Air lock cap is cracked - help calm me down

Hi all,

About a month ago I brewed up a one gallon batch of barleywine, and the little brew has been sitting in my chest freezer at a consistent temp and what I assume to be a clean environment ever since. Today, however, when I went to thief a sample, I noticed that the plastic screw cap that the airlock fits in to has a big crack in it. Now I'm naturally worried about contamination and infection, and - without an extra cap and it being Sunday and Labor Day weekend - I'm not sure what I should do. Should I sanitize everything thoroughly today and bottle the batch, and leave the bulk of the aging to be done in the bottles, wait until Tuesday when I can get a new cap, or just RDWHAHB? The sample I took today tasted fine, obviously a little green for the style (I had originally planned on letting her sit for 2-3 months and crack the first bottle around Christmas), but now I'm not sure if I should shift my schedule around. If anyone could offer me advice on what may be best to do, or just calm my nerves about my one gallon baby I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

There should be positive pressure inside from fermentation, keeping things from getting sucked in. I'll betcha your brew will be fine.

Don't worry have a home brew!

I asked the guys at Sierra Nevada...



They said they didn't know what a cap was.

If it is the cap that the airlock actually sits in, just put a piece of sanatized foil over it, poke a hole where the air lock goes, and don't worry about it. If it is the air lock cap itself then i would worry about it at all.

Add a piece of packaging tape and go with your original schedule. If it could have been infected, which I doubt it did, it would be infected even if you bottled today.

wont be a problem. Ive fermented with simply a sanitized piece of tin foil over the carboy neck. In fact, my first two fermentation buckets only had a loose fitting lid, nowhere near air tight.