively diffuse into warm beer at atmospheric pressure without mixing or agitation and to a high enough concentration to change the taste under the OP's stated conditions? Mostly likely weeks to months is my guess, but I'm not planning on finding out the hard way.

I'm far past worrying, as its all down the beer tube so to speak. Was a past brew, pilsner. I just didn't know if the fact that the stopper/air lock had any play in the carbonation of the beer itself. I realize now by previous feedback the gas flowing out of the carbos wouldn't allow oxygen in. It's good to learn, especially when you enjoy what you are learning about. BEER! Got to love it.

sudsmcgee said:

I am quite familiar with Dalton's law and the laws of passive diffusion/equilization. We are talking the span of one work day here under an active positive-pressure fermentation. Even if the fermentation had stopped, there is no way enough oxygen passively diffused into that tiny hole to make a difference. Plus, the oxygen wouldn't have time to go into the beer unless it was under pressure, which it was not.

I get your point, but in the real world under these circumstances, no oxygen "got in".

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Alright. I agree. No offense meant.

IMHO airlocks are intended for long aging periods to seal a fermenter / conditioning vessel. They have no place in primary fermentation. Winemakers don't airlock the primary...hell, I believe it is open. How many times have we heard of a cieling being decorated w/ hops and kruesen. Slap a piece of foil on and call it good, i don't use airlocks at all ( my beer is usually kegged within two weeks).

Oh, and any notion that the beer became exposed to O2 after blasting the airlock is silly.