Exploded Fermenter, Will it do it again?

OK, in the realm of exploded primaries this is relatively benign. Woke up this morning to make coffee and went to check my primary only to find that the beer had come through the airlock. Not a lot got through, maybe about 1/2 cup of kraeusen had pooled on top of the bucket.

I took the bucket to the tub, cleaned it off, opened up the top, cleaned it off, scooped out a bit of the top layer of kraeusen with a sanitized cup, (re-sanitized everything) and put it back in the cool water bucket that I'm fermenting it in.

As I said, the realm of exploding primaries, it was pretty mild. My question is, will it happen again? I knew that when I put it in that I might have some problems; it was my first time making a starter and I filled the bucket to normal level (I'm a PM brewer so I add water to get up to the skosh over 5 gallon mark) but then realized I had a 1.75 L starter of yeast that still needed to be added. The starter was still in high kraeusen, so I didn't want to discard the liquid on top, so I tossed it in too. Hence, the amount of space for the kraeusen was already lower than normal.

(and yes, I know, blow-off tube. I was putting it off because my primary is a bucket with a hole that is too small for a large, 1"ish blow-off, so I was waiting to get a 6.5 gallon glass carboy for it...I think it's on my immediate shopping list now )

Hard to say, if it was the first night after brew it still might build a bit but if you gave it a couple inches in scooping it off I'd say unlikely.

Tough to say, but I'd prepare for it to overflow again. You don't need a 1" blowoff tube - use one of your siphon tubes as a blowoff. You can either put it directly in the bucket lid's grommet if it fits or I've seen some people attache them to the top of their fermentation lock depending upon it's size/shape. Just be prepared to retire that siphon tube after this batch ferments because once the krausen gets in there I've never found a way to get the inside of the tube clean.

Your 6.5 gallon carboy idea is a nice fix for future batches but don't be surprised if you find even that overflowing with particularly active wheat beer fermentations.

The point of the 6.5 gallon carboy is less for the size (my primary bucket is already 6.5 gallons) but more because the mouth size will make using a large blow-off tube simple.

For reference: the beer was brewed on Saturday night. I've been keeping it at a steady 66 throughout fermentation. Yes, it's a Hefe with honey added to it, so I was aware of some potential troubles. Maybe I should trust my brewer's intuition more.

chrispykid said:

Tough to say, but I'd prepare for it to overflow again. You don't need a 1" blowoff tube - use one of your siphon tubes as a blowoff. You can either put it directly in the bucket lid's grommet if it fits or I've seen some people attache them to the top of their fermentation lock depending upon it's size/shape. Just be prepared to retire that siphon tube after this batch ferments because once the krausen gets in there I've never found a way to get the inside of the tube clean.

Click to expand...

+1. If you have a 3-piece airlock, just disassemble it and attach the vinyl hose from your siphon to make your blowoff tube...

Following your intuition is a good thing...

Good call on the MacGyver'd blow-off guys, I went to fix my spare airlock with the siphon hose and just as I was pulling off the 3 piece that I'd put on an hour ago, kraeusen was already started to bubble into the 3 piece!

Wheats and high gravity ales, always get the blowoff treatment.

I have switched to a blowoff setup on 100% of my brews so I dont sweat it anymore, after the risk of blowoff is past I pop on an airlock for the remaining of fermentation.

Fermcap <--- just another option if you don't want to get a larger fermenter.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/default/fermcap-s-1-oz.html