Bad Batch?

[Franiblector]

Hey guys.
Got some concerns.
Was sleeping last night and heard a "pop" but thought nothing of it.
Turns out my airlock blew off of my primary carboy.
Beginning temp of the carboy was hovering around 64-66 degrees in the beginning, so I moved the carboy on top of an air vent to get the fermentation started.
Since then the temps outside dropped, so naturally my heat kicked in.
So my airlock blew off last night when the temp of the carboy went well above 75 degrees.
Good news is it's still fermenting like crazy, but there was no top on my carboy for several hours. Temp of the carboy now is around 76 degrees and falling. I moved it off of the air vent.
I have since cleaned up the mess and cleaned & replaced the airlock (has vodka in it).
How can I tell if my batch is bad now?
Oh and another bad addition to my problem: killed a fly that's been hanging around all night.

Is there any way to know if your beer is bad while it's still fermenting, or should I just go with the flow and act like all is fine until I see visual proof it's bad?
Please help!
Thanks in advance!
Fran

 

[Tophe]

I wouldnt worry at all.....the worst that i think happened was maybe you had a little mess on the floor. Since the beer was fermenting, it was creating CO2 which is heavier than air, so it formed a layer over your brew, protecting it from air. As long as nothing new fell into the carboy, which i doubt happened you should be fine. I would just clean the air lock, put it back on and take it off of the air vent and ler it ride......Relax, have a homebrew!!

EDIT: Did that fly that you said you killed get into the brew?

 

[homebrewer_99]

This sounds like a good story to add to your collection. I'd like to hear it again in about 10 years to see where it grows from here!

If it was fermenting then you probably don't have any thing to worry about.

Technically, any air (you assume is there) on top of the brew is actually displaced by the CO2. There are still some breweries the open ferment (without a cover). So, are they wrong? Relax...have a homebrew....

(If I were you I wouldn't any way).

You could call it "Fly Killer..." "Fly Sh*t...."

Funny story!

 

[Franiblector]

Thanks for putting me at ease guys! I feel much better now.

And you know what? I was wondering if it could even go bad without an airlock - mainly because of beer brewing in the olden days. How did they do it way back when? Probably with some cheesecloth or something, and no airlock type device, I would presume.
And boy did the explosion make a mess. Unfortunately I had to get ready for work, so I didn't have much time to clean everything up this morning. Thank God I put a towel over the carboy before the explosion. The only thing I didn't cover was the top of the airlock - hence the mess.
Maybe the fly got to eat the mess on the floor instead of climbing into the carboy for a sip.

 

[Janx]

You're fine. With a fermentation that vigorous, it's almost certainly all good.

Your wort has been exposed to air before unless you brew in a lab in space Remember, it's not sterility we strive for...rather just to outpace nasty competitors, and it sounds like you certainly did that.

Bass still ferments open, as do lots of others.

In any event, don't dump it. Wait and taste and it'll be fine. Cheers!

 

[Tophe]

I was kind of worried about one of mine blowing over because it was close to the top with the foam, and i didnt have a blow off tube. I figured if it did I wouldn't have too much to clean, but probably a drunk/sick dog at home He likes beer.

 

[Franiblector]

Tophe: I don't think the fly got into the carboy. He had a lot more available on the floor and walls to consume. Hopefully he was distracted (and more than likely drunk) enough to not go into the carboy.

time will tell though...

i think my fermentation is almost done.
i will have to wait to rack to secondary until i come back from out of town on sunday.

think it'll be ok if fermentation is finished and it sits for a few more days in primary?

 

[Janx]

think it'll be ok if fermentation is finished and it sits for a few more days in primary?

Yep....