WarmHappyWBellyfulOfMead
Member
I’ll try to be concise, I’m just frantic that I might’ve contaminated my batch. I made a batch of raspberry, blueberry, blackberry mead today, put it in my upstairs closet to ferment with my other carboys (which are doing very well and smelling heavenly). I started primary fermentation around 3 PM, went down for dinner, sat with the family and watched some TV. Go check it around 8 PM and the bung + airlock are lying on the ground. Thankfully the mess wasn’t so bad, but I have no idea how long it was sitting up there uncovered. I promptly took the airlock downstairs, disassembled it, washed it with soap and warm water and sprayed it down with some sanitizer I bottled from earlier. I dried the bung with a clean paper towel, and carefully wiped the inner rim of the carboy before reinserting it. I then noticed it pushing itself back out, so I brought it to my basement, grabbed and sanitized a plastic chop stick and gently stirred the fruity mess at the top of my fermenter to release some CO2. Then I sprayed down a paper towel with sani, and as carefully as I could, I wiped the junk off the inner rim of the carboy and sprayed down the airlock again for good measure. I brought the carboy to my basement to cool, after reading yeast work slower in cooler temps.
I know it’s more than likely okay, because I was not nearly this careful with my first batch of mead and it’s doing well (to the best of my knowledge). I desperately need affirmation that I did this right... This didn’t happen to my first two batches, and I’m worried that my finger touching the inside of the carboy or the paper towel might’ve introduced a contaminant and killed my batch…
I know it’s more than likely okay, because I was not nearly this careful with my first batch of mead and it’s doing well (to the best of my knowledge). I desperately need affirmation that I did this right... This didn’t happen to my first two batches, and I’m worried that my finger touching the inside of the carboy or the paper towel might’ve introduced a contaminant and killed my batch…
Last edited: