ale pail looks like its about to explode

I am fermenting a porter with nottingham right now, the bucket lid is ballooned out and so is the bottom. I have a blowoff tube and it is bubbling so it is releasing pressure. should i be worried?

i'd say the line is mostly plugged and you need to crack the lid to relieve pressure and clear the line

Pic please...is the tube filler with krausen?

The tube is clear, and there is bubbling in the jug i have the tube in.

Do you have the tube in too deep (into the wort?)? It shouldn't be bulging at all- the pressure should be coming out of the bucket through the blow off tube.

I'd remove that lid right away and check the tubing for clogs. It sounds like it's ready to blow.

BeerPressure said:

The tube is clear, and there is bubbling in the jug i have the tube in.

Click to expand...

Pressure must be building up some how then. Pics would help if you can

Unseat the lid of the bucket and replace it but do not snap it down. There's a clog somewhere in the line.

Well, its all over the wall and floor now! It blew.

Now we really need PICS!!!

BeerPressure said:

Well, its all over the wall and floor now! It blew.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the bulging lid was a sure sign that a blow up was imminent. The blow off tube must have been clogged.

I guess the first thing to do now is clean up the mess, and make sure the blow off tube is not clogged.

Also, check the temperature of the wort- a super active fermentation can cause the temperature to sky rocket inside the ferment. Cooling it down a bit if it's high may help keep things under control better.

Maybe it's just the couple glasses of Brandy (it always brings out the pompous ass in me) I've had, but I'm thinking this has to be a troll. The OP can't possibly think that a ballooning Ale Pail meant that pressure was not building.

The line was NOT clogged, i inspected it after it landed on the floor and the obvious bubbling in the growler that i had the tube in meant it wasnt clogged. The pressure must of been too much for that tiny little tube.

I also moved it into the basement, maybe it was too warm upstairs.

BeerPressure said:

The line was NOT clogged, i inspected it after it landed on the floor and the obvious bubbling in the growler that i had the tube in meant it wasnt clogged. The pressure must of been two much that that tiny little tube.

Click to expand...

You must have had machine gun fire in the growler the entire time. I've never seen something blow that wasn't at least partially clogged (that's why I mentioned it maybe being too low into the wort) but it must be possible.

When I've had active fermentations and needed a blow off tube, a growler definitely wasn't big enough for all of the blow off. I needed a bucket!

Yes the growler was bubbling rapidly. Just hope this does not happen again. I was reading your replies when I heard a loud noise downstairs and knew it happened.

BeerPressure said:

Yes the growler was bubbling rapidly. Just hope this does not happen again. I was reading your replies when I heard a loud noise downstairs and knew it happened.

Click to expand...

That sucks. Now we really need pics

Sounds like me last week.

Porter ... Nottingham ... Explosion.

Except I was a good boy and posted pics.

It's gonna happen again. There is so much krausen that its up the the top of the lid. should i skim off some of the foam?

the lid is ballooning again

BeerPressure said:

It's gonna happen again. There is so much krausen that its up the the top of the lid. should i skim off some of the foam?

the lid is ballooning again

Click to expand...

Oh come on!
You put the lid back on with that fermentation?!
Really?

2 things,

Get something underneath it to catch the foam mess (duh, sure you already figured that)

I would remove the tube and let it vent through the hole directly. That much foam and CO2 will keep the nasties out. Monitor it closely so you can replace the blowoff (or stick on an airlock) once it tones down.


Oh, and the beer gods are playing a joke on you for using the name BeerPressure

Why don't you just crack the lid slightly open with the blow off tube still in there until morning?

ma2brew said:

Maybe it's just the couple glasses of Brandy (it always brings out the pompous ass in me) I've had, but I'm thinking this has to be a troll. The OP can't possibly think that a ballooning Ale Pail meant that pressure was not building.

Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. (For the same reason )

I say you cover it with plastic wrap and watch the balloon grow. See how big you can get the krausen bubble. Take pictures.

i thought leaving the lid off was bad for it? well i scooped about 2 inches of foam off, which was causing the backup.

also those who think i am trolling: never had something like this happen so i dont know what to do

I don't think anyone has asked, but what is the diameter of your blow-off tube?

You mentioned it was "tiny". May need to upgrade to 1-1.25", or whatever size would fit snuggly into the bung hole.

Good luck. This wouldn't be a robust porter as similar to another thread would it?

If so robust is an appropriate name

Holy ****... forget just leaving the tube off. Keep that lid cracked!

Brew-Happy said:

I don't think anyone has asked, but what is the diameter of your blow-off tube?

You mentioned it was "tiny". May need to upgrade to 1-1.25", or whatever size would fit snuggly into the bung hole.

Good luck. This wouldn't be a robust porter as similar to another thread would it?

If so robust is an appropriate name

Click to expand...

same exact recipe and yeast. The blowoff tube has a small diameter, i am not sure the measurement. A little bigger than you would use on a racking cane.


edit: just gonna leave the lid cracked now, that foam keeps building and i wont stay up all night scooping it off

Did you overfill the bucket with beer?

I've done a 5 gallon batch of sugar water using Turbo Yeast and gotten it up to 15% alcohol in 48 hours but not had any problems with exploding buckets.

No, it was not over filled. Everything is fine now. its just a violent fermentation.

This thread has been dead a while.

How did the beer turn out?

I usually just let gravity hold my lids in place and make a tray out of a low walled carboard box with a plastic garbage bag around it to catch overflow.

The down side is I need to get it bottled fairly quickly to avoid oxidation. The benefit of sealing is that it can be left and ignored for a while.

.