What are my chances of infection here??

I made my first batch of cider two days ago using Brandon O's Graff recipe here. I was very excited to see a very intense fermentation this morning just before I was picked up for work. I was just about to change out the airlock for a blow off tube, when my ride rang the door bell. I had just removed the airlock, which released a startling explosion leaving a bit of goo on my ceiling. Once I heard the door bell, I quickly sanitized the bung and airlock and placed them back in the carboy tightly.

I was hoping that the airlock would hold tight until I made it home from work...

Wow, I could not be so lucky. From the looks of it, I'm guessing it blew top off shortly after I left this morning. By now, everything is pretty dried and crusty (including the ceiling and floor). See picture for a good visual.

Anyways, I am wondering how bad this will be for my precious cider. I was really stoked for it to be on tap by the end of july, it's my girl's b-day and there will be celebrations that call for a good strong girly drink. I also planned to enjoy it!!

My question is, if it sat today for 11 hours with no bung/airlock, is there any chance that it DID NOT GET INFECTED?? Should I just throw it out now and start over?? There was also a fan running on the other side of the room, and it's a basement with lots of other smells and nasties that I would imagine can't be good for my odds.

Any thoughts or input is greatly appreciated, I am still pretty new to brewing and have never had this happen before.

Sorry about the sideways picture..

There is a good chance the offing of CO2 from inside the carboy kept the bugs at bay. The only way to know is to button it up and let it go and see how it turns out. I just bottled a batch of apple wine into which I had pushed not one, but two stoppers while seating an airlock. After the second I just put aluminum foil over the opening and left it. Seems to have turned out fine. In your case I'd think you have at least a 50/50 chance.

After lots of searching on here, I concluded that my chances of no infection where pretty good... I tasted it today, and it was sour as sh*t! While I'm pretty disappointed, I guess other than the $$ out the door that I spent making it I guess it's at least pretty easy to make. Might have to start another batch soon! Here's to my first known infection in 1 year of brewing

Let it sit.

It will taste sour until it has time to mellow.

beergolf said:

Let it sit.

It will taste sour until it has time to mellow.

Click to expand...

Yeah, way to early to give up on this one.

It was pretty sour, but I racked into secondary and I'm lowering the temp. I guess I will let it ride for a bit. How long do you think it will take to mellow out?