Brewed a sweet stout on Saturday and used an airlock instead of a blow off tube which I should have know better not to do but anyway, came home yesterday and the lid was blown off. I figure the top could not have been off more than 12 hrs. The beer seemed to still be fermenting actively. I put a clean/sanitized lid on top and sealed it back up.
Has this ever happened where the beer still turned out good or is the chance for contamination/oxidation too high?
Thanks.
If it was during active fermentation you should be fine. RDWHAHB.
Dave
Don’t worry. Open fermentation isn’t the bugbear everyone thinks it is. I always just lay the lid on top of the bucket and no air-lock. Last batch the beer tried to crawl out of the fermenter but the lid just burped and some yeast flowed down the sides. No big deal except cleaning the fermenter will take a few minutes more.
Cool. That’s good to know. I guess it’s similar concept when I see videos of brewers just placing foil over the tops of carboys during primary.
Do you leave the lid loose during the entire time in primary or do you tighten it down once primary has subsided?
I only tighten it down to move the fermenter. I go from primary straight to packaging unless parking beer in kegs.
I put a loose lid on my “open fermentations”(one of three of my fermenters is closed)…call it a dust cover. It stays there until active fermentation has ceased (beer starts to clear) and I am either near an expected terminal (or it has been sitting at terminal for a day)
I would prefer a blow off hose to an unsealed fermenter. But do what works for you.
Dave
+1 - especially since I have sours/non-sours fermenting in and around the same area.
Plus - if your blowoff is sanitized, you’re basically top-cropping and can re-pitch the yeast.