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JeramyD · 03-07-2010, 05:51 AM

Tonight while my brewing buddy was grabbing a beer out of our beer closet he noticed that our fermenter had exploded. I really wasnt alarmed... it was bound to happen sometime, so we cleaned it up and popped the lid back onto our fermenter. An hour or two later we heard another explosion ... and cleaned up again. This time we tried creating a blow off tube. The fermenter exploded yet again. This will be our 6th 5 gallon batch and we have never had this problem before. At this point it is clear that sealing the lid will result in yet another cleanup crew so we are placing the lid and airlock on top of the bucket, without creating a tight seal to avoid another explosion. Anyone have any advice for us? What leads to the explosion? Luck?
Thanks in advance!

FreeM80s · 03-07-2010, 05:53 AM

i'd stick with the blow off tube

Duffy85 · 03-07-2010, 06:08 AM

I want to know how this happens, so to never awake to the sounds off world war III coming from my closet

Pommy · 03-07-2010, 06:13 AM

its obviously a build up of pressure so is the airlock overly full/not working for some reason (blocked?) not trying to seem condescending but this is obviously an issue best to be resolved asap. Normal fermentation generally wouldnt create that much pressure so perhaps it is allowed to build up for some reason?

FreeM80s · 03-07-2010, 06:15 AM

can you take a photo of your blow-off rig on your airlock?

JeramyD · 03-07-2010, 02:31 PM

Well we made it through the night with no explosions, but the krausen did overflow at some point while I was sleeping so I suspect that with a fully sealed lid it would have erupted again. This points to the krausen stopping up the airlock ( tried both a double bubbler and a single piece unit and a blow off tube ) which causes the explosion ( just like you said pommy ). I have a free carboy so I was thinking of lightly stirring the mixture to get everything mixed well and then transferring half of it to a carboy to finish fermenting. Anyone have any experience with that? Could I possibly interrupt the yeast somehow by mixing them up 2 days after pitching?

Also, does OG have anything to do with the overactive fermentation? This is the highest OG that we have attempted so far ( still not extremely high, 1.08 I think ) and by far the most active fermentation. Or is it just luck of the draw and we happened to pick up an overachieving tube of yeast?

joey11bball · 03-07-2010, 02:36 PM

Well obviously the higher OG the moe sugars there are for the yeast to eat. Therefore a high OG will have a more active fermentation. I personally wouldnt transfer to another carboy for the risk of contamination and I really dont think anything would change in a new carboy. I would just let it sit and keep the blow off tube on. They have to run out of sugars eventually!!!

JeramyD · 03-07-2010, 03:30 PM

Too true Joey11bball, all those sugars must be making the yeast go crazy. We'll take your advice and stick with the primary + blow off tube, hadnt thought about contamination. Thanks for the advice friends!

Kass_Brauhaus · 03-07-2010, 03:34 PM

The one advantage to transferring to the carboy is you can use a giant tube for blowoff. We put high OG beers in carboys for primary for this reason. Harder to clean, but you don't blow your lid off.