Krausen in airlock

I pitched yeast (Windsor) into my American Amber Ale yesterday at around 3pm, and airlock was bubbling nicely by 11pm. This morning it's still bubbling nicely, but I noticed bubbles slowly growing out of the tiny holes at the top of the airlock. Just now (10:40am) I noticed a small amount of krausen in the airlock. Should I be concerned about too much pressure building up? Should I add a blowoff tube (I don't own one, unless my regular siphon will fit)? Should I take off the airlock, rinse it, and put it back in with fresh water? Should I RDWHAHB?

Thanks all.

By the way, OG=1.057 and it's in a fermenting bucket, not a carboy.

rig up an airlock blowoff tube...take your bottling wand hose or other suitable one, put a small slit in it...Heat it for a few minutes in hot water to soften, then do this.





One thing that I do to all my airlocks is saw or break off the little criss/cross of plastic on the bottom of them.

then you'll be fine.

Airlocks can become clogged and cause messy explosions when the bung gets launched at the ceiling.
If you have some Fermcap-S, use some of it to get the kraeusen under control. Otherwise, just replace the airlock with a clean one and keep a close eye on it. If it keeps happening, you may need to rig a blowoff tube.

Thanks Revvy, I was wondering how to fashion a blow-off tube on a bucket if I ever needed to.

OK, so I have company here and no time to do the makeshift blowoff tube. I changed to a fresh airlock and will keep a close eye. I peeked inside and noticed at least two inches of space between the krausen and the top of the bucket, so hopefully I'm ok (except for the small amount of water that poured directly through the airlock into the bucket). I also moved the bucket to a slightly cooler room (that can handle an explosion better!).

Revvy said:

rig up an airlock blowoff tube...take your bottling wand hose or other suitable one, put a small slit in it...Heat it for a few minutes in hot water to soften, then do this.

One thing that I do to all my airlocks is saw or break off the little criss/cross of plastic on the bottom of them.

then you'll be fine.

Click to expand...

Revvy... can you also get a hose big enough and put it around the top of the airlock, where you would put the airlock cap on or does it have to be like yours shown?

NorCalHB said:

Revvy... can you also get a hose big enough and put it around the top of the airlock, where you would put the airlock cap on or does it have to be like yours shown?

Click to expand...

Yeah, some folks do. IIRC it takes a 1" hose to do that....Take your airlock to the hardware store or LHBS when you are getting your hose to make sure.