Air Lock blew off

[Microphobik]

Wow, so I just brewed my first beer in about 15 years. It was more or less Ed Wort's Haus pale ale, with Nottingham yeast. 24 hours after pitching I woke up to find the air lock blown off and sitting on the floor, a mountain of foam pouring out of the carboy. Never seen such an aggressive fermentation. I can't imagine this thing taking more than 3 or 4 days to ferment out. I'd be completely stoked we're it not for the exposure to air I got from the blown air lock.

How concerned should I be about infection? Is it likely that the aggressive CO2 production will save me from bacteria exposure or is there a good chance I'll have problems? No idea how long it was blown. Could have been 5 minutes or 5 hours. If I do have problem when is it likely off flavors and smells would arise. So far everything smells beautiful.

 

[Cyclman]

Happens to everyone sooner or later, especially without temp controlled fermentation. Highly unlikely it could cause an infection.

 

[meltroha]

If there was that much krausen, not much could get in

 

[seigex]

No concern to oxidation or infection, especially with that vigorous of a fermentation.. the inside of the fermenter has positive pressure, nothing's getting in after one day.

 

[Biogrove]

I had a Bier'splosian on a recent batch of Belgian Schelde in a 6.5 gallon carboy, like you I had no idea how long it had been foaming over (5 min or 5 hrs.). OG was 1.068 it just grew and clogged the Air Lock & kablooie. I racked to another carboy and put in a BIG blow off tube. When initial fermentation was done I racked to another carboy for a couple of weeks. I just bottled it tonight and it is going to be a really good bier, hit my target of 1.012. New rule for me, anything over 1.062ish gets a big blow off tube. I am fairly new to brewing and am pleasantly pleased that there was no infection.

 

[pkrath84]

This same thing happened with my stout. Went all Mt. St Hellen Beercano all over my garage and the ceiling.

So far so good. Samples taste fine. I try not to sweat the details too much about a dozen batches in. I try to remember what my buddy told me

"Heck, they used to make beer in caves. Dont sweat it too much."

I'm still anal about brews that I want to develop more. But when I'm lazy, I'm lazy and the last few I've pushed the limits with no ill effects.

Who knows, maybe I'm just on a run of good luck