Ever left a carboy alone so long the airlock dried up?

Would you still try it out? Its BM's black pearl porter. Looks fine, it was brewed back in aug I think. Its a long story, but I've been in a re-build phase since then and just got around to looking at it the other day. My first thought was just to toss it, but I dunno, seems hartless.

Snafu said:

Would you still try it out? Its BM's black pearl porter. Looks fine, it was brewed back in aug I think. Its a long story, but I've been in a re-build phase since then and just got around to looking at it the other day. My first thought was just to toss it, but I dunno, seems hartless.

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No way would I toss it. It would take an astounding set of circumstances for something to get in their and infect it, and it has had a blanket of CO2 sitting on top of it, assuming it was undisturbed. How does it taste?

I have no idea, I just looked at it night before last. I just happened to notice the airlock was dry and pulled the wrap off the carboy fully expecting to see something horrible, just jet black.

pabloj13 said:

No way would I toss it. It would take an astounding set of circumstances for something to get in their and infect it, and it has had a blanket of CO2 sitting on top of it, assuming it was undisturbed. How does it taste?

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I'm pretty sure the "CO2 Blanket" theory is a bit of a myth, CO2 will mix with air even though it is heavier. It is probably just air in there if the airlock has been dry for a while. It's probably OK though, one easy way to find out, take a taste!

Sorry, double posted!

A year and a half.

Beer is superb.

I let my honey weizen go for about 4 months before I bottled, oops

Still tastes great like a honey weizen should. Give it a sample

GilaMinumBeer said:

A year and a half.

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Wow, and I felt guilty for ignoring mine for 6 months. I've got nothing to loose, and 3 empty kegs. Might as well. I just opened up a keg that has been at a scrap yard for awhile, the whitish yellow goop that came out was what I was expecting to see in the bottom of my carboy. That stuff in the keg smelled like jack daniels mixed with some oysters left in the sun.

Just because an airlock is dry doesn't mean the beer is necessarily bad. You gotta taste it and see.

I often have airlocks go dry in my ferm fridge. Takes about 4-5 weeks.

Did I mention that evaporation is massive in SC? [Yes I know the fridge has a dryer]

MC

I had a time were i brewed 2 beers and had them sitting in my fermantion freezer (set to 65*) for a year+ b/c of my work! not sure how long they were dry but i kegged and drank and they were amazing!