Water from blow off tube back into fermenter

I brewed a Russian Imperial Stout right before Christmas. I let it ferment at about 68 degrees for almost three weeks. At that point I had to leave town on an extended business trip. My wife did not want the fermenter full of beer hanging around in the closet while I was gone so I moved the whole bucket out into the garage. I left the blow off tube in place.

The end of the blow off tube was in a plastice jug that had maybe two pints of water in it. No sanitizing agents...just plain water. I was talking to her on the phone the other day and she told me that there was no water in the jug. As best I can gather what must ave happened is that the cooler temps in the garage caused the air in the fermenter to contract causing a bit of vacuum. This vacuum then sucked the water back into the fermenter through the blow off tube.

What are the chances that my beer is ruined? I had my wife immediately put water back into the jug but I am afraid the damage may be done.

You're probably ok. There's always a chance of contamination but I wouldn't worry about it too much. Taste it and see what you think, if it tastes good drink it, if not let it sit a while and see if age changes anything.

I bet your fine. You could probably drop a mouse in a big RIS and the yeast would eat it! :rockin:

the_trout said:

I bet your fine. You could probably drop a mouse in a big RIS and the yeast would eat it! :rockin:

Click to expand...

It was a big one too...1.10 OG.

I had something similar happen: it was hot enough that the water in the bucket evaporated and the tube was clipped to the side (leaving the tube open to the air). I totally freaked out that my beer would be ruined, but it turned out just fine.

Just went through something like this myself. 4 week old imperial Porter (Denny conn) and decided to change my blowoff tube water (no sanitizer) due to the start of mold upon the surface. Had some liquid in the tube which got sucked back into th fermenter as I pulled it out. Like a dumb@ss I reinserted the tube back into the bucket in haste and then back out again as I started to panic...resulting in the additional liquid being sucked back into the fermenter. In total, I'd save about 1-2 oz of liquid. In terms of the mold, I'm not entirely sure. Managed to change the water and added sanitizer this time.
Should I transfer the beer tomorrow, leaving what mold may have been introduced or should there be sufficient alcohol (6-7%) to keep it from being a problem?