Airlock Clogged, Beer Carbonated

I took gravity reading on my current batch of beer last night (2 1/2 weeks in the primary) & noticed the sample was slightly carbonated. My OG was 1.052 and the reading from last night was 1.008 (about what I was expecting). I cleaned/sanitized the airlock & replaced.

I'm pretty sure the 3-pc airlock got clogged at high-krausen (around day 3 in primary) without me realizing & spend the following 2 weeks unable to vent CO2.

I understand that CO2 can be toxic to yeast, so I'm wondering what effect having the airlock clogged had on the beer. Did the yeast "clean-up" phase not happen? The sample tasted a bit yeasty, but otherwise drinkable.

Should I let it sit in primary longer? Should I get it off the dead yest/move to secondary? Assuming FG has been reached, should I bottle?

Help me understand what effect this may have had.

-WTY

Beer is always going to be able to hold a fair amount of CO2 at room temperatures. When airlocks get clogged during active fermentation, buckets blow their lids, so I don't think that's what happened to you. The gas probably just escaped elsewhere. Think of bottle conditioning- the yeast don't have any trouble with that and that's about as much CO2 as you want in solution.

daksin said:

Beer is always going to be able to hold a fair amount of CO2 at room temperatures. When airlocks get clogged during active fermentation, buckets blow their lids, so I don't think that's what happened to you. The gas probably just escaped elsewhere. Think of bottle conditioning- the yeast don't have any trouble with that and that's about as much CO2 as you want in solution.

Click to expand...

+1
and to answer your question, when you took the FG sample you should have tasted the sample as well and then you would know what to expect. My guess is it's perfectly fine so if it's tasty and clear and stable, then package it!

Trust me, CO was vented. If the airlock was clogged, you had a leaky seal somewhere that saved you from an explosion.

Everything should be just fine.

I once had a clogged fermentation in a damned corny.

The beer was no longer beer. It would have been a gas if it wasn't contained under such pressure.

Trust me, that is NOT what happened.

Especially bubbly beer can be a symptom of infection, but don't panic yet.

Thanks for the responses -- it wasn't especially bubbly, but it wasn't flat either. This is the first time (out of 15+ batches) that the hydro sample had small bubbles & tasted slightly carbonated.

This was fermented in a 3gal carboy with a rubber stopper/3-pc airlock. I realize now that the stopper would have (or at least should have) blown if gas was building up.

I'll cold crash & bottle.