Learned my 1st lesson today

First time brewer, long time drinker. This is the best site I've found yet. Lots of good info. Thanks to everyone for having a great passion for good beer. I'm sure I will learn alot here, and hopefully spread my share of knowledge when the time comes.

Now to the fun stuff. Started my first ever batch on Tuesday of Brewers Best IPA. Everything went smooth. Had fermentation in around 24hrs. Problem was (stupid mistake) that I didn't pay too much attention to the blow off valve and put too much water in it. So needless to say gas couldn't escape and it blew right off the top. Fun clean up too. Should I worry about contamination at all? I resanitized the plug and attached the siphon hose to it going to a small bucket. I was thinking of putting the hose into a 5 gal bucket with some water in it to prevent air from reaching the brew. Am I worrying too much? Anything else that I should do?

Blow-ups happen.



A blow-off tube can be a good idea, but you're past the worst of it already.

Too much water in the airlock wasn't your problem... it was pretty likely due to the tiny holes in the airlock getting clogged.

Its very hard for the bad guys to set up shop during fermentation. That nice krausen layer and all that CO2 production are tough to get by. You should be fine. From what I have read, the blown top issue is not uncommon.

Gonefishing said:

Too much water in the airlock wasn't your problem... it was pretty likely due to the tiny holes in the airlock getting clogged.

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The airlock doesn't have tiny holes. It has a second inner piece that has slotted holes on the bottom quarter of it. I thought the same think too until I took a better look at it. When the inner piece rose from the gas, the slottes were still in the water preventing gas from releasing.

Thanks for the reassurance thun00. As a noob I'm still uncertain as to many things. But that will soon pass the more I brew.

Oh yeah, and the closet I have it in smells really good now. LOL

Yeah, you can learn a ton just by reading the different posts. Have fun!

Keep an eye on your temps, that kind of thing often happens if the yeast is going too fast because the temps are too high. Remember that you want a good fermentation over a fast one. Blow off tubes are good

Madcap said:

The airlock doesn't have tiny holes. It has a second inner piece that has slotted holes on the bottom quarter of it. I thought the same think too until I took a better look at it. When the inner piece rose from the gas, the slottes were still in the water preventing gas from releasing.

Thanks for the reassurance thun00. As a noob I'm still uncertain as to many things. But that will soon pass the more I brew.

Oh yeah, and the closet I have it in smells really good now. LOL

Click to expand...

That wouldn't keep the gas from escaping... it will bubble right around/through the water. You do NOT want a clean airway between the ouside air and the fermenter. Water should block it completely. This will keep anything from the outside getting in and only let CO2 escape...

Actually, you should use something that will deter bacterial growth in your airlock. You will want to use some StarSan solution or cheap vodka.

yes, you can bypass the airlock and put the blowoff tube fromthe carboy cork directly into a 2 liter pet bottle which is about 40% full of sterile water (with a bit of starsan is also good). It becomes a high volume airlock which has the capacity to absorb krausen should it blow through. Tape the tube in place and you can rest easy.