I got a note last week that the people from my apartment complex would be coming around to "inspect" my apartment on Wednesday (they do this about once a year for routine maintenance). I was a bit worried because I have almost zero closet space and I always leave my beer buckets in the kitchen to ferment, which in this case means a swamp cooler to combat the North Carolina summer.
I got home from work and immediately went to check the beer. I saw the towel was still carefully wrapped around it, but that the fermenting beer had bubbled up into the airlock. I thought this was a bit strange since it wasn't fermenting as fast this morning as it was yesterday, but I replaced the airlock, and cleaned the old one out, then headed out for a bit.
I just got home and saw that the airlock wasn't bubbling. Figuring that was a bit odd since it had just bubbled up this afternoon, I checked the lid and realized that WHOEVER CAME FROM MY APARTMENT COMPLEX TODAY OPENED THE BEER UP (I'm almost positive this is how beer ended up in the airlock now) and didn't properly seal the lid and that it's now been open for anywhere from 7-14 hours.
So ... I'm a bit hacked off (understatement). I'm still a bit of a noob, but not so much that I'm panicking and thinking about dumping the beer. Still, beyond contamination (I haven't ruled out the possibility that some effing moron stuck his hand in the fermenter, which actually seems downright likely to me at this point) I'm wondering what else I should be concerned about.
More info: Brewday was Sunday, pitched a 1L starter into 5 gallons, OG was 1.068 so I expected a few days of good fermentation. Now that lid is back on, it's bubbling away again. Also, I'm full of rage (partially at myself for not realizing that things weren't 100% right sooner than midnight), but I suppose that's neither here nor there because right now I'm most worried about the beer.
I got home from work and immediately went to check the beer. I saw the towel was still carefully wrapped around it, but that the fermenting beer had bubbled up into the airlock. I thought this was a bit strange since it wasn't fermenting as fast this morning as it was yesterday, but I replaced the airlock, and cleaned the old one out, then headed out for a bit.
I just got home and saw that the airlock wasn't bubbling. Figuring that was a bit odd since it had just bubbled up this afternoon, I checked the lid and realized that WHOEVER CAME FROM MY APARTMENT COMPLEX TODAY OPENED THE BEER UP (I'm almost positive this is how beer ended up in the airlock now) and didn't properly seal the lid and that it's now been open for anywhere from 7-14 hours.
So ... I'm a bit hacked off (understatement). I'm still a bit of a noob, but not so much that I'm panicking and thinking about dumping the beer. Still, beyond contamination (I haven't ruled out the possibility that some effing moron stuck his hand in the fermenter, which actually seems downright likely to me at this point) I'm wondering what else I should be concerned about.
More info: Brewday was Sunday, pitched a 1L starter into 5 gallons, OG was 1.068 so I expected a few days of good fermentation. Now that lid is back on, it's bubbling away again. Also, I'm full of rage (partially at myself for not realizing that things weren't 100% right sooner than midnight), but I suppose that's neither here nor there because right now I'm most worried about the beer.