Brewed a 12 gallon batch of weiss bier a few weeks ago. Fermentation was done in a 15.5 gallon Sanke, converted using Derrins equipment, and in a fridge at 62 degrees f. Vigourous and long fermentation as evidenced by amount of bubbling in the blow off container. When fermentation was complete, plus some, I turned the fridge down to 32 to cold crash late last week. Yesterday, when I checked, all of the liquid from the blow off container was gone and it appears it has been sucked back up the blow off tube into the beer. The blow off container is a 1/2 gallon glass growler (clean) filled half way with fresh star san.
First, should I even attempt to bottle this beer, or is it a gonner?
Second, I'm looking for easy ways to prevent this from happening in the future. So far my solution involves a backflow preventer (check valve) and a sterile air filter. Any easier solutions?