Beer in my keyboard

[Gilgamesh]

Last night I was doing the stereotypical drunken writer thing and I ended up spilling a bottle of beer on my keyboard. The keyboard still seems to work but I'm wondering if the beer will cause damage at a later date if I don't clean it?

The only thing wrong with my keyboard right now is that it, and my office, smell of beer. I'm leaning towards just forgetting about it and if it stops working then I'll just go out and buy a new one.

Should I be worried about beer in my keyboard?

[finley]

No. You should be worried about wasting your beer.

The inside of a keyboard is normally a cheap membrane layer - basically, two sheets of plastic printed with conductive ink - that is surprisingly difficult to contaminate. As an added line of defence, there is usually a rubber thingy completely covering the top of the membrane (its purpose is to give the keyboard the right 'feel', but it doubles as a beer protector).

If it's fine now, it'll most likely be fine for a good while longer. Don't attempt to open it and clean it because you'll never get it back together again, and you'll waste more than $200NT worth of your time (ie., the price of a new one).

[Mick]

Is it a laptop or desktop? If its the latter, you have no worries, and a replacement is cheap. If the smell is overwhelming open it up and use alcohol to clean and if you ruin it, well, then buy a new one.

[Belgian Pie]

No. You should be worried about wasting your beer.

...

Especially if it was Belgian beer ...

[Gilgamesh]

No. You should be worried about wasting your beer.

...

Especially if it was Belgian beer ...

I'm not sure if the beer qualifies as a Belgian beer but the label did say it was a Belgian White. I bought a case of beer from Costco which had four different kinds of beer in it. Belgian White was one of the beers.

I quite liked it unfortunately, Costco didn't have any more beer the last time I went and now I'm down to my last three bottles although I spilled the last Belgian White last night

[TheGingerMan]

Learn to not spill.
Place the beer at least 30 cm longer than your arm can reach. Or do a Hemingway and type standing up, with the booze on another table.
Trust me, it works.