A Near Catastrophe !!!

Last night, I checked on my high gravity Saison in the fermenter, and freaked ! It was leaking lightly from under the lid, the beer had flowed into the air lock, and the lid was bulging ! I pressed on the lid, and it was rock hard.

This morning, the lid was a little bit softer. My main concern was that it would explode overnight, and I would have to spend the entire day cleaning up after it.

It is a 5 1/2 gallon batch, in a 7 gallon bucket. I thought this would leave PLENTY of room for fermentation.

I have never heard of anything like this before ! Any one else ever run into this ???

Three words: blow off tube.

Same thing happened with a trippel I made, as well as with an IPA. Cut the bottom 1/2" off your airlock (if you have the 3-piece kind), and attach some tubing to the inside. Run the tubing into some sanitizer solution, and you should be good to go.

Oh, sure- it happens. There are plenty of stories around here of bucket lids laying on the floor 6 feet from the primary and the ceiling painted with beer. A blow off tube is a great idea for extremely active fermentations, and they are easy. Just jam some tubing into the hole where you normally put the airlock (or attach it to the airlock as above) and stick the other end of the tube in a pitcher of sanitizer. Biermuncher has a couple of pictures in his gallery, I believe.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Fermcap-S (a.k.a., Foam Control).


TL

jmulligan said:

Three words: blow off tube.

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^^

What he said.

Last year I made a Blue Moon clone and that night blew the top off my bucket. Made quite the ruckus as I thought someone kicked down my front door. As I stood there with shotgun in hand looking at the mess sliding down the family room wall rather than the intruder I thought I'd find and my beloved just laughed and said: "Looks like you have some cleaning up to do Wyatt Earp."

Since then its only blow off tubes for me.

HoosierDaddy said:

What he said.

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I think this forum is the only place a gal can't get cranky for being mistaken for a dude...

jmulligan said:

I think this forum is the only place a gal can't get cranky for being mistaken for a dude...

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Yeah, tell me about it! Half of the responders in this thread are women!

Thanks for all your help. The next time I try a High Gravity brew, a blow-off tube is definitely in the plans also.

I have to assume this is a dumb question, but I will ask it anyway. I WAS planning on a secondary fermentation for this batch, also. After losing some to the sludge at the bottom of the bucket, combined with what leaked out, this should all fit well into my 5 gallon carboy, but am I risking a REAL catastrophe by adding even more yeast ?

jmulligan said:

I think this forum is the only place a gal can't get cranky for being mistaken for a dude...

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I think most guys and maybe some gals think this is a guys hobby. I guess it is primarily male dominated but we are getting more and more women involved. I for one find this trend to be quite refreshing!

kjung said:

Thanks for all your help. The next time I try a High Gravity brew, a blow-off tube is definitely in the plans also.

I have to assume this is a dumb question, but I will ask it anyway. I WAS planning on a secondary fermentation for this batch, also. After losing some to the sludge at the bottom of the bucket, combined with what leaked out, this should all fit well into my 5 gallon carboy, but am I risking a REAL catastrophe by adding even more yeast ?

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You don't need to add any more yeast. Why are you thinking about doing that? Trust me, there is plenty of yeast in your beer at this stage.