Airlock blew off last night... Is my batch ruined?

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Florenz

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Ok, so let me start by saying that I know that I should have known better even though this is my first batch. I'm making a dunkelweisen. The fermentation activity was very lively and foam was coming through the top of my airlock last night. Against better judgment I did not put a blow off hose on. As I should have expected I found my airlock on the floor and quite a mess to clean up when I woke up this morning.

I sanitized the bung and made an improvised blow off tube this morning. My question is: Is my batch totally ruined? There is still quite a bit of fermentation activity and I heard that there is little risk of infection while the fermentation is going on.

Thanks

Bob
 
Yeah it's doubtful you introduced any bacteria, and no o2 would have gotten in there. I think a lot of people have stories like this and their beer turns out well. RDWHAHB:mug:
 
I'm sure it is. When you have it fermented out and in bottles, you can send it to me and I'll drink it, um I mean I'll dispose of it for you.:drunk:

No, the chance of infection is almost non-existent as your bubbling wort is pushing everything out with that CO2 that is being produced. Just rig your blowoff and you are good.:rockin:
 
While nothing is 100%, what you heard is the probability. I wouldn't worry about it. Sounds like your procedure was the appropriate one.
 
i'm sure it is. When you have it fermented out and in bottles, you can send it to me and i'll drink it, um i mean i'll dispose of it for you.:drunk:

No, the chance of infection is almost non-existent as your bubbling wort is pushing everything out with that co2 that is being produced. Just rig your blowoff and you are good.:rockin:

+1
 
rm-mn said:
i'm sure it is. When you have it fermented out and in bottles, you can send it to me and i'll drink it, um i mean i'll dispose of it for you.:drunk:

No, the chance of infection is almost non-existent as your bubbling wort is pushing everything out with that co2 that is being produced. Just rig your blowoff and you are good.:rockin:

+1000. Rdwhahb.
 
Pics help in this forum...or in this case can be just for fun.

This is my first dunkleweizen. The cover from the airlock on the left hit the ceiling. I cleaned up, installed blow off tubes and cleaned up again. The beer turned out great.

P5160009a.jpg
 
Just to share my own experience, I brewed an Agave Wit back in February on a Saturday night. I put my carboy in the basement and let it do it's thing without checking up on it until Wednesday (yes, a whole 4 days). When I went into the basement that fateful Wednesday after work, I saw the bung and airlock about 3 feet away from my carboy...how long it had been like that I have no idea. It could have happened an hour after I put it in the basement or an hour before I actually checked on it. I bottled the beer, let it carbonate, tasted it and all was fine! As everyone else has said RDWHAHB!
 
pics help in this forum...or in this case can be just for fun.

This is my first dunkleweizen. The cover from the airlock on the left hit the ceiling. I cleaned up, installed blow off tubes and cleaned up again. The beer turned out great.

that...is...awesome!!!
 
Wow, That is active; however, I had a batch of Irish Red (believe it or not) do the same thing. I woke up on brew day +1 to find my air lock 10 feet away. The beer was fine and the universe was all right. The amount of air pressure inside your fermentor almost certainly kept foreign bodies out. Enjoy!
 
I had the airlock blow off sometime in the first 12 hours of fermentation. I was really worried about it having been infected because I did not catch it right away but going off the advise here and elsewhere, I just relaxed. 2 weeks later I racked to the secondary because I needed the primary. When I tasted it, there was a terribly bitter taste. I was still worried but set it aside for 2 more weeks. Yesterday I bottled the brew. When I taste tested it, while still a slight bit bitter, the flavor was not bad at all and the color was very pretty and spot on for a Belgian Ale.

Even though I am new to this, based off my experience, I don't think your batch is ruined.
 
Ok, so let me start by saying that I know that I should have known better even though this is my first batch. I'm making a dunkelweisen. The fermentation activity was very lively and foam was coming through the top of my airlock last night. Against better judgment I did not put a blow off hose on. As I should have expected I found my airlock on the floor and quite a mess to clean up when I woke up this morning.

I sanitized the bung and made an improvised blow off tube this morning. My question is: Is my batch totally ruined? There is still quite a bit of fermentation activity and I heard that there is little risk of infection while the fermentation is going on.

Thanks

Bob
your probably fine if fermentation is vigorous more likely than not the co2 will push any bad stuff away from the bung opening.
 
At least you weren't fermenting in your closet full of clothes when the air lock blew off!!!

Side story, I was fermenting a Coffee Oatmeal Stout in the closet of my master bedroom with a blowoff tube going into a 1 gallon container full of water.

Apparently my wife was up all night hearing funny noises. It kept her up all night. In the morning she described the noises that she kept hearing and why she was exhausted.

I had to laugh and let her know my beer was in the closet! SWMBO did not find it as funny as I did.
 
You should be fine. My father said when he used to brew they wouldn't even really cover the bucket. Pull a pillow case down over the bucket with a big elastic band to hold it tight, lol. Yu should be fine. The cover on my second batch hasn't sealed, I say drink it up and give it another go.
 
Thanks everybody for your feedback. Blow off tube is on and fermentation activity is still ongoing, although not as vigorously. I'm amazed at all of the quick responses by everyone. I really appreciate it! Thanks again!
 
looks like me first beer too a IPA and Wheat both did that too nothing happen to them
 
Bumping an old one. This just happened to me, a slower start than usual with my yeast and a good bit of head space left me throwing an airlock on rather than my usual blow off tube.

Came home today to find the airlock on the ground next to the carboy. Krausen was foaming out the top of the carboy. I grabbed the airlock, stole the bung, and sanitized it. Then I scooped out the first few inches of krausen in the neck of the carboy with a sanitized spoon and threw a clean blow off tube on.

I've read many posts on this but am still antsy. I'm thinking I'm in pretty good shape all things considered since the krausen likely provided a barrier between the clean beer and bacteria floating in the air, right?
 
Luckily my first brew did not have any blow off. I did ferment for a day a little high so while looking around for advise I found HBT. I have used a blow off tube at the start of every fermentation since and the only clean up is the catch basin.
 
Greetings All, I'm a newbie and I didn't want to start a new thread on this as I've read a few threads about airlocks blowing off, but my problem is similar to OP's.
It was my first brew ever, 5 gal of American Wheat extract, and I didn't know about blow off tubes. I brewed, made a few mistakes, but was pleased with the amount of bubbling the next morning when I checked on my beer. I was not happy to find later afternoon my airlock had blown off.
Two questions:
Since I found it blown off, and returned the lock, there hasn't been any bubbling since. So, it bubbled for less than a day. Is that ok?
Could the cause have been the way I pitched the yeast? One of the mistakes I made was I chilled the wort in the fermenting bucket before I pitched the yeast, so I pitched the yeast into my carboy and drained the beer into the carboy. I had also rehydrated the yeast like 6 hours earlier. Was this too much, or too little aeration?
 
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