Airlock Back up

[WPen]

Hey guys, I've had some lager fermenting in the primary for a week now while I was out of town and returned today to find that it has backed up through the air lock. It seems to have pushed the water completely out of the air lock and has therefore been exposed to air for a full week! Am I SOL here or can I somehow salvage this? Thanks.

 

[kicknbrew]

There ought to still be outward pressure from the liquid, which probably kept you in the clear. If you look at it now, I'm going to guess the liquid in the airlock is not in contact with the liquid in the fermenter. If I'm right, your seal is still in tact and you're good.

RDWHAHB

 

[WPen]

The air lock was bone dry.... I did a large batch and had it separated into two buckets. The one that was open to the air is significantly darker in color than the other, is that a sign of oxidation?

 

[kicknbrew]

Oh the water all evaporated? I thought you meant you had a blow-off and beer pushed the water out of the airlock and now the airlock was filled with beer.

Sounds like the water evap'd pretty quick. Which type of airlock was it? S or 3-piece?

Either way, what's done is done. Sounds like my advice still stands: RDWHAHB.

Honest. Fill the airlock and forget it every happened. If there's any damage, a) you might not notice and b) it's too late now. If there's not, you're worrying yourself over nada.

 

[NorthRiverS]

If you had that much CO2 venting "OUT", nothing will be able to get "IN". Risk of an infection is minimal.

NRS

 

[muse435]

I could be wrong here, but even with no water there would be no significant air flow. Since there is only one hole in the system the only way for there to be air transfer is pressure changes. If your fermenter was not exposed to huge temperature fluctuation you should be fine.

 

[bgrayson726]

I have done dozens of batches before. Until my most recent one, I didn't put water/vodka/star san/ANYTHING in the air lock. I use a 3 piece air lock. Knock on wood, but I have yet to have an infected batch.

Don't worry about losing the water in your airlock.

 

[WPen]

Thanks a lot guys, definitely calming my nerves. Still a bit of a newbie! I'll continue on and post with final results.