Air lock projectiles!

So i just came home after leaving my baby unattended for approximately 8 hrs. And i came home to a nasty surprise. Fermentation has been extremely active since i first saw it at around 12pm today. I pitched the yeast at around 10pm saturday evening. Anyways i now know a blowoff tube should always be used for a primary fermentation instead of an airlock.

My question is; assuming that as soon as i left my basement after checking on it my stopper and airlock shot off my carboy leaving my precious wort exposed to air and other miscillaneous stuff in the atmosphere for a maximum of 8 hours (hopefully much less). what are the odds of a contamination or at the minimum an addition of off flavors or smells?

Im thinking that since CO2 was escaping at such a rate that it caused my stopper to blow off completely perhaps by it escaping so forcefully it was able to prevent anything from getting in? Is this just a stupid thought or does it have any merit?

Thanks in advance for any insight you have.

 

It has merit. If you did contract an infection I would blame it on something else before I blamed it on the airlock blowing off. Basically all the co2 is coming out of a half inch diameter hole so the chance of any beer spoilers entering are slim to none.

 

I've had my lid blow off before exposing my beer for a few hours. It turned out fine. If my lid can blow off and be fine your airlock will also be fine

 

Plus, if your fermentation is going that vigorously the yeast is likely to massively out compete a contaminant. The alcohol being produced would help too.

 

I have one more question which popped into my head in the middle of the night and has been confirmed this morning.

The liquid level or volume of liquid has obviously changed inside of my starsan/ water container since last night. Im worried too much good stuff is being forced out of my wort if this makes sense? Is it good or at least not necessarily a bad thing if krausen is leaving my beer? Will it diminish the flavor or have any bad effects on my final product?

 

Oh yea. Thank you all for your advice and answers to my last question.

 

I have one more question which popped into my head in the middle of the night and has been confirmed this morning.

The liquid level or volume of liquid has obviously changed inside of my starsan/ water container since last night. Im worried too much good stuff is being forced out of my wort if this makes sense? Is it good or at least not necessarily a bad thing if krausen is leaving my beer? Will it diminish the flavor or have any bad effects on my final product?

 

I think you're letting your imagination get the best of you. It's doesn't matter if some of the krausne leaves the beer or not. There's billions of yeast doing the job. In fact in the old days skimming off the krausen was thought to be a good thing.

Just step away from your fermenter, and get your mind off of what's going on, your job is done, all that's left is the yeast.....

 

Sounds like a plan. Thanks

 

Blowoff is why I always use six gallon carboys for primary fermentation of five gallon batches. I use a stopper with a hose. I also use the orange carboy handles and fold it over to insure the stopped is held on, both in primary and in secondary. I've had a fermentation nearly stop in primary only to come back strong in secondary and blow the stopper off.

 

LOL this just happened to me last week put it in the carboy thought i had a few hours to go get some hose to do a blow off tube... i ended up going into work for 3 hours and after i got home with tube in hand walked into my brew room and what a sight i seen ... beer all over the wall and ceiling and my air lock no where in sight.
also no signs of active fermentation. no krausen and no bubbles after several hours of having the air lock back on.
i am going to wait it out i have checked the gravity after 6 days and it went from the original 1.052 down to 1.022 final should be around 1.012 as per recipe.
i have increased the temp in the room a few deg started around 17*C and increased to 22*C to see if that helps the yeast out.
i will check the gravity again a few days to see if and thing is happening..
if not i assume i should add more yeast?
i hope i am just being paranoid ..
also have a little fear of contamination but this was my fist beer not from a homebrew kit and i think that is the least of my worries.

 

This sounds reasonable to me. I think you're fine.