Conditioning in Primary without Airlock

Hi everybody. First post here.

I brewed what was supposed to be 5 gallons of an IPA last Friday, and ended up with 6-6.5 gallons. I realize I should have had a target gravity and boiled the excess water off, but I didn't realize I had too much work until I cooled it. Of course, that wouldn't all fit in my 6 gallon carboy, especially not with adequate headroom, so I added the excess to two 64 Oz growlers.

I didn't have airlocks, though, so I just sanitized a piece of plastic wrap and put that over the mouth with a piece of sanitized foil over that. I figured that would keep junk out, but still let CO2 out. Here we are, 5 days later, and fermentation looks complete. Without the positive pressure pushing out of the growler, I'm worried about infection.

My question is, what should I do now? I know it isn't ideal to bottle after a week, but is it okay to let it sit in its current state? I plan on skipping the dry hopping for these little batches. This is really just an experiment, since the beer would have otherwise gone to waste.

 

I should specify - I wasn't planning on bottling after only 5 days. I planned on bottling sometime this weekend, which would have given it 7-9 days since pitching.

You think that I should bother with airlocks, even though it's been fermenting without for 5 days now?

 

We're getting off topic at this point, but I must ask:

If you don't use airlocks anymore, what do you use? What makes your solution better at keeping oxygen out?

 

Just wanted to check back in with my results here...

I bottled the beer that fermented in the growlers after two weeks. (I left the main batch for another week after adding dry hops.) I took a gravity, reading, primed, and let it sit to carbonate.

Fast forward a week, and I bottled the main batch. I took a gravity reading... and it was about 10 points lower than the batch that fermented in the growlers. After two weeks in the bottle at room temperature and a few days in the fridge, this beer was flat and sweet. After two weeks at room temperature and a couple days in the fridge, the main batch is probably the best beer I've brewed to date.

I'm guessing the yeast died or something, since fermentation appears to have stalled, then carbonation did not occur. I am wondering, though, what could cause that? There were only 3 differences between the two fermentations:

1. The growlers did not have an airlock. Obviously, the carboy did.
2. Yeast pitching rate. I dumped approximately 1/4 pack US-05 directly into each 64oz growler, and 1.5 packs directly into the carboy.
3. Temperature: I kept the carboy in a water bath I tried to maintain ~70°. The growlers sat at room temp. (I set my thermostat at 82° while I'm at work all day, and 75-77° while I am home.)

I'm going to let it sit for a while longer, as I have nothing to lose, but I don't have high hopes that this will be anything other than drain cleaner. What do you think caused the issue?