Primary bucket lid blew off

[Deam]

I apologize in advance if this is posted in the wrong section, but my question deals with sanitation so hopefully I should be good.

Two days ago (Wednesday evening) I put away a Bavarian Weizen to ferment in a 6 gallon food grade bucket, put the lid on, and attached the 1 way airlock. Just now (Friday evening) I checked to see how it was coming along, only to see that the lid had blown off and was laying upside down next to the bucket. I last checked on it last evening (Thursday night) so the longest it could have feasibly been sitting exposed to the air is around 22 hours.

I have it stored in a closet with very limited airflow, and I placed the lid back on it now. Is there any chance the batch isn't ruined?

Also, any ideas on why this may have happend? There seems to be a little bit of splatter in the room, and some hardened residue on the underside of the bucket. I guess a blowoff valve was necessary?

Thanks for the help.

 

[beninan]

Only one way to find out, let it finish and see.
If I were to guess, I would say it's perfectly fine and it will turn out to be an excellent beer. Chances are, there was enough kreusen and a CO2 blanket on top to help prevent nasties from getting in. Just reinstall the lid and let it go! good luck!

 

[BucksPA]

only if it were a steam beer, you could have named it, 'blowing off steam'

 

[Catt22]

The reason this happened was probably because the airlock got plugged up with yeast/hop debris/trub/break material or what have you. Even a relatively small amount of back pressure can blow the lid off very easily. Your bee will most probably be just fine. It's harder to screw it up than you might think. Next time, cool the wort well before pitching the yeast and do whatever you can to keep the fermentation temperature under control. A blow off tube would also help a lot, but if you use some foam control and keep the temperatures down, most times you won't need one

 

[Deam]

The reason this happened was probably because the airlock got plugged up with yeast/hop debris/trub/break material or what have you. Even a relatively small amount of back pressure can blow the lid off very easily. Your bee will most probably be just fine. It's harder to screw it up than you might think. Next time, cool the wort well before pitching the yeast and do whatever you can to keep the fermentation temperature under control. A blow off tube would also help a lot, but if you use some foam control and keep the temperatures down, most times you won't need one

I think you're probably correct, the airlock did have a ton on debris in it post blow-off.

Thanks everyone for the input, I'll update this further down the line with how the beer turned out (or didn't as the case may be).

 

[Sawdustguy]

If the top popped off due to krausen (which they often due with wheat beers) you have nothing to worry about. The Krausen actually protects the fermenting wort from any contaminents.