Popped Air Lock - Any Recovery?

[TheLateJC]

So I just made my third brew the weekend before Thanksgiving. The first two both turned out great but this time I ran into a problem. I pitched the yeast last Sunday, 11/20, and left for Thanksgiving holiday which given my minimal experience, probably wasn't the best plan. When I returned yesterday (one week later), I found that the lid of my air lock had popped off under excess pressure and the beer was now open to the air, (through the small tube of the lock).

First, I'm not sure why this happened. I don't think I filled the air lock with too much water, but even if I did, it seems like it would force water out of the air holes in the cap until there was room to push out the air. Regardless, the more important question now is can I save the brew? It seems like the yeast is probably still active, so perhaps I can add a sugar solution to the wort to reactivate the yeast in the fermentor so it will scavenge the oxygen much like it would in the bottle. Or perhaps I need to pitch more yeast and it will continue on it's own.

I've resealed the airlock and it's clearly not fermenting now but the wort smells faintly of alcohol so clearly some fermentation has occurred. It seems pretty unlikely that it would be finished fermenting after just a week but maybe if it got a bit hotter in it's storage room that I expected it could have gotten warm and sped through the fermentation. Any thoughts or suggestions would be quite welcome.

 

[Revvy]

Just relax...It's fementing fine, it's just not bubbling, which ISN'T the same thing.

Read this, and walk away from your beer, let the yeast do what they know best.

And stop equating airlock bubbling with fermentation.

 

[bob1852]

I lost an air lock recently...

An IPA blew it's lid (it flipped over and nearly landed exactly on the bucket!) but the airlock is gone. I'm assuming it's in the beer, but I haven't looked yet...

I didn't even notice the blow-up for ~4-5 days, though I'm not really worried about an infection...

 

[Polboy]

do nothing, wait few more days, make sure you have stable FG and bottle or keg or 2ndary , no airlock for a week during active fermentation is not a problem, there was a lot of CO2 generated that separated your beer from oxygen in the air.
My guess is your airlock got clogged with turb and was blown away by co2 pressure

 

[Durhamite]

At the very worst you have an open-air fermentation. People do this on purpose sometimes, so I'm sure you'll be just fine.

 

[1MadScientist]

Recalling the time this happened to myself, all I could do was clean up the mess and wait; 11/8/2010 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[helibrewer]

Just consider yourself initiated into the club...it's happened to a lot of us and it isn't really a problem. Just remember that those buckets folks use as fermenters are not air tight (unless they use the rubber sealed lids).

Your beer will be fine

 

[TheLateJC]

Thanks for the tips. I just checked again and the air lock is bubbling. (I know you said don't rely on that but it gives me a lot of peace of mind). As far as checking with a hydrometer, what's the best way to pull a sample to test? I'm using a glass carboy without a spout of any kind. Do you recommend just siphoning some out or is there a better method?

I guess I've never checked to see if my beer was actually done, (and maybe it's not such a big deal since it can continue to ferment in the bottle), but typically I've just checked the final gravity right before I bottle and assumed it was done when it wasn't bubbling after a few weeks.

 

[helibrewer]

Use a wine thief or sterilized turkey baster...I have gone to a refractometer since I do wine too...I only need a couple drops that way.

 

[nobody]

relax. it has happened to all of us. i put another airlock on and filled it with rum. beer was just fine. dwhahb

 

[kh54s10]

I guess I've never checked to see if my beer was actually done, (and maybe it's not such a big deal since it can continue to ferment in the bottle), but typically I've just checked the final gravity right before I bottle and assumed it was done when it wasn't bubbling after a few weeks.

This is usually safe. Unless you get a stuck fermentation that restarts after bottling. Then, - Boom! - and a mess to clean up.

 

[BrewThruYou]

Get yourself some Fermcap-S. It probably blew off because the krausen clogged it.

 

[mewithstewpid]

your beer is ruined. I will send you a PM with my address for proper disposal.

 

[Zamial]

and the #1 reason to use a blow-off tube, instead of an airlock, for primary fermentation is...

 

[Bk2X]

can you give a link to purchase a blowoff tube? Searching the net has not been successful.

 

[Revvy]

can you give a link to purchase a blowoff tube? Searching the net has not been successful.

You don't buy, you make.

One way is to take your bottling wand, put a small slit in it...Heat it for a few minutes in hot water to soften, then do this.

 

[rico567]

....only relevant if you don't elect to use Fermcap-S.

 

[Zamial]

If you link the tube to the airlock, like in Revvy's pics, on the end that is in the fermenter there will be a plastic "X" or "+" depending on how to are holding the airlock. Do yourself a favor and carfully, with snips or cutters, snip that part off. Krausen can also collect there and clog the airlock tube creating a projectile that normally follows a clean up of wort from the ceiling...

Fermcap is also good but it may not stop some super violent fermentation from blowing your airlock up!

 

[yarrr]

Any good suggestions for cleaning/sanatizing large diameter tubes as in picture four?

 

[erikhild59]

After I rinse off as much as possible I use my bottle brush with starsan to scrub then soak I n starsan for a while then dry.

 

[thisgoestoeleven]

Remember that brewing happened for centuries before knowledge of sanitation and availability of truly airtight vessels, and people liked the end result enough to keep making beer for all these hundreds of years. It'll be fine.

 

[kh54s10]

....only relevant if you don't elect to use Fermcap-S.

Not necessarily, I use Fermcap-S and had a vigorous blow off on one batch.