Krausen pushed through the bubbler...

I brewed a batch, pitched my yeast, and attached the blow-off tube as I always do. Problem was, the yeast started slow, and by the time it started going strong with krausen I was getting ready to leave for a 10 day trip. By the morning of the trip, it seemed to have settled down for good, so I crossed my fingers, removed the blow-off tube, and installed the bubbler.

When I returned from my trip, it seems I'd made a mistake. There was wort-colored liquid in the bubbler and krausen residue on the outside of the fermenter, and on the stopper (see image below).

My question is: is this safe? Can I proceed as normal? I was going to bottle this in a few days. What are the chances that this could have caused an infection?

There's only one way to tell. Gotta taste. This has happened to me plenty of times with no consequence.

I'd be willing to bet that you're fine. Since there's still liquid in your airlock, it means nothing got into your fermenter. No problem. Beer is much more resilient than most of us give it credit. Besides, you really have only two options anyway: bottle or dump. And why waste the beer?

As stated, I'm sure your fine also, but for future brews, if I feel that I need a blow-off tube and put one on a fermenter, I leave it until it's finished. No need to replace it with a standard airlock. Also, when pulling the blow-off during fermentation, you run the risk of introducing wild yeast or bacteria before installing the airlock. As long as the end of the blow-off is in a jug with starsan or iodophor, it is an airlock.

Nuggethead said:

As stated, I'm sure your fine also, but for future brews, if I feel that I need a blow-off tube and put one on a fermenter, I leave it until it's finished. No need to replace it with a standard airlock. Also, when pulling the blow-off during fermentation, you run the risk of introducing wild yeast or bacteria before installing the airlock. As long as the end of the blow-off is in a jug with starsan or iodophor, it is an airlock.

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I didn't realize that. Thanks for letting me know!

I had this happen my first brew, except I didn't know to start on a blow-off tube (I always do now). The hops got stuck in my airlock and blew the top off my bucket. I made the bonehead mistake of wiping all the krausen back into the bucket, (with unclean hands, no less) and putting the top back on, after making a blow-off tube. The beer turned out fine. In fact, it was my best one ever at the time . Actually we made a ton of mistakes that first brew, so we did the exact same recipe on our second, so we could tell the difference with all the mistakes we made. They were both good, but there was a slight difference in both. I would suggest replacing the airlock with a clean one. Make sure you clean/sanitize the area around the grommet first though. I'm sure by now any damage that would be done, is done, and you don't really NEED to replace the airlock, but it may help you sleep better until you bottle.

brianjcohen said:

I didn't realize that. Thanks for letting me know!

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Yeah and I'd say there's a 0.0% chance you are anything but golden here. Everything was headed OUT of the fermenter and there was always liquid in the airlock. No worries.

As long as the flow is outward, infections aren't a worry. I had one where the beer was coming out the small holes in the lid of a 3-peice. The spray was so fine I wouldn't have noticed except for the smell.

I found my blow off had blown off this morning Cleaned the lid and resanitized. Now that the krausen is starting to settle out I added an airlock back on and will let it ride

You should be ok... It happens to most of us at some point along the way

Enjoy
Toy4Rick