Save me

Got antsy Sunday night and brewed up a nice Pumpkin spice kit. Put it in the carboy in a closet under the stairs. I'm out of town this week, but my wife informed me that the cap came off and it exploded everywhere. Walls, carpet, all the stuff that is in the closet.

Any advice on how to clean it up. She attempted to clean it and then said "yah, you have fun with this when you get home" and just closed up the closet. She was nice enough to re-santize the cap and airlock and put it back on....then it promptly exploded again.

Hopefully I'm not :cross: right? HA Any suggestions?!?!?!?

A blow off tube would be ideal to prevent the thing from exploding any further

As for clean up, hot water and any normal cleaner will work, it's just sticky sugar and yeast waste, like your wife said, have fun with that!

You could easily instruct her on how to make a blowoff tube, if she were willing... you could have her get a few feet of - I think it's 1/2" ID tube? - and a bucket. Fill the bucket halfway with sanitizing solution, sanitize your airlock and the tubing... take the cap off and float out of the airlock and slip the tubing over the plastic outlet of the airlock. Place the airlock back in the carboy and put the end of the tube into the bucket below the sanitized water.

If the pressure is still trying to escape through the narrow airlock tube, through the 1/2" tube and into the bucket, is it really that much more efficient at releasing pressure?

sjramm said:

If the pressure is still trying to escape through the narrow airlock tube, through the 1/2" tube and into the bucket, is it really that much more efficient at releasing pressure?

Click to expand...

I think it's a 1" ID tubing that fits down into the neck of a carboy, right? That eliminates the airlock altogether.

sjramm said:

If the pressure is still trying to escape through the narrow airlock tube, through the 1/2" tube and into the bucket, is it really that much more efficient at releasing pressure?

Click to expand...

It really is. What usually happens is the airlock gets clogged, so the pressure builds until the bung on the carboy shoots out the top along with a good bit of krausen and beer. If your airlock has an x shaped piece at the bottom, I would suggest cutting that off. That is usually where it clogs.

If you have the tubing on the racking cane still, tell her to just grab the whole thing and stick the cane into a pitcher 1/4 full of w water or sanitizer, pull the airlock out of the rubber grommet and push the hose in about a half inch.. done until you can take care of it!!

ksut1547 said:

It really is. What usually happens is the airlock gets clogged, so the pressure builds until the bung on the carboy shoots out the top along with a good bit of krausen and beer. If your airlock has an x shaped piece at the bottom, I would suggest cutting that off. That is usually where it clogs.

Click to expand...

Yes, cut that off. It will still probably be better than the airlock for now if that's too much to ask of her.

I do that now--took a couple of airlocks and cut off that x-shaped piece at the bottom and hooked up 3/8 (I think) tubing on the top....it still clogs with super-crazy fermentations in my Better Bottles (in fact it just happened to MY Pumpkin Spice batch).

Does anyone have "better" Better Bottle blowoff solutions that they'd like to share????

jturie said:

I do that now--took a couple of airlocks and cut off that x-shaped piece at the bottom and hooked up 3/8 (I think) tubing on the top....it still clogs with super-crazy fermentations in my Better Bottles (in fact it just happened to MY Pumpkin Spice batch).

Does anyone have "better" Better Bottle blowoff solutions that they'd like to share????

Click to expand...

You just have to buy a sacrificial bung and drill it for a bigger hose!!!

jturie said:

I do that now--took a couple of airlocks and cut off that x-shaped piece at the bottom and hooked up 3/8 (I think) tubing on the top....it still clogs with super-crazy fermentations in my Better Bottles (in fact it just happened to MY Pumpkin Spice batch).

Does anyone have "better" Better Bottle blowoff solutions that they'd like to share????

Click to expand...

I've been told the large tube directly into the neck is about as good as it possibly gets.

tre9er said:

I've been told the large tube directly into the neck is about as good as it possibly gets.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I've heard that, while this works with a Carboy, it does not with a Better Bottle. Plus, that 1" tube does not like to bend--the water bottle ends up being a couple of feet away.

Might try getting some PVC 90 degree elbows and fitting pieces of tubing to make an upside down U-shape. Was just hoping somebody had built something cool....

Flowers or chocolate are usually a good start for me when I'm on the road and something goes drastically wrong at home.

For what it's worth.

jturie said:

Unfortunately, I've heard that, while this works with a Carboy, it does not with a Better Bottle. Plus, that 1" tube does not like to bend--the water bottle ends up being a couple of feet away.

Might try getting some PVC 90 degree elbows and fitting pieces of tubing to make an upside down U-shape. Was just hoping somebody had built something cool....

Click to expand...

Soak tubing in very hot water and then configure in desired shape

dadshomebrewing said:

Flowers or chocolate are usually a good start for me when I'm on the road and something goes drastically wrong at home.

For what it's worth.

Click to expand...

+1 on that idea.

Got home today. Cleaned it all up with hot soapy water. Cleaned out the airlock and put it back on. Waited about 5 mins and only saw about 2 bubbles, so it seems like the ferm in calming down. Went to Home Depot and bought a short trash can for about $12. Drilled some extra openings in the lid and made a little protective case for my carboy just in case this happens with future brews. I'll be getting the tubing and running a blow off as suggested in the future.

I also really like the PVC elbow idea with the 1" tubing, so I may go that route if I remember the next time I'm at the hardware store.

Thanks!

sjramm said:

I also really like the PVC elbow idea with the 1" tubing, so I may go that route if I remember the next time I'm at the hardware store.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

If you can't get a piece of PVC that fits perfectly in the neck, try the rubber connecters with worm clamps on them. Can probably get one that fits over mouth of carboy, crank down the clamp a bit, then attach PVC elbow to the other side and crank that down a bit.

This is what I mean:

http://www.pondboy.com/flex-hose-rubber-coupler-detail.htm

sjramm said:

+1 on that idea.

Got home today. Cleaned it all up with hot soapy water. Cleaned out the airlock and put it back on. Waited about 5 mins and only saw about 2 bubbles, so it seems like the ferm in calming down. Went to Home Depot and bought a short trash can for about $12. Drilled some extra openings in the lid and made a little protective case for my carboy just in case this happens with future brews. I'll be getting the tubing and running a blow off as suggested in the future.

I also really like the PVC elbow idea with the 1" tubing, so I may go that route if I remember the next time I'm at the hardware store.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

while you are at the HD, get yourself a 10' length of 1 1/4" inside diameter vinyl tubing. cut it into 5' lengths, and build a blowoff tube. put a small jar, or bottle, next to your carboy, inside the trash can, and half fill it with sanitizer. since i started using a blowoff tube ALWAYS for the first 5 - 7 days in the carboy, i've stayed out of the doghouse.

dadshomebrewing said:

while you are at the HD, get yourself a 10' length of 1 1/4" inside diameter vinyl tubing. cut it into 5' lengths, and build a blowoff tube. put a small jar, or bottle, next to your carboy, inside the trash can, and half fill it with sanitizer. since i started using a blowoff tube ALWAYS for the first 5 - 7 days in the carboy, i've stayed out of the doghouse.

Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me, except my ale went all over her white jacket. I will forever now start with a large blow off tube. Luckily she is a chill woman and thought it was funny (lucked out on that one).

MinnesnowtaBrew said:

Same thing happened to me, except my ale went all over her white jacket. I will forever now start with a large blow off tube. Luckily she is a chill woman and thought it was funny (lucked out on that one).

Click to expand...

That would require flowers AND chocolates

A buddy of mine decided to bottle his Mr. Beer kit in the middle of fermentation and stuck the bottles in his 85F, un-air conditioned closet. It seems patience comes with a $200 dry cleaning bill and $25 carpet scrubber rental.