air lock went pop

[BGBM77]

I just got back from an overnight stay and noticed that my air lock popped off my carboy. The carboy had no air lock for about 14 hours or so. It was in a trash can with a lid so it was semi protected (i.e. no flies got in to the carboy) soooo, is this a problem?

thanx,
Brent

 

[Hopper450]

I would guess you'll probably be okay but obviously that is not an ideal situation. Initial fermentation was hopefully vigorous enough to prevent excessive oxygen exposure. Contamination is always a risk but hopefully you got lucky.

 

[DrinkDR]

Dont worry about it, everything should be fine. If you pitched the right amount of yeast, and that was clean, then you'll be OK.

PS: why is this in the HBT Announcements forum?

 

[Hopper450]

Ha! Didn't notice that!

 

[Fid]

You shouldn't have much if anything to worry about. If the pressure built up was strong enough to knock the airlock off, chances are its expelling so much co2 that nothing nasty could really find its way in... plus co2 is dense and is likely acting like a barrier, keeping the oxygen from touching your beer.

 

[kh54s10]

Check your airlock. I had one that popped out. I inspected the airlock and discovered that the end that goes in the bung was never trimmed in manufacturing so no co2 could pass through it!

 

[BGBM77]

that's exactly what happened - I will use a blow off hose next time,
thanx,
bg

 

[Gunrunner]

I have even seen people talking about open fermintation. Do not know if I would tru it but I guess it is a old way of doing things.

 

[Fid]

In a pinch, if you don't have the materials to assemble a blow off tube, you can fairly safely get away with just placing the lid on your bucket (rather than snapping it into place) and covering the airlock hole with something like sanitized foil during active fermentation. I've had to do it with a couple hyperactive fermentations in plastic buckets to alleviate the pressure build up and swelling on the bucket.

That being said, ever since my wife was forced to deal with a near exploding ferm bucket while I was at work... I've switch to glass carboys with blow off tubes and never looked back.

 

[ChickenHops]

... ever since my wife was forced to deal with a near exploding ferm bucket while I was at work...

When it comes to fermenters pops are better than BOOMs, in my experience.