Another "Should I be worried?" thread

[Gtrman13]

Well, I made a bit of an oops. I brewed a barleywine a few days ago. It had been fermenting away just fine for about 24 hours, at which time I left to go out of town for the night. I just came home about 30 hours later and notice a strange fruity smell. I looked in my bathroom and I find my fermenter bucket's top a few feet away from the bucket and goopy brown yeast all over my bathtub and the walls. I quickly washed and sanitized the lid and put in a fresh airlock, but I'm really not sure how long it was completely open like that. There was still a thick layer of krausen when I put the lid back on and the airlock is bubbling away nicely. What are my chances of having an infection? I really wish I hadn't forgotten to rig up that blowoff tube...

 

[TheMan]

It's fine. Unless someone dropped a cleveland steamer in it you probably have zero infection.

You should call it Bathroom Emergency barleywine.

 

[lazybean]

It's fine. Unless someone dropped a cleveland steamer in it you probably have zero infection.

You should call it Bathroom Emergency barleywine.

epic post.


OP: dont worry, if it was just the air lock that popped off, the out gassing from the active fermentation should have kept anything from getting inside it.

I cant remember what pod cast it was, but one of them did a big experiment with this, some one even went as far as brewing in a trough during primary, and didn't get an infection. The only exception were fruit flies, those little buggers will cause an infection. IIRC they said most infections are from contact contamination.

hope that puts your mind at ease

 

[Gtrman13]

It's fine. Unless someone dropped a cleveland steamer in it you probably have zero infection.

You should call it Bathroom Emergency barleywine.

Haha! Funniest thing I've heard all day! That will definitely be this one's name!

Thanks for the reassurance, folks. I figured it would be ok, but I just wanted to check. I still haven't cleaned the bathroom yet though... Maybe next week.

 

[Tim_Kreitz]

Whatever the result, be sure to post here again after you rack/bottle it and let us know how it made out.

Good luck!

 

[Shooter]

What, no pics?!!?!?

 

[andyhat]

I'll Second TheMan on this one. I'm sure you'll be fine. I've done an experiment w/ cider fermenting one uncovered and one with an airlock (granted it was not in a bathroom) and there was no difference in taste.