Should I be concerned?

[Calder]

I've made a lot of sours, and keep them in lots of 1 gallon glass carboys and 3 gallon HDPE containers. I find the HDPE seem to have less O2 intake than the glass; I figure it is the stopper that is permeable on the glass, while the top of the HDPE is a hard plastic screw top.

The issue. About a month ago I moved 2 of the HDPE containers. I loosened the screw top so as not to suck back the airlock when I picked them up. They were moved about 10 feet, and have not been disturbed since. Last week I was cleaning up and noticed one of the tops of the HDPE containers was loose - I had not screwed it back down.

These are both about 9 months (1 Flanders, 1 Lambic). My plan was to take a third out of each and combine that into a third container, and then add fruit to all 3 containers.

Have I potentially ruined one of the beers? I suspect there was no pellicle as I generally don't get a pellicle on the HDPE beers, only the ones in glass (the same beer too). I will take a gravity reading and taste the beers before I do anything, but just wondering if I should be concerned with the one with the loose lid. Is the PH too low for vinegar to take hold?

 

[MileHighBrewer]

Just taste and go from there. Odds are you're ok

 

[stru]

You should be fine. Just taste a sample at your next gravity reading.

 

[marvaden]

Taste it, as the others said. Your main fear is acetobacter, but small amounts of acetic acid can be pleasing (balsamic vinegar taste) to some, but not everyone. Now that you have it re-sealed, it will inhibit the growth of the acetobacter, and they won't be able to produce acetic acid.

 

[dantheman13]

I've had airlocks go dry for an unknown amount of time, but long enough to cause issues. Taste it in a month (it may take time for the over exposure to have an effect), if you don't detect cardboard, vinegar, etc., it'll be fine.

 

[Calder]

OK, I took a sample of both yesterday, and no evidence of acetic acid.

The Flanders (started 10/2013) tasted fine, nice and sour, with a decent pellicle. This is the one that had the cap sealed OK.

The lambic (started (1/2014) was disappointing, noticeable, but very little souring. This is the one that I had left the cap loose. No pellicle either!?!

I pulled out my fruit tonight and don't have enough for 3 batches (3 x 2.75 gallons), so will will only remove 0.6 gallon from each into a 1.2 gallon carboy (Imperial gallon) instead of creating a third batch, and then add the fruit. I pasteurized the fruit this evening, will be cooling in sanitized mason jars overnight and be added tomorrow.

One batch will have 3.5 lbs of raspberries, the other will have 2 lbs of cherries + stones + 1.5 lbs mix of other fruit (blueberries, strawberries, peach, and banana.

Question: Which should I add the raspberries to and which should have the cherry mix, the Lambic or the Flanders?

 

[dantheman13]

A lot of folks say that adding fruit to a low acid sour beer can help improve it. I don't subscribe to that, personally. In my somewhat limited experience, I've still been disappointed with the resulting beer... and mad because I just used a bunch of fruit that I could have used on a better sour beer. The only thing that tends to "save" them for me is blending with a more acidic beer.

Just my 2 cents.