A bit of a mess

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Memorex88

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Yesterday I purchased a Brew House Premium All-Grain beer kit from the LBS. It's a Munich Dark Lager in which I added 1 kg Light dry malt extract.
The S.G. was 1.070! mmmm I think I will really like this beer.

Today I noticed sounds coming from the fermenter! It looks like blowing foam from the air lock so I put the fermenter directly on the ground to slow it down a little. It seems to be working a little.
Should I do something else or not worry about it?

Here's a picture of it...

DPP_0084-1.jpg
 
Well, you can constantly switch out a clean/sanitized airlock, or get some tubing that will go over the inner "shaft" of the airlock as a blow off tube. I suggest the latter.
 
You really need to use a blowoff tube. Get some tubing from your LHBS and rig it up so that it blows into a bowl of StarSan. Otherwise you risk a big mess and possible contamination of your beer once all the sanitized liquid is blow out of the fermentation lock.

To rig up a simple blowoff tube you could use a piece of hard plastic through the cork, and then connect one end of your tubing to the plastic, and the other end in your bowl of StarSan. Make sure to sanitize everything, of course, before you hook it up. You're going to have quite a mess pretty soon if you don't.
 
After reading the posts I ran off to the LBS and picked up some tubing and a stopper and made and sanitized a blow off tube into a pickle jar.


Thanks for your imput! :mug:


Here's the solution :D


DPP_0086-1.jpg
 
Looks a lot better now!

While it hasn't happened to me, some people around here have had the airlock get clogged from the kreusen and the CO2 keeps building pressure until you have a big mess.
 
Damn! Now the blow off tube is getting clogged and I just showered my face with wort by pulling it off to unclog it! Looks like I'll be babysitting this for some time :mad:
Boy is it ever active!

On the upside.... it smells wonderful heheh
 
I think you need a wider hose, but then maybe a wider hole in your lid.

How big is that carboy? Doesn't Brewhouse recommend 10 gallons or something? Also, if you added all the water as per instructions, you're making six (US) gallons, not five, which gives you less space.
 
I think you need a wider hose, but then maybe a wider hole in your lid.

How big is that carboy? Doesn't Brewhouse recommend 10 gallons or something? Also, if you added all the water as per instructions, you're making six (US) gallons, not five, which gives you less space.

Yes they do recommend a 10 Imp. gal fermenter and I have a 6. I've done many many brew house throughout the years and never had an issue. The difference this time is the addition of 1 kg malt!

The kit is 15 liters and you add 8 liters of water like the instructions say and that 23 liters or 5 gallons. You had me worried for a sec there.

Yes I should have picked up a bigger tube but you'd figure my guy would know this?

I think I'm heading back out there again :mad:
 
OK so I didn't make it to the LBS and got to look around the house for a bigger tube. Found a 3/4 tube I got this summer for lawn irrigation and cut a length I could use. It fit's the hole on the lid perfectly!

So here's a picture of the tube going into the jar...

DPP_0088-1.jpg


As you can see, the bubble monster still wants out of the jar and I would have to empty it every 10 - 15 minutes or have a mess to clean up! :mad: Not good enough.

The final solution is this....

DPP_0091.jpg
 
Now the jar can overflow into the laundry sink (which is used for my homebrewing only) and down the drain :rockin:

DPP_0092.jpg



I think this would have happened with a 10 gallon bucket also. It's so aggressive... it's got a life of it's own!
 
+1 to a blow off immediately.

You should always use a blow off for at least the first 4 days to a week. If you want to use an airlock go for it but you are at risk of blowing the top right now as the pressure cannot escape like it is supposed to.

also +1 to just putting tubing on the center piece of the airlock and running it into a container with water in it. Search blow off if you are unsure how to do so.
 
+1 to a blow off immediately.

You should always use a blow off for at least the first 4 days to a week. If you want to use an airlock go for it but you are at risk of blowing the top right now as the pressure cannot escape like it is supposed to.

also +1 to just putting tubing on the center piece of the airlock and running it into a container with water in it. Search blow off if you are unsure how to do so.

HA HA H AH AHA i opened a **** ton of tabs in IE and then put the computer to sleep. Got to work and went through the tabs and posted based on the posts at the time sorry for the late ass post ha ha ha ha ha
 
That is one heck of a fermentation! How much headspace was between the top of the beer and bottom of lid when you pitched the yeast? Unfortunately you're loosing quite a bit of brew there. Next time more headspace.
 
No problem NNatic heheh

Well I got up this morning and the kreuzen has settled down so back came the airlock!

Thanks everyone for the help during the crisis! :mug:

DPP_0093.jpg
 
That is one heck of a fermentation! How much headspace was between the top of the beer and bottom of lid when you pitched the yeast? Unfortunately you're loosing quite a bit of brew there. Next time more headspace.

About 4 inches. Yes I lost probably 2 pints of the wort. I have a 7 gallon fermenter also but who knew it was going to gush like that!
If this brew comes out in the "amazing" department.... the next time I'll first use the bigger fermenter and second... I'll be prepared with the 3/4 inch and GET THIS FOOD GRADE TUBE!!!! I didn't even notice that until this morning when I was cleaning it heheh I have 100 feet of the stuff brand new!
 
Ah, yes, so many gallons, so little time. ;)
My Coopers fermenter is a 30L with normal (Coopers Kits) doing 23L batches.
Of course, any HBS down here uses 5 (US)gallon batches.
 
I used to make Coopers in the 80's with very good results with Coopers Draught! Now I'm only doing Brew House kits and add malt and hops to tweak them to my palate.

What a great hobby we have :D
 
Hi, Revvy Gave Me A Tip, Use Sanitizer In The Catch Vessel, Blow Off Bottle.
It Slows The Yeast Down,not So Much Foam
 
Hi, Revvy Gave Me A Tip, Use Sanitizer In The Catch Vessel, Blow Off Bottle.
It Slows The Yeast Down,not So Much Foam

It's a plan but you should have seen the consistency of this foam! I could have put out a chemical fire with it ;)
In 25 years of brewing, I've never seen anything like it. Then again... I've never made a brew with so much malt either hehhe
 
I had a similar situation a month or so ago -- Put my wort in to a fermenter with in adequate head space & thought I would be okay with a 3/8" blow off tube. WRONG!!! Over night some hops plugged the tubing until the pressure blew the stopper out and the volcano of foam continued to flow until I checked it in the morning. I transfered it to a larger fermenter and it proceed ahead of schedule. Huge mess, but I just kegged the beer yesterday and it seems fine.
 
I had a similar situation a month or so ago -- Put my wort in to a fermenter with in adequate head space & thought I would be okay with a 3/8" blow off tube. WRONG!!! Over night some hops plugged the tubing until the pressure blew the stopper out and the volcano of foam continued to flow until I checked it in the morning. I transfered it to a larger fermenter and it proceed ahead of schedule. Huge mess, but I just kegged the beer yesterday and it seems fine.

What kind of beer is this?
 
My brother-in-law had his airlock get plugged over night. He woke to the sound of some explosion in his house, went down to investigate, and saw the lid to his fermenter lying on the floor with wort dripping from the ceiling.

Blow-off hoses have their purpose.

I just read this...no intention of sounding superior with the comment on blow-off hoses. I was just explaining the point of the story.
 
Which yeast did you brew with? I brewed a hefe with the Weihenstephan strain from Wyeast and the krausen was crazy. They warn about it on the website not the package.

Coopers 24237 that came with the kit.

I have cream ale that I pitched on Thursday going just fine :mug:

Again, I think the 1.070 OG whereas the kit's suggested 1.040 - 1.050 is where the problem lies. I added way too much DME, but we'll see what comes out of it.
The important lesson here is I caught it in time and managed a cure.
 
I had a blowoff tube for a porter on a bucket and the krausen was so big that it clogged the hole in the lid. blowoff tube failure
 
It's a plan but you should have seen the consistency of this foam! I could have put out a chemical fire with it ;)
In 25 years of brewing, I've never seen anything like it. Then again... I've never made a brew with so much malt either hehhe

25 years of brewing and you never made a blow off tube?.....:confused:
 
Wow, I think you're lucky you didn't have a lid blow off with wort on the ceiling. I've also had to rig a blowoff tube before and am glad I caught it in time. Thanks for the pics! :mug:
 
Wow, I think you're lucky you didn't have a lid blow off with wort on the ceiling. I've also had to rig a blowoff tube before and am glad I caught it in time. Thanks for the pics! :mug:

Yes I'm lucky I heard the noise early on... and the pics... ah that's another on again off again hobby of mine ;)
 
Damn! Now the blow off tube is getting clogged and I just showered my face with wort by pulling it off to unclog it! Looks like I'll be babysitting this for some time :mad:
Boy is it ever active!

On the upside.... it smells wonderful heheh

No doubt, been there. The blow off tube needs to be bigger else it's prone to clogging. It's easier in a carboy but since you are using a bung you probably can size some tube to replace the bung entirely and snug it into the lid.

EDIT: I see you found the answer on page 2! :)
 
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