HELP! 24 hours into fermantation and it's bubbling up out of the bucket

Airlock got jammed and I clean but the bucket is still bulging and foam just re-entered the airlock.

how do I fix this?

You should switch to a blowoff tube: you can even jam a tube into the center of the airlock. What's the size of your bucket vs. the size of the batch?

You need to do a search on blow-off tube. Thats what you need to do is use a blow-off tube.

At this time of night, put the bucket in the kitchen sink and if you have a 3-piece airlock, take the cap and float out. Looks like this:



In the morning, clean the airlock and re-install.

david_42 said:

At this time of night, put the bucket in the kitchen sink and if you have a 3-piece airlock, take the cap and float out. Looks like this:

In the morning, clean the airlock and re-install.

Click to expand...

Do I have to worry about contamination getting back into the bucket?

McGarnigle said:

You should switch to a blowoff tube: you can even jam a tube into the center of the airlock. What's the size of your bucket vs. the size of the batch?

Click to expand...

6.5 gallon bucket 5 gallon batch

Alehouserock said:

Do I have to worry about contamination getting back into the bucket?

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I wouldn't do it that way; it won't be a problem of contamination, but the airlock can get clogged and the bucket's lid can blow off and cause a HUGE mess... You need a blowoff tube.

I have 2 tubes for bottling and neither are fitting into or over the airlock

You can also take the airlock off and jam the hose into the grommet. That's what I do. The tube feeds into an old, sterilized bottle of Jack Daniels full of sanitizing solution.

I pulled a stopper off an airlock and sanitized it and jammed a hose in. The other end of the hose goes into a glass filled with sanitizer right?

Edit- Saw above post. I guess great minds think alke. didn't have a whiskey bottle so I used the wife's wine decanter.

Should I leave it like this until bubbling slows down considerably and is my beer ruined?

You might want to try something a little bigger, but that would work. Mine is pretty small; the size has never really been an issue with me. I'd fill the glass with either sanitizing solution or alcohol.

Alehouserock said:

.... is my beer ruined?

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Quite the opposite--I'm betting that your beer is gonna be awesome.

No your beer isn't ruined. Beer is not ruined until you kick the bucket over and it spills all over your carpet, or you accidentally mistake it for the toilet one night.

But anyhow, you guys shouldn't be JAMMING in your airlock tight enough that your bucket lid will pop off. Twist and push until you feel slight resistance. That's all that needed for an air tight seal.

Of course you could always take the airlock off and cover the hole with a piece of aluminum foil.

It doesn't have to be air tight with that much positive pressure behind it.

Thanks again to everyone.

I currently have a blowoff hose running into a wine decanter with santizer, water, and few splashes of vodka for good measure.

There is some yeast and beer in the hose that the CO2 is still making it's way through. The decater did take on some volume overnight. I dumped quite a bit of it and added more sanitized water and vodka.

Do you think I'll be able to put a traditional airlock back on it today or should I wait for fermentation to slow down a little?