Help Please! Airlock is full of beer, foam....

So today i was excited to see my Airlock bubbling furiously... We'll around 5 pm there was a little bit of beer and Krausen foaming up in the airlock and it was starting to come out of the air holes i left it as it was. We'll i just got back from a movie and the airlock is full of beer, leaning over, and has leaked out onto the lid. It looks like it is about to blow haha. To some extent it already has erupted some. I am a little worried thought i had vodka in the Airlock and it appears to be gone or so mixed with beer that i can not tell if there is any left...

Can someone please tell me what i should do about my Airlock? Should i just pull it out and put more vodka in it? also If i pull it out is it going to erupt onto my ceiling?

Hopefully if any vodka dripped through the airlock into the fermenter that it will not ruin my beer.

If you have any tubing that fits, run a piece of tubing from the middle protrusion of the airlock into a bucket of sanitized water. This is what's called a blowoff tube.

If you don't have any, then replace your airlock with a sanitized airlock and refill with vodka or sanitized water. You may have to do this multiple times, depending on how long fermentation lasts.

Get some 3/8 ID vinyl hose from Lowes and a pitcher of water. Take the top off the airlock and remove the bell. Install hose over the inner stem and place the other end in the pitcher. Add 1 to 1-1/2 quarts water to pitcher (2 if it's a gallon pitcher). Relax. Enjoy knowing you now have a blow off rig and will conitnue to not have to mop the ceilings.

Send me a beer when it's finished.

But it will not erupt will it when i pull it out ?

It might.............

Still beats having the lid blow off.

I would wait for fermentation to die down. Duck the woman if you have one and there is a mess(walls ceiling floor).

When it settled down replace airlock, or add santizer(wodka) and replace the beer in airlock.

If you can suck off the beer in airlock(pipet, turkey baster)

Oh, it may very well erupt when you pull it out, but that's better than it building up so much pressure it blows all over the place when the top shoots out. In a pinch, you could probably use the hose from your siphon and shove it in there with the other end in a cup of water.

After you've carefully moved the primary into the bathtub/shower stall, invert a bucket over the airlock while you're removing it!

Pogo

Ok thanks for the reposnes guys! I removed my airlock and luckily nothing shot out other than a nice shot of air. I put some vodka back in it and placed it back onto the lid and it is bubbling again like crazy hehe !! Exciting this hobby!

if you dont use an blow off, you will have the same issue

search blow off on the forum.

Before you use the airlock the next time, jam a chopstick or philips screwdriver down the tube and break off the tip. The tip is what clogged and caused the pressure buildup. The tips are scored so they will break off evenly and safely without risking injury vs. trying to cut the tip off. It is still possible for the tube to clog but less likely and if it does then sanitize the same chopstick and push it through the clog. A towel draped over your hand will catch anything that spews when you clear the tube.

I had this happen to me for the first time last weekend. It was exactly like what you described. I discovered it only about an hour after it started erupting through the airlock so the pressure wasn't too bad. I went and bought about 5 feet of 1/2" ID tube. Removed the airlock and cut off the bottom part like the other guys said. Sanitized the airlock and tube and mounted the contraption back on the fermenter. I boiled about a half gallon of water (don't know if boiling was necessary) and cooled it, then put it in a I gallon water bottle. Ran the blowoff tube into the water bottle and let it do its thing. I let off a lot of pressure for about a hour or so and then calmed down. I think I can probably go back with an airlock this weekend.

So now that this has happened to me, I guess I will start off with a blowoff tube every time.

Dennis