Airlock ejected, is my beer okay?

[eggnof]

I just started my 5th batch of homebrew, an Imperial Russian Stout. I'm fermenting a 2.5 gal batch in a 3 gal fermentor, I just pitched the yeast last night. When I left the house today (around 11am) fermentation was going strong, there was a few inches of krausen but the carboy still had about 1/2 gallon of headroom. When I got home this evening (8pm) I found a krausen stain on my ceiling, my airlock on the other side of the room (top and insert only, base was still in top of carboy) and a large amount of krausen overflowing on the side of the carboy. Clearly my first mistake was not using a blowoff tube for such a high gravity beer. I immediately switched out the airlock for a blow off tube, everything seems to be okay now but I'm unsure how long my beer sat exposed without a proper airlock on it. I'm thinking since there was always a strong positive pressure from the CO2 any krausen that was exposed to the air/contaminates would have been ejected, and hopefully the krausen above the wort protected it from any air born contaminants. What should I do? Should I be worried about my beer being contaminated or does it seem likely that the off gassing/krausen protected the wort during the time it was exposed?

 

[wormraper]

I just started my 5th batch of homebrew, an Imperial Russian Stout. I'm fermenting a 2.5 gal batch in a 3 gal fermentor, I just pitched the yeast last night. When I left the house today (around 11am) fermentation was going strong, there was a few inches of krausen but the carboy still had about 1/2 gallon of headroom. When I got home this evening (8pm) I found a krausen stain on my ceiling, my airlock on the other side of the room (top and insert only, base was still in top of carboy) and a large amount of krausen overflowing on the side of the carboy. Clearly my first mistake was not using a blowoff tube for such a high gravity beer. I immediately switched out the airlock for a blow off tube, everything seems to be okay now but I'm unsure how long my beer sat exposed without a proper airlock on it. I'm thinking since there was always a strong positive pressure from the CO2 any krausen that was exposed to the air/contaminates would have been ejected, and hopefully the krausen above the wort protected it from any air born contaminants. What should I do? Should I be worried about my beer being contaminated or does it seem likely that the off gassing/krausen protected the wort during the time it was exposed?

put a blow off tube or reinsert a sanitzed air lock and you're good. the fermentation will create a blanket of C02 that really won't allow anything in. RDWHAB

 

[boiseburb]

I doubt you have anything to worry about. The beer should be fine. A friend of mine, a week into brewing his first batch, said he was having trouble with knowing how his fermentation was going. I checked it out and there was no water in the airlock. His beer avoided infection and came out fine. I think you'll be OK

 

[dkwolf]

If your fermentation is going strong enough to blow off the airlock, you likely have positive pressure in the fermenter anyway - no 'outside' air likely made it into the vessel.

 

[eggnof]

Awesome, thank you everyone! I feel much better now, time to get back the the RDWHAHBing

 

[BrewPilot74]

Same thing happened to me. The stopper and airlock blew completely off and the carboy sat overnight in a dusty closet, completely uncovered. I was stressed out but it turned out to be one of the best beers I ever made. Now I always use a blow-off tube though.