Carboy exploded- how best to clean walls?

Hey guys.

I woke up this morning to a murder scene. My 1 Gallon jug decided the airlock was no good, and exploded over half its contents across the ceiling, cabinets, floor and walls. Brown dried gunk is now on the white walls of my apartment.

I am sitting there with wet towels and some ajax, but it doesn't seem to be a miracle cleaner. Anyone have an experience with this and know a good, easy way to get this crap cleaned up?

Thanks for any input. This is NOT how I wanted to start my Monday.

I think your miracle cleaner is going to have to be some paint

good luck cleaning that crap

i had a airlock blow off and spray all over my basement ceiling once.. i used a diluted solution of distilled vinager and hot water, i put that in a pump up sprayer and went to town covering everything allow to sit for 3 to 5 minutes and rub it out. maybe a diluted solution of starsan?

BTW, this is why i only use blow off tubes now.. i dont have a single airlock

Thanks dude about the vinegar thing, will give that a try.

This was a 1 Gallon glass jug with a pice of aluminum foil over it initially, then i put the cap on with only 1 thread screwed down. Big, loose threads, I could jiggle the cap so I knew gasses could escape. When I found the cap (it was bent after it hit the wall), it was filled with crud. My bad on putting that cap there (it wasn't a seal! I am not that dumb, just foolish), seems that the crud got up there, sealed the cap in, and then exploded in the night.

Time to go to work, will ahve to clean the ceiling and the cabinets up later this evening. Ugh.

Mr clean Magic erasers, they really are magic you can get knock off versions at dollar stores too.

So many people take pictures of their beer but not their explosions.

I find that odd and very disappointing.

TSP (trisodium phosphate) is a good cleaner. Oxy-clean may work as well.

The wife is (luckily) out of town, and with her is the camera. And as it is brown sludge that exploded in the bathroom, I think a picture would give the impression of the wrong kind of explosion. The ceiling is still intact as far as mess goes, so can grab a pic of that.

Vinegar, Mr. Clean eraser, and an oxidizer. Hopefully i don't make a chemical coctail and kill myself.

Pics or it didnt happen!

You put the lid on?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I see what you were thinking but once krausen hits against the lid and starts to dry you get a complete seal.

Try some water and oxyclean.

Yeah, hindsight it was a dumb idea. It was more of the "I need to keep the cap, but where do I put it?" thing, and I figured if it was loose I would be fine. I just have only used a glass carboy for mead (no krausen), so didn't think about or know of the krausen crawling all the way up the neck and drying there.

Airlock or blowoff tube is not optional for beer brewing.. Sorry to hear about the accident. $2 part is crucial

I have a blow off and several air locks. The issue was that the stoppers I had did not fit the jug I was using.

Hopefully the brew is still good to go, now I have too little volume to take the hydrometer readings.

doulovebeef said:

BTW, this is why i only use blow off tubes now.. i dont have a single airlock

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i thought blow off tubes fit inside airlocks? how do you do it?

Since Tall Yotie won't provide any pictures, I will!
Here you go, my "Dog Bed Porter" explosion from last year.
Yes, it did turn out excellent!

all these horror stories of lids blowing off because the airlock got stuck is exactly why I'll never use one for the Primary. im going to use a Blow off tube right from the get go.

-=Jason=-

happened to me about a month ago. airlock got filled with gue than dried, blew the lid right off the bucket. what a mess! oxy clean and warm water took care of it, but I caught it before it dried on the walls and ceiling

Explosions can can still happen with blow off tubes if they are not big enough to vent a sufficient amount af gas and krausen. I have a 3/8" ID blow off tube in my primary right now and the lid is bulging hugely, if I didn't clamp it on I'm sure I'd be asking how to clean my beer off my ceiling too. Sometimes bigger really is better.

Wish I had good pictures, it was a huge mess, but all I have is the camera on my phone and the pictures turned out bad. I will give an update once I get the mess cleaned up so as to report the best method I had.

batch cost- $10
cleaning supplies- $15
new bath mat- $30

Yay.

Tall_Yotie said:

Carboy exploded- how best to clean walls?

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With a mop. And BTW, Welcome Brother, you are a REALL Home Brewer now.

Thank you for the acceptance!

So, OxyClean and a lot of elbow grease cleaned it up.

I had an advantage, though - it is indeed an 8' ceiling, but I am 6'10", so not terribly out of reach. though the detergent going down my arm and my back was not good, so I had to clean myself up as well after getting the bathroom back in order.

From now on, if I don't have a blow-off tube but think I might need it, i will put a dish towel over the airlock. This way if it explodes, the force shall be dissipated, along with the spray.

Tall_Yotie said:

I am sitting there with wet towels and some ajax, but it doesn't seem to be a miracle cleaner.

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Ajax claims (or claimed, seeing as how old I am) to be "stronger than dirt", but you need something stronger than wort.

I've had the airlock on a 1.25 gallon jug get clogged and turn the fermenter into a beer gyser when it blew off the cork and airlock. What a mess. I use a 1/2" tube for blow off and haven't had a problem since, even when I fermented with wild yeast in it.