Explosive Beer. Mystery?

Ok. My brother was skeptical about brewing his own beer, but I talked him into doing it and bought him a high quality extract/mash kit (Porter) for his birthday ($30 bucks) from a reputable supplier that I have used and never had a problem. I said he could use my equipment.

So. I go over to his house with my equipment and we cook up the Porter kit, complete with a little baby mash step that went really well. When we were done, I could tell the stuff was gonna be good and the wort smelled like it was going to be a great little batch. Being as it was getting late, I instructed him on how to cool his wort in a cold water bath in the bathtub and then pitch his yeast when it hit about 78 degrees. The yeast by the way was a White Labs yeast (WLP023 Burton Yeast) that I have never used. I only use Wyeast smackpacks and I'm quite happy.

Anyway, the next day he calls and says he is getting good bubbling and fermentation is going. Later in the day he calls me and says, "The beer is dead. The lid on the fermenter blew off and blew beer all over the inside of my closet. Total disaster."

I have never had this happen. The primary fermenter I use has an incrediblely tight seal on it and is tough to get off. When I went over there, the fermenter had a strong, strange smell of medicine. Hmmmm...

My questions: 1) Why didn't the beer blow the bubbler off or at least vent out through the bubbler? (2) He has ambient heat floors which was my theory that the heat from the floor over heated the yeast and blew off the lid. (3) He swears that he didn't contaminate the batch, so what gives with the medicinal smell?

I have never had a batch of contaminated beer in all my brewing experience and my santization has not always been the best. Was it the floor heat? Or contamination?

It was the poor guys first batch and I feel terrible he had this nasty experience. He has agreed to try again, but I'm thinking maybe he buys the kit and I do it over here. I'm also thinking of retiring the primary just in case. Has anyone ever actually seen a lid blow off a primary after only 36 hours??? By the way, the primary is a 6.5 gallon bucket giving a headspace of 1.5 gallons. I've never seen krausen even come close to getting to the top.

Most likely, the air lock got clogged with krausen, causing the lid to blow off in order to release built up pressure. Sounds like you had a nice, vigorous fermentation going (likely due to the floor heat) - too bad it didn't get to finish!

A hot fermentation can contribute some fusel alcohols and esters that might result in that medicinal smell. It's also possible that the medicinal smell was a result of the lid blowing off, exposing your beer to mold, bacteria, and oxygen.

Either way, sorry to hear about the disaster! I'd avoid putting the fermenter on the floor at his place from now on if I were you.

I've never used that yeast- is it possible that it was a sulfer-y smell from the yeast, and not an infection? I probably would have resanitized the airlock and lid and thrown it back on, just in case it was still ok. It sounds like the fermentation was too hot, though- so maybe that's why the smell.

I just cleaned up my first mess- I had a vigorous fermentation. A 5 gallon batch in a 7.5 gallon primary bucket. The airlock was clogged, and so the krausen and beer came out through the airlock hole around the airlock. Thank goodness, because the airlocked was clogged, and the bucket and lid were bulging when I woke up this morning. I pulled out the airlock and the pressure "let go". Not too bad, really, I just needed to resanitized the airlock and clean up the cupboard and floor and little. If it hadn't leaked some, I'm sure it would have blown the top off. I'm fermenting it at 62 degrees- if it had been warmer, I'd probably still be on my hands and knees cleaning it up.

Better luck next time to him! I hope this didn't deter him.

Lorena

I've had lids blow off twice, both times with clogged airlocks. The smell was probably due to a very warm ferment. Radiant floor heating tends to be around 80F. You need to check the temperature in the closet. Get a cheap digital min/max thermometer and tape the outside probe to the floor of the closet. Maybe set the fermenter on a sheet of insulation to keep the heat away.

I always just place the lid on the fermenter. Impossible for air to get in since there's a huge amount of gas going out. Put the airlock on after vigorous ferment is done.

The beer's gonna be fine.
Leave it a week and taste.

Just clean up and put the lid back on.

Thanks for the replys. Yeah, I tend to agree it was a piece of hops or grain husk that clogged the bubbler...

Unfortunately he threw out the beer before he called me so we will never know how the "Dynomite Porter" would have turned out.

Why people throw out good beer they paid money for escapes me.

Agreed. It's quite tragic, really. I'd do everything in my power to save my beer before dumping it. A little lid blow-off isn't THAT bad. Pretty bad, but at least nothing exploded or broke.

I dumped one once. Never forgiven myself for it. It was years ago and it was just a kit but still should not have thrown it out. I can laugh about it now but the reason I threw it out was I was getting no activity in the air lock. Tightened the lid and checked the grommit for leaks, nothing. Chucked in another yeast and nothing. Thought that I had somehow 'broken it'. Poured it down the bath. Started another batch and samething happened. Yeup, it was the o-ring for the lid that was to blame - too old and wasn't sealing. I must have missed the actual fermintation taking place (went away for a couple of days after starting). Told my LHBS and I have still to regain their respect . "Why did you not call us", was the reply.
Anyho, you live and learn (at least most of the time!)

dibby33 said:

I dumped one once.

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I have a buddy with a very sour batch of bottled beer 4 months old and will not dump them. Its not cause hes lazy its cause it would hurt too bad.

My questions: 1) Why didn't the beer blow the bubbler off or at least vent out through the bubbler? (2) He has ambient heat floors which was my theory that the heat from the floor over heated the yeast and blew off the lid. (3) He swears that he didn't contaminate the batch, so what gives with the medicinal smell?


#3 sounds like chlorine in your water to me.

boo boo said:

My questions: 1) Why didn't the beer blow the bubbler off or at least vent out through the bubbler? (2) He has ambient heat floors which was my theory that the heat from the floor over heated the yeast and blew off the lid. (3) He swears that he didn't contaminate the batch, so what gives with the medicinal smell?


#3 sounds like chlorine in your water to me.

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#1- the airlock was probably clogged with krausen.
#2- Yes, that's probably true
#3- The medicinal smell can be fusel alcohols from the very high temperature, or a contaminiation from when the lid was off and the beer was too warm. Or maybe something else?

I would not have dumped it either- until I was positively sure it was unsalvageable. I made a batch once that I didn't like- I didn't want to throw it away because it was heartbreaking. It had kind of cider-y off flavor that was unpleasant. I just left them in the case unopened for months. Then a friend begged to try it- and it was much, much better. Still not a favorite of mine but my friends drank every bottle over the next month. It would have to be really, really, bad for me to dump it.

Lorena

lorenae said:

#3- The medicinal smell can be fusel alcohols from the very high temperature, or a contaminiation from when the lid was off and the beer was too warm. Or maybe something else?

Lorena

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I agree with number #3. It definitely was not chlorine as we are uber rural out here and only use our own well water. No chlorine added here. However we suffer from high levels of sulfer in our shallow wells and I think that was the factor.

Whatever, I think this thread needs to die and my Bro is itching to try another batch and his first failure has only pissed him off and he will not rest until he gets a good batch down. He's that type of person...Thanks for the input.