Help avoiding **MASSIVE** beer explosions!

Last night I cooked up an English bitter and for the first time used a glass carboy for the primary (with the usual one way valve). I read in places that serious beer makers "brew primary in glass". I filled the 5 gallon carboy up to the point just before it starts to narrow and put on a fermentation lock (the plastic type with water in).

Next morning where the carboy was stored the laundry room is the scene of a bomb-strike. The fermentation lock had been blown off as high as the ceiling, spatter marks covered walls and (9' high) ceiling and 2 1/2 gallons of wort made a place for itself on the floor. It was like hurrican Katrina, just with beer instead of water. Took 2 hours to clean up the mess.

So advice please - how can I avoid this in the future? Did I really fill the carboy too high? How did such pressure build up when there was a one way valve on the thing? Should I return to plastic bucket primary fermenting.

Advice from brewing experts appreciated...

Die Bart Die

This is why many use the bucket for primary fermentation. The bucket that many use for beer primary fermentation holds I believe 6.5 gallons or perhaps slightly more. This allows enough room for the krausen and then as an extra safe guard a blow off tube could be utilized. If you still would rather use glass, a 6.5 gallon (or maybe 6) carboy, the types often associated with wine making, can be used. These will give you extra space for krausen. A blow off tube might be a good idea for the first few days, especially if you are making a wheat beer. I have only used blow off tubes for my hefeweizen, otherwise I have been fine with just an airlock.

Yep. I ferment in 7.9 gallon buckets as I like to do Bavarian Hefeweizens. Hefe's are notorious for violent fermentations. No blow offs yet with this size of bucket.

Yeah, try to primary in 6 or even 6.5 gallon glass carboys. I use a 6 gallon with a blow-off tube.

PseudoChef said:

Yeah, try to primary in 6 or even 6.5 gallon glass carboys. I use a 6 gallon with a blow-off tube.

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You have it right. I use a 6/5gal glass carboy with a blow off tube. Since I have been running with this setup, I have not had a mess.

fermentation was so vigorous, it pluged the airlock, and that's why it launched like a rocket once there was enough pressure. its better than the carboy breaking though, which is why we use loosely fitted plugs/caps and not something clamped down.

i like buckets for primary. easy to clean, easy to replace, and then secondary in glass .

i use glass with blow-off tubes. i had a few airlocks get clogged up and that was it for me. I luckily never had an explosion

Take a look at Better Bottle's website. I have bought a couple recently and have been very happy with them.

So now I have 2 1/2 gallons left in the 5 gallon primary carboy (the source of the explosion). The inside top of the carboy is encrusted with dried hops/residue. The recipe says I shouldn't transfer to the secondary for 6 days. Do I:

a) Transfer to the secondary 5 gallon carboy now (only 1 day in) to avoid risking the dried stuff contaminating the beer

b) Leave the 2 1/2 gallons in the existing encrusted 5 gallon carboy for the remaining 5 days

c) Abandon the beer - it's probably ruined. In either case (a) and (b) there will be so much air above the 2 1/2 gallons of wort that it will be ruined. Also I had the top open for 2 good hours while I cleaned up.

Advice appreciated.

Die Bart Die

It's worth waiting it out to see... sometimes the resiliency of beer is surprising despite our great care to avoid contamination. The problem with transferring it now is that you will transfer it off of the yeast cake and that could result in a stuck fermentation where there's still a lot of fermentable sugar in your beer. That will not do a) because it will taste wrong and b) when you bottle it with priming sugar you're likely to have more explosions when the yeast reactivate and consume all that extra sugar. However, if you can manage to collect some of the yeast cake somehow I suppose you could try transferring that too and the recirculation should make sure the yeast are active.

On the other hand the simplest thing to do would be to just leave it there for a couple more days then transfer.

Don't be overly concerned with head space (air) because CO2 is heavier than air and will form a layer on top of the beer rather than rise out of the carboy.

Excellent feedback, and greatly appeciated. The wort continues to bubble (a bubble comes out every second through the airlock). Think I'll wait the full 6 days and transfer.

Think there may be 3 gallons left so it's probably worth saving.

Die Bart DIe

here's an interesting blow-off tube I found. Very sturdy.
http://suburb.semo.net/jthornton/BlowOff.htm

-J

DieBartDie said:

So now I have 2 1/2 gallons left in the 5 gallon primary carboy (the source of the explosion). The inside top of the carboy is encrusted with dried hops/residue. The recipe says I shouldn't transfer to the secondary for 6 days. Do I:

a) Transfer to the secondary 5 gallon carboy now (only 1 day in) to avoid risking the dried stuff contaminating the beer

b) Leave the 2 1/2 gallons in the existing encrusted 5 gallon carboy for the remaining 5 days

c) Abandon the beer - it's probably ruined. In either case (a) and (b) there will be so much air above the 2 1/2 gallons of wort that it will be ruined. Also I had the top open for 2 good hours while I cleaned up.

Advice appreciated.

Die Bart Die

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Leave it in the primary for a week then transfer to the secondary. Between the very active yeast, the CO2 and alcohol there is little chance of infection. The dried stuff even if it was infected is not in contact with the beer so is unlikely to be a problem. I've only been on this forum for 9 months now but I have yet to here of an infection after a major blow off.

It is possible to ferment 5 gals in a 5gal fermenter but it requires a blow off and preferably a type of Burton Union to return the liquid to the fermenter. BYO 9/06 had a good article on this subject. However the easier way is to use a large primary. I use a 6.5gal bucket and usually start out with a blow off tube. I've had 3 of my 8 beers blow off so far. Probably because I usually start with between 5.5 and 6gal.

Craig

Get a bigger carboy and use a blow-off. I primary in a 6.5 gallon glass carboy and use a blow-off for the first few days before things settle down, then i switch to an airlock. No blow-outs so far...

Can you use 6.5 gallon carboys for secondarys?

DO NOT throw it out. Just wait it out....follow your recipe normally. And let us know how good it turns out.

Wrey said:

Can you use 6.5 gallon carboys for secondarys?

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You can but a 5 gallon is recommended in order to reduce the headspace, limiting the potential of oxidation.

If you're using a 5 gal.-I'd hook up a blow-off tube. I use a 6.5 gallon for primary, and 5 gal. for secondary. I'd think if you've got at least a 6 gallon one, you're safe with just a regular airlock.

Are you bottling or kegging? With only 3 gals. of beer, I don't think I would use 3/4 cup of priming sugar. Might make another mess

I'm going with leaving it in the primary (5 gal carboy) for the week. It's $30 for a larger carboy and I think I'll pass on that for now. Then I plan to follow the recipe (2ndary for 3 weeks, bottle for ~30 days, if I can wait that long before starting drinking it).

WB - excellent suggestion to cut back on the priming sugar to avoid a brewing version of Nagasaki after the original Hiroshima.

I'm planning to start another batch of Oktoberfest Amber at the weekend as an insurance policy in case the exploding bitter doesn't turn out.

BrewDey said:

I'd think if you've got at least a 6 gallon one, you're safe with just a regular airlock.

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It depends on the beer. With a good starter a high gravity or wheat beer will often blow off in a 6.5gal bucket. I tend to always put a blow off tube for the first few days just incase. It easy to do and can potentially save a huge mess.
Craig

CBBaron said:

It depends on the beer. With a good starter a high gravity or wheat beer will often blow off in a 6.5gal bucket. I tend to always put a blow off tube for the first few days just incase. It easy to do and can potentially save a huge mess.
Craig

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I recently learned this the hard way with my first hef. I use a 6+ gallon bucket as a primary and I still woke up to a decent sized mess the next morning. I'll certainly be using a blow off tube the next time around, even with the bucket.

bassplayrr said:

I recently learned this the hard way with my first hef. I use a 6+ gallon bucket as a primary and I still woke up to a decent sized mess the next morning. I'll certainly be using a blow off tube the next time around, even with the bucket.

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I had previously always used a blowoff tube for the 1st couple of days at least on my 6.5 gallon carboy. I realized that the kreusen was never getting close enough to the top to really be a problem, so on a recent batch I just used the airlock. 2 packs of Muntons, about a 3-4 inch kreusen and the bubbler was almost bouncing up and down-still not close to the top though.

I wonder if there's a difference between carboys and buckets of the same volume?

BrewDey said:

I wonder if there's a difference between carboys and buckets of the same volume?

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No, the difference is in the yeast and recipe. I've done 6gal batches in my 6.5gal fermenter with no problem. And I've done 5gal batches that have added a pint or two to the blowoff container. I do know my wheat beers have all had a blow off as well as a couple of others.

Craig

I had to put a blow off tube on my 6.5 gallon plastic primary this morning. It blew off the top of the bucket. It's bubbling like every .1seconds, crazy fermentation.

O man, i just did this exact thing with my newest batch. after reading this (mind you im at work) i raced home to make sure it hadnt exploded and put it in the shower stall in case it does...hope the beer gods are looking down on me lol

So, did SWMBO banish you, and your beer making activities, from ever using the laundry room as you fermentation room?

CBBaron said:

It is possible to ferment 5 gals in a 5gal fermenter but it requires a blow off and preferably a type of Burton Union to return the liquid to the fermenter. BYO 9/06 had a good article on this subject.
Craig

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You just said two magic words - Burton Union in the context of home brew. My favorite beer of all is Marstons Pedigree which is brewed using the Burton Union method (involving complex condensing surely?)- are you suggesting a home brewer can pull off a Burton Union Beer, or does this require prohibitively expensive equipment & time.

Please elaborate...also please do include relevant recipes.

Tx,

DieBartDie

Bills Brew said:

So, did SWMBO banish you, and your beer making activities, from ever using the laundry room as you fermentation room?

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The laundry room is back in action as a fermentation room. There's no other alternative besides a garage that has major temperature swings between day and night-time. I think it's bucket fermentation for me for a while.

I bought a beer kit weeks ago and assumed this contained 2 x 5 gallon carboys, however opened the second carboy box today and discovered it's a 6.5 gallon carboy - so I may be able to return to glass (however methinks a blowoff tube would be wise). If only I had discovered this bigger carboy before the explosion - doh!

I transferred the remaining ~2 1/2 gallons of the exploding beer (an English bitter) to secondary today - during manual siphoning got a gulp and discovered it's actually turning out well!

Die Bart Die

yeah use the 6.5 gallon for a primary and the 5 gallon as a secondary. You likely won't have problems with blow off then.

New problem - the exploding beer that yesterday I transferred after being in the primary for a week, has cracked the 6.5 gallon secondary carboy! This is with only 2.5 gallons of the stuff in there with an airlock.

DieBartDie

Hey DieBartDie, have you seen this website? I think it is a pretty cool setup. I have plans for one as well, but on a keg scale.

DieBartDie said:

New problem - the exploding beer that yesterday I transferred after being in the primary for a week, has cracked the 6.5 gallon secondary carboy! This is with only 2.5 gallons of the stuff in there with an airlock.

DieBartDie

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You may want to consider a new hobby.

No reason for 2.5 gallons of fermented beer to damage a carboy. Something must have happened to the glass.

Start with bigger fermenters and adequate allowance for pressure and beer to blow off and your problems should go away...

6g BB

Now I usually remember the foam control drops.

Wow, that is a happy fermentation isn't it?

I was just gonna post a thread as this is what not to do!

I discoved that I got lucky last week. No explosions no damage, no loss of beer.



(Homegrown Cascades)

Luckily I was using a PET Carboy and it didn't pack out real hard. The Whole hops kept it from sealing off 100%. I brewed four beers that day and I was getting too lazy and was in a hurry. (Maybe too buzzed) I didn't make an effort to keep the hops out of the primary. Dumb. Just flippin' dumb.

I think I'll call it my Lucky-Dumb-Ass Amber. I had to compress a picture to upload it and over compressed it and got this as a result!!



Should make for a good label background!!!! Kind of 70's Psychedelic...

I shoud use the 1" hose idea and keep the the hops out!

Has anyone ever had experience with bottle explosions?

I still don't know what happened, but one night, I think a single bottle ruptured, which triggered a chain-reaction with the rest of the box.

Two years later, I still have no idea what happened... over-sugared? over-yeasted? or just a poor capping/flawed bottle?

I always approach with caution now, and make sure that the bottles sit in the uninhabited cellar

There are two related causes of bottle explosions or bottle bombs. The first is too much sugar as that is where most of the carbonation comes from. Sometimes that is due to a mismeasurement and sometimes it is from bottling beer that hadn't completed fermenting. The residual sugars in the fermenting beer plus the priming sugar means that the yeast produce too much CO2 and the resulting pressure blows the bottle apart.

The other problem is poor or lack of sanitation which allows a wild yeast to get started in the bottles. Some of these wild yeast can eat sugars that are not normally fermentable and the pressure in the bottle continues to grow until they explode. Your clue to this might be an off flavor of beers consumed prior to those exploding.