Foam Overflow in Plastic Pale

Up until now I've been a wine maker. Just embarking on my first Ale - The Whie House Honey Ale.

It's the first full day of fermentation and it's currently sitting in a plastic pale-type fermentor, with the lid loosely on top (I only have one glass carboy and want to save this for the racking in a few days).

The foam is currently about 2 inches from overflowing. I can find lots of information online about a blow off tube for carboy overflow, but what should I do in the case of a palstic pale fermentor?

At some point I'll buy another carboy so I have two, but for now I need to make do with the equipment I have.

Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.

Do you have a large container you can set the bucket in? If so, you can put some cold water in it with the bucket and cool down the fermenter which will slow down the yeast action an also be a space to catch any krausen that should spill over the top of your bucket.

Do you have an airlock on the bucket lid? You can remove the inside part of a 3 piece and slip a hose over the inside stem to make a blow-off tube too.

Sadly this isn't a pale with a hole for an air lock. It's from a homebrew store too, so I'd have thought it would have had one.

I'll have to take a look and see if I have anything big enough for the pale to fit into. Thanks for the suggestion.

During the summer I use the bathtub. Works great.

So putting it in cold water won't harm the fermentation? Apologies for the insecurity - this is a first for me!

Spotted this late, but in any case..
My first instinct would be to get a hole in the lid and an airlock. Even without the grommet, maybe insure seal with tape or I use Glad Press Seal, anything to keep ambient air out. If really blowing off then blow off tube in said hole. Would not want to contaminate entire batch over lack of airlock. Lack of drill to crate hole? Pointed object (knife) ream out hole to appropriate size. Regardless, lid should not be on "loosely". IMHO

HappyWarrior said:

So putting it in cold water won't harm the fermentation? Apologies for the insecurity - this is a first for me!

Click to expand...

If you get the beer too cold the yeast will stop working until it warms up again but if it gets too warm the yeast give off some "fusel alcohol" that is a higher molecular weight alcohol than ethanol and give your beer an unpleasant bite. The yeast also likes to create esters that will leave you with "bubble gum" or "banana" beer. With the beer I made today, I'll strive to keep the fermenter temperature in the lower to mid 60's as I know that the yeast will work slower then. When about a week has passed I'll let it get warmer (72) so the yeast finish the cleanup of byproducts. I'll keep it at that temperature for another 2 to 3 weeks and then it will be ready to bottle.