Blew my top

So a few days in on the primary for my belgian the fermentation backed up into the air lock and exploded in the closet, my upset wife put the carboy outside without the air lock , i got a 1 1/4" vinyl tube and after shaking the yeast back down again put it back in the closet. after a day it went well into the blowoff and seemed to be fermenting fine. 1st question do you think its ruined?
how can i tell if it is? also if the sun did hit the carboy will that ruin the beer if only for a short time(it was in the shade but i wasnt home to see)?

Damn that is awesome. I wouldn't worry too much. Let it continue as if nothing happened. Your bigger issue is your wife who obviously has not embraced this new hobby of yours.

It looks good so it should be good, there was probably enough CO2 pushing out so nothing got in and the light shouldn't have done anything much for a short time

Go buy your wife a nice dinner somewhere, no one likes cleaning up beer and krausen

That's freakin awesome!

Your wife will love that!!

is that a 6.5 gallon carboy? Damn I've not seen one of those blow yet

KaiserBierMann said:

is that a 6.5 gallon carboy? Damn I've not seen one of those blow yet

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I had a blowoff in a 6.5 gallon Carboy earlier this week. NB Sweet Stout got me. Trust me, it CAN happen!

Thanks for the input! Yeah she was a little mad understandably, I didn't enjoy scrubbing the walls either . I rack it into the secondary Tuesday after that it's the long wait! Maybe I'll do a blond ale ....????.....

JAYSBREW said:

Thanks for the input! Yeah she was a little mad understandably, I didn't enjoy scrubbing the walls either . I rack it into the secondary Tuesday after that it's the long wait! Maybe I'll do a blond ale ....????.....

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I'd suggest painting the closet beige so if it happens again, she won't notice.

KaiserBierMann said:

is that a 6.5 gallon carboy? Damn I've not seen one of those blow yet

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Yeah 6.5, I did a yeast starter for it and it fermented vigorously in the first 12 hrs

A spray bottle filled 1:1 vodka:water will get the smell out of the paint. I know this for a reason!

kappapi434 said:

A spray bottle filled 1:1 vodka:water will get the smell out of the paint. I know this for a reason!

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I cleaned it with water/bleach and an oil school scrub brush so far no smell

My wife noticed my ipa turned my airlock cruddy so she says "I made one of those blow off things so your beer wouldn't blow up." I fell in love all over again. Haha.



She looked up how to make one YouTube.

Nice - and ypy do owe your wife!

I have to make her a Belgian wheat with orange zest AG. Haha...done. Also have to take her to a steak house. Well worth it. Beer and steak...me thinks I got off easy. Haha.

IanPC said:

My wife noticed my ipa turned my airlock cruddy so she says "I made one of those blow off things so your beer wouldn't blow up." I fell in love all over again. Haha.

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She looked up how to make one YouTube.

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Thats a keeper right there!

Keep her for sure!

Wow, thanks for the pictures! I literally laughed out loud. I would not blame my wife for setting it outside after a mess like that! But seriously, every shred of advice on here says that things like that will most likely not harm your beer, and to not worry about it.

IanPC said:

My wife noticed my ipa turned my airlock cruddy so she says "I made one of those blow off things so your beer wouldn't blow up." I fell in love all over again. Haha.

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She looked up how to make one YouTube.

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I don't recommend using narrow tube blowoffs for the same reason I don't like airlocks for primary. They easily clog and cause beersplosions, which aren't dangerous, but are messy. Stick with the 1+ inch tube, which is virtually impossible to clog. Hotly debated in the past, the idea that the finished product using a fermentation lock / blowoff is any different was put to rest for me over the past decade. After the initial fermentation subsides, switch to a fermentation lock. Dunk it in star san first, naturally.

It ended up working well for me, probably would of been bad if she hadn't done anything while I was at work. Next time I'll be more prepared for that sort of thing.

4' OF 1" ID, 1 & 1/4 OD CLEAR TUBE $8.54 WITH TAX FROM ORCHARD SUPPLY.

On another note...my wife also came home with a new grill. Thank Christ her birthday isn't soon haha. Now if I could only get my toddlers to sleep through the night...

into the secondary you go

Those carboy handles are the devil. I've cracked two of them using it.

I can see the handle doing that, I'm scared it'll break and land on my foot.

JAYSBREW said:

I can see the handle doing that, I'm scared it'll break and land on my foot.

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Why buy a wedge when I have a perfect old book!

I spent the $ and got a brew hauler. A little awkward and if you're not careful you can slosh the beer around a bit. Worth the cash in my book. I haven't had many instances where it didn't do it's job.

thats my first belgian is that enough head space OR to little?

KaiserBierMann said:

is that a 6.5 gallon carboy? Damn I've not seen one of those blow yet

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All of my brews blow off in a 6.5.... It just means the yeast are ecstatic to be treated with dignity, respect, and sugars

IanPC said:

On another note...my wife also came home with a new grill. Thank Christ her birthday isn't soon haha. Now if I could only get my toddlers to sleep through the night...

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Give them some beer before bed...

Bwhahahahahh........hahahahahhah! EPIC pics!!!

Draken said:

Give them some beer before bed...

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Benedryl coolatta for them...dry Irish stout for daddy!

JAYSBREW said:

4' OF 1" ID, 1 & 1/4 OD CLEAR TUBE $8.54 WITH TAX FROM ORCHARD SUPPLY.

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Ordered.