I am an IDIOT but you knew that anyway

I woke up to the wife telling me to come into the kitchen. After wiping the sleepd from my eyes, I noticed that the Listermann malt extract Mild Bitter that I had brewed the previous day had fermented so much that the airlock had popped off as well as the bung (read: I was probably stupid and didn't put it on securely). I have no way of knowing how long it was off.

WTFOMG. Should I just dump it down the sink and start over? I probably messed up the batch itself because it is the first brewing session I have ever done with out the help of our mutual friend, Mr. Beer.

And to think I thought this was a cruel April Fool's joke played on me by my wife.

I'd relax and have a home brew, but I'm off to work.

Don't worry. It should be fine. The pressure in your fermenter forced it out, but that means that it also kept away O2 and any bugs that might hurt your beer. Clean up the air lock and put it back in place. If you have the ability you might want to rig up a blow off tube instead of an airlock for the first couple days of active fermentation.

Good luck.

My first batch did the same thing -- still turned out great. +1 on getting a blow-off tube -- after that initial explosion, I do the first couple days of each batch with one. The "bloop bloop bloop" of fermentation is music to my ears.

This morning I popped on the airlock immediately after I found it with me acting like the optimist that I am (HA!) and hope that everything will be ok.

The outside of my carboy is filthy as well as the airlock.

The airlock was also low on water so I opened the small cap and poured a little bit of water into the three piece air lock.

Should I clean the outside of the carboy or just let it be all grimy and awesome?

I'm no longer worried about the apartment floors because as soon as I found the top off this morning, I carefully picked up the carboy off of the wet beer floor and placed it in a rubbermaid tub.

Thanks for the encouragement, peoples!

I think I may have found the answer to my question here:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Beer-2269/fermentation-overflow.htm

Anyway, foam coming through the airlock is not really a problem for your brew, its just a problem for you to clean up.To solve this problem (other than moving your fermenter to a cooler place) just get a piece of plastic tubing like you use to rack with, the same diameter as the hole you fit your airlock into, and run this tubing into a half full bucket (pitcher, large cup, whatever) of water, just so long as the end of the tube is underwater. The excess yeast foam will move through the tube into your overflow container over the couple days your brew is at high krausen. No big deal, your beer will still turn out fine and no mess that way.


I don't have the supplies right now for a blowoff tube (i don't think i have the right size tubing), will it turn out ok if I just let it be and clean it up good after all is said and done? Thanks.

Here's a shot of my airlock that I made. It's 3 feet (minus about 6 inches) of 1" ID hose and 2 plastic 90º elbows from Home Depot. Cost me about $6.

ghostofdavid said:

I don't have the supplies right now for a blowoff tube (i don't think i have the right size tubing), will it turn out ok if I just let it be and clean it up good after all is said and done? Thanks.

Click to expand...

Instead of doing a huge diameter blowoff tube, I just used some extra 1/2" tubing like what I use for siphoning/racking. I used my normal drilled rubber stopper and cut a 3" section of plastic tubing from my racking cane (it was too tall anyways). I put the tubing over the little plastic tube, and then stick that into the drilled rubber stopper. Then I just got a big jar and put some water/sanitizer mix in it and put the other end of the blowoff tube in it. Didn't cost me anything, and works great!

A fermntaion that knocks your air lock off is a great thing! And as long as CO2 is coming out nothing is going in. Unles that sleep you wiped from your eyes dropped in!

Hahaha n00b you popped your bunghole! Yea you're fine. At least you did what many people (to their peril) have forgotten to do; Ask the forums before you dump it! Always always ask! It's actually quite difficult to mess up beer.

I had a similar experience the other night. I have a batch of belgian tripel primary'ing away like gangbusters. It filled up two gallons of headspace in my bucket, clogged the airlock and popped part of the lid off, oozing creamy krauseny goodness all down the side. You have any idea how scary that is in the middle of the night when you're sleeping?