Boom! What now?

Hello, this is my first post. Great forum with alot of great information. Anyhow, I attempted to make the Founder's Breakfast Oatmeal Stout AG this weekend. Everything was fine, very active fermentation, a little too active. I had a blow off tube set up in a 5 gallon carboy (didnt cut the "+" off of the bottom..ooops) within 6 hours I had lost about 3.5 gallons to the ceiling, flood, walls, and everyting in-between. I really want to make this again, however, if im going to risk losing all of that beer forget it. I have never had this issue until now. What can I do to prevent this blow off, would switching to a 6.5 gal brew bucket for the primary help? Regardless if the blowoff tube worked correctly or not (I suspect by not cutting the "+" off caused it to clog) wouldnt I still lose all of that through the tube? Thanks! Any info would be greatly apprectiated. I attached pictures of the before and after.

Haha welcome to the club... it happens to most everyone at least once. I use a blow off tube that fits right into the mouth of the carboy. If an active fermentation can clog that there is something wrong, lol.

How are your temps?

In any case, either Fermcap or a bigger bucket will certainly help.

wow thats the best "blow" job i have seen for ages
sorry no practicle advice this has never happened me but do a search on this site. thousands have gone through this before and have pics to prove it too.

Yeah, that carboy is way too full. A bigger carboy or better bottle would keep you from blowing out like that. Bigger tube will work too, you'll just lose a bunch of your beer if you continue to ferment in a 5 gallon carboy.

Instead of putting the tube onto the airlock, put it into the hole in the bung. IMO, it's far better than trying to use the airlock to bridge the bung hole and tube. Just shove the tube into the bung hole and be done with it. :rockin:

I've NEVER tried to put the blowoff tube into the airlock. I've always removed the airlock and used the hole IT goes into. IME, far better and safer. I've even fermented just over 5 gallons in a 5 gallon PET carboy this way. I lost some through the blowoff tube, but not all that much. Of course, I wouldn't do that again. Now, I try to leave at least 1/2 to a full gallon (or more) of head space in my primary.

IF you have a glass carboy, you can use the BIG tube, as TomSD shows...

BTW, looks like your carboy got a case of the SPLATs...

What yeast did you use? You could try US-05 dry yeast next time, for me it always works slow and steady (but well), never had a fermentation too fast and furious with it. I've been especially happy with stouts I've used it in.

What temp was this cooled down prior to pitch and what temp was it fermenting at? Warm temps can cause yeast to go crazy regardless of the strain.
I'd recommend getting yourself a larger carboy and more closely monitoring your pitching and fermenting temps in the future.

I pitched at 65F and used WLP001 for the yeast. The room temp for that area in my basement ranges 58-66F. I really debated getting a bigger carboy for this, usually that's been my secondary, however, I have a heffe in my primary right now. Suppose ill try my brew bucket for this or bite the bullet and get another better bottle. Even if I use my bucket I assume the lid would probably blow, I'm ok with open fermentation for a minute but regardless wouldn't that still over flow? Or does the proper air output/pressure prevent this mess. I'm just curious why so much poored out like a geiser
.

Haha love the clamps! If you need them though your blow off tube isn't doing its job.

Hey,at least the lid didn't blow!

30L airtight bucket fermenter all the way! I just sold off my last 6.5 carboy and turned my profits into more beer and another one of them.

Rapid depressurization made it gush like that. Shake a bottle of beer and crack the cap, same effect. If it can breathe easy the whole time you don't quite get the same effect.