I brewed a Paulner hefe clone on Sat and left for out of town on Mon-tue
When I looked last night it is fermenting like crazy and the airlock is spewing and there is no water left in it just brown bubbles and such (Krausen ?)
Is my beer ok still or is there a risk of contamination?
If I remove the airlock and put in a blowoff tube would that be ok
- if I do this will my syphon hose fit in the top of the ale pale airlock area if I remove the rubber gromett.
- will I have to drill a hole instead and put in the tube that way
If the brew isnt fermenting as viciously as it was when it came out of the airlock I would just clean and sanitize the airlock again and put it back on.
If its still going like crazy I would rig up a blow off tube, but you shouldnt need to worry about a contamination, only time will tell but you are probably fine!
However, f you do decide to attach a blow-off you shouldn't need to remove the rubber grommet. My tubing (3/8 ID) just fits inside the rubber grommet, altough it takes a little force to get it in. I would assume yours should be similar.
About the contamination... like mr stimey said you're probably fine and there's nothing you can do now but.... rdwhahb!
Don't drill any holes. If you have this style airlock you can rig a blow off real easy.
Remove the cap & thimble and press a hose onto the stem popping up through the center.
Chances are its calmed down you can clean it then re-insert the lock. Don't sweat it, the raging CO2 will have kept anything out of the fermenter
I'd be a bit careful doing this. It seems like one potential problem would be the hole at the bottom of the airlock getting clogged. If that happens, you are likely to have a very messy explosion once the pressure builds up and blows the top off the pail. I do all of my hefe batches in a glass carboy now with a huge blowoff tube.
This batch ended up overwhelming the blowoff tube and flowing out of the 1 gallon airlock at the end of the tube. Luckily I caught it early and put the 1 gallon bottle into a plastic bucket (upper right).
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I'd be a bit careful doing this. It seems like one potential problem would be the hole at the bottom of the airlock getting clogged. If that happens, you are likely to have a very messy explosion once the pressure builds up and blows the top off the pail. I do all of my hefe batches in a glass carboy now with a huge blowoff tube.
This batch ended up overwhelming the blowoff tube and flowing out of the 1 gallon airlock at the end of the tube. Luckily I caught it early and put the 1 gallon bottle into a plastic bucket (upper right).
Good Point! - However I use a 7.9 gallon pale and my airlocks have an open bottom so I don't have to worry about it much.
I've seen that some have the hole "x" with plastic. I think these would more likely clog.
BTW - your set-up is better if you have whole hops floating around.
Long term a carboy is a good idea. Right now he's got a pale w/ it blowing out.
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Thanks for the advice.
I do have one of those airlocks along with another kind,
maybe I will give that a shot.
I think you will be alright, but you might want to make sure the hole is big enough at the bottom of the airlock. You could always cut the tip off and make the hole a bit bigger.
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