Airlock/Rubber Stopper Ajar for 2 Days...Infected or Not?

[TheOriginalDBS]

Hi All,

Here's my question: if the airlock/rubber stopper on a carboy has been ajar for two days, but you don't taste any off flavors today, and there are 4 oz of dry hops in the beer, will cold-crashing for the next week (and then kegging) at 40*F inhibit the growth of bacteria that might have gotten in?

Backstory:

Two days ago, I dry-hopped my pale ale (5 gal, 6% ABV) with 4 oz of French Triskel (folks say the aroma is weak, so I went heavy-handed on the dry-hopping). This is now my 17th batch of beer. There was a thick cake of pellet hops on top of the beer when I put it in the kegerator, which was off, but my basement is around 60*F.

When I went downstairs today to do a taste test, I noticed that the airlock/carboy bung had been knocked ajar by the temperature probe. While the bung was covering the mouth of the carboy, it was by no means airtight. I taste tested and detected no off-flavors or aromas. There was also no weird scum on the top of the beer or anything like that.

I put the carboy back into the kegerator and set it to cold-crash for the next week at 40*F. I figure if any bacteria DID get in, then refrigerating my beer will inhibit their growth. It's important to salvage this batch because next weekend is my good friend's going away party, as he will be leaving us in Philly for work in Dallas (we'll be serving from a hand pump--I've no doubt we'll kick this thing that night). Is my theory correct? Do the principles of refrigerating food also apply to "refrgierating" (lagering) beer such that I can avoid contamination?

See attached for an image of the pale ale on Friday. As you can see, there's a thick layer of hops on top of it.

 

[JonM]

I bet it's fine. Dry hopping probably shook some co2 loose, so you had positive pressure in the fermenter, keeping bad stuff out. Plus, there's alcohol and finished beer pH, both of which are inhospitable to germs and you have that big old layer of hops with their preservative qualities sitting on top. I bet it's fine.

 

[TheOriginalDBS]

JonM, is it worth cold crashing at 40*F, then? Because as I understand it, you get less aroma extraction when you dry-hop at cooler temperatures.

 

[Gameface]

If you're planning to serve it next weekend then I'd say now is the time to cold crash it no matter the ajar airlock.

You might get a little less aroma, but it'll still be there.

What was your planned schedule for this batch?

 

[TheOriginalDBS]

My plan was to dry-hop for 7 days, starting at 60*F for the first 4, then stepping it down to 50*F on day 4, 45*F on day 5, 40*F on days 6-7. Then keg, serve on hand pump, and kick on day 7.

 

[TheOriginalDBS]

right now it's at 50*F, then I'll drop it to 40*F 3 days from now.

 

[doug293cz]

So your plan is to serve flat beer? I didn't see anything about how you plan to carbonate on an accelerated schedule.

Brew on

 

[TheOriginalDBS]

haha nah, no flat beer. Just gonna use siphon off 1 gal for bottles and put the other 4 gal in the keg to serve on a corny hand-pump. I've no doubt we'll kick it that night, so I'm not worried about the beer getting stale after kegging.

 

[Gameface]

haha nah, no flat beer. Just gonna use siphon off 1 gal for bottles and put the other 4 gal in the keg to serve on a corny hand-pump. I've no doubt we'll kick it that night, so I'm not worried about the beer getting stale after kegging.

I'm confused what you mean by a corny hand-pump, like as in you've got to pump it to get the beer out? You don't have a pressurized CO2 tank?

I mean, sounds like you're talking about serving flat beer. A hand pump will not carbonate your beer.

 

[TheOriginalDBS]

I was talking about serving the beer on the night that I keg it using one of these jobs:

http://www.homebrewing.org/Cornelius-Keg-Hand-Pump_p_109.html

I had assumed that with the corny hand pump, you don't need to force carbonate first--rather, you just hook it up to the hand pump and start pumping to "carbonate."

Is this assumption incorrect?

 

[unionrdr]

The only time we ever used a hand pump was with beer already carbonated. So you gotta carbonate it first.

 

[TheOriginalDBS]

If I've gotta force carb first, then I'm going to assume that there's basically no way to force carb and then serve in, let's say, a 24 hour turn-around. Is that correct?

 

[unionrdr]

I've read about members who put the keg under high pressure & shake it to get the Co2 into solution. That might do it.

 

[Gameface]

Yeah, with a CO2 tank you can crank the PSI to about 30 and vigorously shake the keg for about 1min and you'll have a reasonable amount of carbonation.

But it's not the same as a beer that has been carbonated over several days or a week or two. There will be a fizz as it is dispensed with some head but there won't be much more carbonation coming out of the beer after that.

 

[thumpersk_a]

Carbonate = to put Carbon dioxide into solution. Not atmospheric air through a pump. You might be able to speed up the force carbonation and make it more effective if you can rig up a carbonation stone inside your keg.

 

[ibrewmyown]

You don't have to crank up the Co2 to force carbonate a corni I keg. The colder the beer the faster it will carbonate. Put about 12- 15 PSI on the regulator, get the keg cold as it will absorb more Co2 the colder it is. Then with the Co2 hooked up take the keg and hold it horizontally and just rock it back and forth. You don't have to do it fast and all. Take maybe 2 seconds to rock each direction. You will hear the gas flowing. The longer you rock, the more gas will absorb. If the beer is cold (35-40) it will only take about 5 minutes. I've read long ago yo listen to American pie while you're rocking it and when the song is over, it's ready to drink. I've done this several times in a pinch and it works. FYI, if you don't have a back flow preventer on you gas line make sure the keg stays lower then your regulator.

 

[TheOriginalDBS]

You don't have to crank up the Co2 to force carbonate a corni I keg. The colder the beer the faster it will carbonate. Put about 12- 15 PSI on the regulator, get the keg cold as it will absorb more Co2 the colder it is. Then with the Co2 hooked up take the keg and hold it horizontally and just rock it back and forth. You don't have to do it fast and all. Take maybe 2 seconds to rock each direction. You will hear the gas flowing. The longer you rock, the more gas will absorb. If the beer is cold (35-40) it will only take about 5 minutes. I've read long ago yo listen to American pie while you're rocking it and when the song is over, it's ready to drink. I've done this several times in a pinch and it works. FYI, if you don't have a back flow preventer on you gas line make sure the keg stays lower then your regulator.

So from my scouring of the Internet, it seems that the "crank & shake" method that you're describing is the "quick & dirty" method I'm looking for force carbonating. Most folks seem to jack up the PSI to 20-30--is PSI that high only necessary if the beer inside the keg is not already cold?

At the moment, I've got my carboy in the kegerator at 50*F. On Wed I'll have someone bump it down to 40*F for me (my temp gauge doesn't go any lower). Then, Fri night, I'll hop off my Amtrak train and:
(1) rack from the carboy into the keg;
(2) purge with CO2;
(3) force carb using the shake method (but at what PSI?!);
(4) unhook my CO2;
(5) let it sit overnight;
(6) bleed off the CO2 as necessary on Saturday;
(7) serve Sat night with a "picnic tap" and CO2 cartridges (the party is at a buddy's place, not mine).

^^^I know it's not as ideal as the "keg it and forget it" approach, but does the above sound like a viable plan given time constraints?

 

[muels]

So from my scouring of the Internet, it seems that the "crank & shake" method that you're describing is the "quick & dirty" method I'm looking for force carbonating. Most folks seem to jack up the PSI to 20-30--is PSI that high only necessary if the beer inside the keg is not already cold?



At the moment, I've got my carboy in the kegerator at 50*F. On Wed I'll have someone bump it down to 40*F for me (my temp gauge doesn't go any lower). Then, Fri night, I'll hop off my Amtrak train and:

(1) rack from the carboy into the keg;

(2) purge with CO2;

(3) force carb using the shake method (but at what PSI?!);

(4) unhook my CO2;

(5) let it sit overnight;

(6) bleed off the CO2 as necessary on Saturday;

(7) serve Sat night with a "picnic tap" and CO2 cartridges (the party is at a buddy's place, not mine).



^^^I know it's not as ideal as the "keg it and forget it" approach, but does the above sound like a viable plan given time constraints?

Per your quoted post, 30 psi shake/roll for about 5 min.
Unhook the CO2, bled pressure off the keg.
Hook CO2 back up
Set at serving pressure till the next day.
Bring it to your friends and hope for the best.
Next time plan ahead.


Warning!! This is not foolproof, you can over carb your beer.



Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[ibrewmyown]

40 degrees will work fine. Dont crank up the gas. I've had success with leaving it at serving pressure. In my system it's about 12-15 psi. If you crank it up, you will definitely over carbonate it. Hook up the Gas, rock it 5-10 minutes. Rock it don't shake the hell out of it. It's not necessary. I've taken flat beer at 40 degrees and forced carbonated a full 5 gallon keg to drinkable in less than 10 minutes. If you don't crank the gas and just rock it slowly back and forth for 5 minutes or so you'll be fine. As I said before you will here your regulator letting gas into the beer and hear bubbles when the gas in dip tube goes under the beer. If you stop rocking, the gas and bubbles will stop after a few seconds. Start rocking again and you will here the gas and bubbles start up. If you're not going to drink it right away, When your done rocking it, leave it on the gas at serving PSI. When you want to drink it, take a taste. If it needs more carbonation, rock it a few more minutes. It works. I've done it and I never crank the gas above 12-15 PSI. When I rack my beer, if there's some left I'll throw it in a plastic bottle with a carbonate cap and I can force carbonate and drink it in minutes. It works