Exposure time after airlock explosion

Hello everyone,

I'm a newbie, and I just had the typical newbie experience: a vigorous fermentation blew the top off my airlock, and it flooded with wort. Not too much on the ceiling, but there you have it. I thought the batch was ruined, but after some research I saw that I could just clean off the airlock (after finding the parts again), resanitize it and put it back on.

Here's my question: there was a pretty good lag time between when the airlock blew its top and when I finally put it back on; I estimate twelve to fifteen hours. I didn't have enough time to set up a blow-off tube before I had to leave for work, so the carboy was open and exposed during that whole stretch (albeit through a very small tube). I've read posts that stated that the rate at which CO2 is leaving the fermenter at this point pretty much stops anything else from getting in, but I can't tell for how long that's the case. Is this batch totally ruined?

Thanks in advance for your patience, understanding, and advice.

-Jesse

Its not ruined unless it got infected (which is unlikely) Just being exposed to outside air doesnt mean its doomed.

In fact a few episodes ago the guys on Brew TV did a show on open fermentation and left the fermenter open during the whole fermentation cycle and said the beer turned out great (even better then when he had brewed it in the traditional manner)

http://www.brewingtv.com/episodes/2010/5/17/brewing-tv-episode-4-open-fermentation.html

So ride it out but im sure it will be fine. RDWHAHB.

I was gonna say the same, unlikely that it's infected. The small diameter of the opening wouldn't allow much, if any, bad stuff to get in.

If you think it's ruined, send it to me for proper disposal.

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the help and reassurance.