Lid blew off my Primary!

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swannyson7

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I have an Imperial Stout in primary and the lid just blew off my fermenting bucket. I had a blow off tube run into a bottle of sanitizer, but apparently it still wasn't enough. Pretty much all of the krausen blew out of the bucket onto the cieling and I was wondering how this is going to affect the finished product? It's only been fermenting for about 24 hours and I cleaned up ASAP, but will this make it more prone to an infection? With the krausen blow off, will there be an impact on the flavor? Also, do I need to do anything differently now that it's happened? Sorry for all of the questions, but I just want to make sure that I did everything I can if I'm going to be tieing up one of my fermenters for 4 months... :mad:

Thanks!
 
I'd say you're more likely than not OK. At this point, the yeast is producing enough positive pressure through CO2 (see, for example, your yeast-covered ceiling) that nothing probably go down into your beer. Either way there's not a ton you can do about it, other than get the lid and blow off tube back on as quickly as possible, and wait and see. But a breach like that would be much more dangerous (but also much less likely) when you're past the most active part of fermentation, as you would have a greater probability of getting uglies in your beer. I'd guess you're probably OK though, other than the mess.

Cheers.
 
Beer should be fine, not much you can do about at this point anyway. Perhaps a larger bucket or a carboy next time. Post pics if you have 'em
 
Sorry, no pics. I already cleaned up before typing this... SWMBO will be home soon and I'd be in deep ____ if she saw the mess! Should I use a couple bar clamps to hold the lid on this time or place some weight on the lid to prevent another mess?
 
Oh, and as far as what to do differently next time, it depends on what your exact setup looked like. With very big beers, I find that the following help:

- using as large a primary as possible--I have a 6.5 gal carboy that I use for this purpose, although on imperial stouts I will still end up with krausen in my blowoff tube sometimes.
- using as large a blow-off tube as possible--you can get 1/2" tubing that will be more difficult to clog, which is what creates your krausen bomb.
- fermenting at slightly lower temps to start--this is not a bad idea for long-fermenting beers in general IMO, since it lets the yeast consume the sugars at a more moderate pace, so your yeast don't go wild for a few days and then drop out from exhaustion and stress. With high gravity beers I think it's better to start a little low on the temp, allow your yeast to get going, then raise the temp slowly into the yeast's sweet spot over the course of maybe 3-6 days. For ex, if I'm doing an imperial stout with WLP007, I'll start at 62F or even 60F, and bring it slowly up to about 66F by about 4-5 days in, at which point it's still very active. It will still ferment like crazy for those first two days, but I haven't had any blowoffs with this method. I know White Labs says the optimal range for WLP007 is 65 to 70, but I still find that starting off a little cool and warming slowly gives a better, more controlled ferment, and I've never had problems with stuck fermentations.

Just my .02
 
Sorry, no pics. I already cleaned up before typing this... SWMBO will be home soon and I'd be in deep ____ if she saw the mess! Should I use a couple bar clamps to hold the lid on this time or place some weight on the lid to prevent another mess?

Possibly put something on top of the lid, but I don't know that I would clamp it...if you get another clog, it could just build up pressure until the side of the bucket splits, which would be an awful shame. But you can put a brick on top of the lid so that, if it vents, hopefully it won't fly off again.
 
Welcome to the "Oh Sh*t" club. Your beer should still be viable depending on how long the lid was off and that the lid is still good. I think the worst is over now seeing how all the back pressure has been released. Make sure that your blow off tube isn't clogged and reset. I don't envy you when SWMBO comes home and finds the random bits you didn't see on the walls/ceiling. I know your pain.
 
I had this happen to me with my IPA a couple of weeks ago, with the airlock not the lid- beer is hard to clean up! my 8 month pregnant wife called me at work and asked if I had taken my airlock out and why is there beer dripping off the ceiling of the soon to be nursery... luckily she's pretty awesome and thought it was funny as I came home and cleaned. From then on I decided no more 5 gallon primary, just my 6.5 gal buckets, and the heavy fermenting beers will get the tube treatment, not the bubble airlocks. :)
 
My wife would not be amused in the least. I had these problems with a 6.5g bucket with 1/2" I.D.tubing for the blow off. I'm afraid to use a larger fermenter because I picture too much headspace giving me other problems. Hopefully it turns out alright in the end!
 
Headspace is, as far as I know, usually an issue only if the beer is going to be sitting for quite a long time. With a big beer, I usually put it in the biggest carboy I have, let it go nuts, then rack to a smaller carboy once primary fermentation is complete, to minimize the headspace issue. Even if it sits on primary for a month, I don't think you have much to worry about...the robust fermentation produces a nice comfy C02 blanket which should protect the beer. But I absolutely agree that when you rack to secondary you want to put it in the right sized carboy, to minimize the beer's contact with 02 and prevent oxidization.
 
Dude, that's a huge bummer and just so you know are all very disappointed there are no pictures! We all love to see beer dropping from ceilings! Lol!

Seriously, your beer will be fine, but next time post pictures, then clean up, Cheers!
 
I use a 6-1/2 gal bucket to provide enough head space without a blow-off tube. But then I started reading lots of accounts of 6-1/2 gal buckets still having problems. Now I leave the lid loose, with a 1 pound weight on top. Next fermenter bucket I get will be 8 gallon.
 

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