Very new to the brew game. My first brew (dark porter ale) after being in the formenter for 2 days went to check on it and found the airlock blew out. Cleaned up put the airlock back in. My question, is my beer still good. How can I tell if it's contaminated?
Welcome, Ive had that happen as well, luckily it was only a few hours until I caught it. My guess would be just wait until its finished and see what happens, also check out the homebrew forums!
Welcome. I would not worry too much. At that point the alcohol was probably substantial. There is never a guarantee nothing got in that can survive, but I would not worry too much. If it helps I just had an infected porter that was delicious.
Welcome from Cincinnati. Posting in the homebrewing forum will be great to help you. However, most people will tell you RDWAHAHB (Relax Don't Worry and Have a Homebrew). You are probably ok, as long you sanitized the airlock when you put it back on. At this stage, you likely have pushed all oxygen out of the beer with the CO2 that is forming through fermentation. That's not to say you didn't get any baddies in there, but more often than not you'll be ok. Just keep an eye on it. I've done the same thing a few times.
Welcome! a lot of great homebrewers here to help with your questions and resident homebrew expert @FATC1TY can always help!
Welcome to the BA site, Newbrewer62, and to the Homebrewing forum. Your beer is probably going to be fine. It's highly unlikely that any 'bugs' got into it while the airlock was off. When you say "...cleaned up and put back in..." I assume you mean the airlock and possibly the stopper if it was a carboy that you are using. But by 'cleaned up' do you also mean that some bubbles from the krausen also got out of the fermentor? If that's the case, you'll want to use a blow-off tube in the future to prevent this from happening again, or take a look at how much headroom you give your beer inside the fermentor. If your beer is still wildly fermenting with high krausen getting into the airlock, you probably want to install a blow-off tube now. Google 'blow-off tube' and you'll get a good description of methods to do it. Good videos also exist on YouTube. You can also search this forum for discussions on this frequent topic.
Welcome to homebrewing and BA. You're doomed. Eventually, if it all works out. Answer part two. You can't. Not now anyway. But you will know later! Part one. RDWHAHB. Look it up. You worry and your beer suffers. It is a proven fact. Yeast respond to haters and only work for the kind. That is a gaurantee. Mystical you say? Hokey you say? OK then, but you were warned. You and I only know enough to make sweet malt water. Yeast know how to make beer. You my friend are going to become a glorified janitor. If you get any good that is. To paraphrase Wonka "Brewing, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple." Run with that and stop by when you need any help. Cheers.
Welcome from Cincinnati! My guess is it'll be good, since there's probably enough alcohol created already from those first 2 days of fermentation. After fermentation activity subsides I'd pull a sample (I use a sanitized turkey baster) and taste it. If it tastes good, you are good to go man. Welcome to the addicting hobby!
