Should I dump my batch?

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rtbrews

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I brewed a batch two days ago and it started fermenting nicely after just about 8 hours then left for work for the day and I could tell there was a good chance the airlock was going to blow. My roommate told me during the middle of the day that it had blown off and he put it back on and left for the day around 11am.

I did get home until 9 and found the cap still on, but the airlock was blown off again. It was fermenting pretty vigorously so I suspect it blew off again pretty shortly after the cap was put back on so the batch was left with no airlock for about 9 hrs in total. The krausen was still about 12 in thick so I was thinking maybe the combination of that and the fact that it had been releasing a fair amount of CO2 may have saved it from getting too much oxygen.

Has anybody had a similar experience or have any insight as to how bad that is? The krausen is still thick, but the airlock activity has slowed to almost nothing.
 
Definitely do not dump it - the active fermentation and CO2 could easily have kept out any nasties. But you can't know for sure so just sanitize, recap, and let fermentation continue.

It is probably fine, stop worrying :mug:
 
Wow, never had responses to a post that quick and definitive. I had no idea how sensitive it would be to air exposure so thanks for the quick insight everyone
 
I wrote this yesterday, and it contains some info that you need to read.

You don't dump your beer, for making a minor little mistake. Your beer is hardier than that.

And you don't dump something because you think it's going to turn out bad. You only dump a beer that you KNOW is bad, and you give it at least a couple of months in the bottle before you even make THAT decision.

Read theses two threads that were compiled for nervous new brewers to realize that your beers are not a weak baby that is going to die if you look at it wrong.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

Our beer is really resilient despite the boneheaded things we do to it. And even if something appears to be wrong, often time and the yeasties go along way to correct itself.

And if everyone dumped their beer just because of a common thing like an airlock suckback, no one would be brewing. We ALL have had sanitizer from our airlock get into our beer at one time or another. There's a ton of panic threads on here about that, and the answer is always the same, RELAX.

I think about it in terms of my time and money, I'm not going to dump 30 or more dollars worth of ingredients, 6 hours of brewing time, and at least 2 months from yeast pitch to cracking the first bottle, on what could be a minor mistake (that may not even harm the beer anyway,) until I have exhausted all probability that the beer won't improve. And even then that means at least walking away from the bottles for maybe 6 months or more.

And so far I have never beer wrong.

After all these years of brewing I still haven't had a dumper.

And I've made some big mistakes.

But I have never had a beer that wasn't at least palatable, after all that time.

They may have not been stellar beers, but they were still better than BMC or Skunky Beers in green bottles that people actually pay money for.

So just read those threads and next time, relax, and give your beer a chance to prove how strong it really is.

:mug:
Click to expand...
 
Youtube open fermentation. I think its from the BrewTV guys.

These guys dont even use a lid for the primary.
 
I've had quite a few batches blow the top off, they are fine.

Use a blow off tube next time. You won't have to worry about the mess and your mind can rest easy.
 
The only time you should consider dumping a beer is if it TASTES so terrible you cannot drink it AND you have given it sometime to just sit. Who knows, maybe the flavor developed in a certain way that it is enjoyable enough.

The answer to "Should I dump my batch" is ALWAYS -> NO! Only after tasting the beer and knowing for a fact that you cannot enjoy the taste should you consider parting ways with it.

Your home brewers license may be revoked if you commit such alcohol abuse as dumping a perfectly good batch of beer.
 
Forget about the airlock, I regularly blow the lid off my high-gravity batches. I've never had an infection yet.
 
Any suggestions for racking moldy beer? I actually have one right now that has "furry" white stuff on the top. The rest of it appears to be ok. Should I just try to get a clean opening to get my autosiphon in?
 
Procedure for dumping a batch.

1. Wait three weeks.
2. Transfer the beer to smaller "dumping vessels" along with a small amount of sugar.
3. Wait three more weeks.
4. Carefully dispose of each "dumping vessel" of beer into the toilet (after passing through kidneys) at a rate of one or more each evening.
5. Continue until all beer is dumped.
 
ChshreCat said:
Procedure for dumping a batch.

1. Wait three weeks.
2. Transfer the beer to smaller "dumping vessels" along with a small amount of sugar.
3. Wait three more weeks.
4. Carefully dispose of each "dumping vessel" of beer into the toilet (after passing through kidneys) at a rate of one or more each evening.
5. Continue until all beer is dumped.
Click to expand...

youre wrong at 4 and 5
heres the correction
4- send to kingston for my proper beer disposal system:D
 
haplo said:
Any suggestions for racking moldy beer? I actually have one right now that has "furry" white stuff on the top. The rest of it appears to be ok. Should I just try to get a clean opening to get my autosiphon in?
Click to expand...

You carefully stick the autosiphon in a clean patch, and slowly rack the beer, you leave behind an inch or two of the beer from the top with the mold on it.

If you are slow, the mold with stay floating on the surface as the level of the beer decreases.
 
I recently had to dump a batch. I was sad. In my case it was lesson in siphon dynamics.

I was using a blow off tube, and a week or two after all fermentation was done I came home to find that about 4 cups of nasty, cloudy starsan water had been sucked from bucket into the carboy and was filed a good three or for inches up the tube from the carboy.

I wasn't worried honestly about the starsan itself (had it been fresh) but this was gross and who knows what may have been in it.

So I learned.

1. Don't have blow off after active fermentation is done.
2. Don't have blow off bucket at or slightly above the level of your beer.

Still not entirely sure what happened. This was in a temp controlled freezer. I guess it just dropped enough in pressure after active fermeation for it push the sanitizer over.
 

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