Crazy Fermentation

jjbrew · Jan 12, 2011

I just checked a Pale Ale brewed on 1-10-11 and the fermentation was going well for the last two days. The only thing missing was the rubber stopper and bubbler looked like it had been off allday. Is this beer going to be ruined is there any chance to save it? when I found the bubbler I repalced it and the liquid inside and it started bubbling right away. Thanks for the Help.

El_Exorcisto · Jan 12, 2011

Your beer, believe it or not, will still be drinkable when it finishes out. For eons people fermented totally open, and had great results. Many breweries still do, and studies in Germany at hefe breweries have shown open fermentation to make better beer than closed. RDWHAHB!!!

breez7 · Jan 12, 2011

its happened to all of us, we brew some beer, go away for the weekend and come home to a blown air lock. Just sanitize it, put it back on and the beer should be fine. Beer is very forgiving.

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jjbrew · Jan 12, 2011

Thanks for the words on the beer. I will let you Know how it turns out. I really need to just have the blow off tube setup every time I have two beers in the last month go crazy like this just never blow the whole stopper and all of . It landed on the top shelf about 5ft above the carboy. The denny conn yeast is active!

bowiefan · Jan 12, 2011

It should be fine, as long as you sanitized before puting the airloock back on. The CO2 blanket from a vigorous fermentation will provide a great deal of protection. Leave it in primary for a few weeks, but keep an eye out for infections (still unlikely if there were no other lapses in sanitation), look for things like mold on the surface of the beer or giant bubbles forming with a white spiderwebbing on the beer surface or a dramatic change to the nasty in the smell coming out of the airlock. Even if you see these signs though, your beer will most likely be salvagable, so don't panic , just post and listen to the advice you get. Also, what type of container are you using for fermentation? Try to maintain at least a gallon of headspace above the wort surface and eliminate the need for the blow off tube.

jjbrew · Jan 20, 2011

I just sent the pale Ale to Secondary and it had no off flavors or smell. I checked the gravity and it was at 1.012 which means there was no problem with fermentation. Looks like all is well.:rockin: