Primary Fermenter Explosion

Just put a batch of IPA into the primary last night. Today, the batch bubbled up and clogged the airlock and blew the top off of my brew bucket. I thought I could fix it by cleaning the airlock, so I cleaned it, resanitized the brew bucket lid, and went to dinner. When I returned, the lid had once again blown off.

I'm a slow learner, but I have now rigged a blow off tube and resealed the bucket lid. Question is: Is the beer ruined? Quite a bit of krausen blown around the bathroom (picture CSI blood spatter) and the fermenter was open in the unused bathroom for a while.

Any thoughts would be nice.

Thanks

Pictures, or it didn't happen!!!

annasdadhockey said:

Pictures, or it didn't happen!!!

Click to expand...

Uh yeah.....pictures please

ummm...your beer is ruined..send to me for proper disposal....

We're definitely going to need these CSI-worthy pictures!

As for your concerns, you say you cleaned and sanitized your airlock and lid. That was the most important thing you could have done. As for the beer being exposed to the environment: a lot of people use open fermentation, commerial- and home-brewers alike. It's in active fermentation and spewing all kinds of CO2, essentially killing anything that could have potentially fallen in. Your beer will be just fine. Keep us updated! Pictures!

Unfortunately, SWMBO found both explosions before I did and was close to exploding as well. To avoid cleaning up three explosions, I had to clean quickly and was unable to properly document the blow off.

If you can imagine someone getting killed with an axe in the shower on CSI, with blood throughout the bathroom, then replace all blood and tissue spatter with krausen, you'd be on the right track...

What was the fermentaion temp?

Exploding fermentaions are a sign that things are going very well for your yeast. That is unless the temp was crazy high. I expect the beer will be fantastic.

Fermentaion temp was 70-72

That's an OK temp for American Ale yeast. A bit warm for English

ALWAYS use a blowoff!!! You never know until it's too late.
Sorry for your loss

Still bubbling away, going to taste after the primary and make a decision on keeping. My fingers will be crossed between now and then...

this exact thing happened to me too.... I was SO scared when i see my bucket thinking that my lid doesn't look brown. It is an Alaskan Amber clone that had the airlock clogged and blew it off. i haven't switched to a tube yet. i'm going to see how long it will stay like this.

I agree with MTEXX, always use a blow off tube, never airlock, for that exact reason. You never now when you might need it, so just go ahead and use it.