Oops. Airlock went dry. Whaddya think?

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StunnedMonkey

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I did my first batch (all grain) on Saturday and all went well. Fermentation in the primary (6.5 gallon carboy) started within 3 or 4 hours and went gangbusters until sometime Monday, when the krausen fell and the airlock quit bubbling. The airlock is one of those three-piece ones, not the "S" shaped one.

Today I was checking the beer and noticed that the vodka looked a bit low in the airlock, so I poured a bit more in. To my surprise, it started bubbling again. No, I didn't so much as jiggle the carboy. I got out a spare airlock and filled it about as high as the one on the carboy had looked, and dangit but it wasn't high enough...the slots were exposed at the tops. That's why it had quit bubbling.

It had been this way about 40 hours I'd guess. My gut feeling is that since it's still bubbling now (maybe 6 bubbles a minute) that it'll be OK. It was still producing CO2 and nothing will have gotten in. But i can't help but think I've screwed it up by being careless. Whaddya think?
 
It's normal for the airlock to evaporate a bunch during the vigorous phase of fermentation. You will want to keep an eye on it at this stage and top off as needed. Once it calms down, you can go a week or two without adding any.
 
Thanks. On the plus side, now I have an excuse if the beer turns out lousy. Everything up to this point has gone well and if I'd completed the process without any obvious mistakes, then I'd end up disillusioned and demoralized if it turned out bad. Now I've got something to blame.
 
i don't think there's any way it got infected, so no...you have no excuse :p

I dunno man. I think I saw these guys hanging around the carboy before I got it sealed back up. They look like bad news to me.

bp_1bacteria.jpg
 
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