Airlock not filled with water and mold present, help!

What went wrong? Was this supposed to happen? Should I throw it out? What do I do now?

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JJBeer
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Airlock not filled with water and mold present, help!

Post by JJBeer »

This is my first time brewing ever!
I forgot to fill my airlock with water. After 6 days of frementating I transfered to a carboy and the top of the container has patches of mold. The mold is green, red and some black. We were careful to ensure that the beer never touched the moldly lid.

What is going to happen to this beer?

Is it safe to drink?

Regards, JJBeer
akueck
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Post by akueck »

How does it taste? I'd hazard a guess that you might be ok, as there should be a CO2 layer above the beer with or without an airlock present.

If it tastes ok go ahead and keep it, bottle it, and see how it goes.
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slothrob
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Mold

Post by slothrob »

I've never heard of such a colorful mold collection on a batch of beer, before!
You can often get away with mold growth without a huge impact on flavor.

Just try and rack out from under the mold.

I keep a bottle of El Cheapo Brand Vodka by my fermentors to fill up the airlock. I used up a bottle of Rum 151 that no one would touch before that, which was probably even more effective at keeping everything sanitary. But just about any thing of reletively high alcohol will work, without the concern of sucking in some contaminated water. You might want to consider that in the future.
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