secondary overflow!

heylo....

I've got some secondary overflow going on right now...the actual beer is up in the secondary flowing out of the airlock a little bit. Its just bubbling and foaming out.

question -- What do I do?

Should I just let it go and then never replace the fluid in the airlock (fluid I put in is 100 proof vodka)???

OR should I leave it until it stops overflowing and then put the vodka back in there??? I am just worried about possible contamination somehow, but I figure this is not an uncommon occurrence and someone around here would have a solution....thanks!

sounds like you transfered your beer too early. Secondary is mostly to condition or clarify your already fermented beer. There is usually some residual fermentation but is marginal. Sounds like you have considerable fermenting going on. You will need to attach a blow off tube to your fermenter and let it ride for at least a week.

well i dont know....I am making a HG maple wheat and it was at 1.02 when I racked and FG is supposed to be 1.016-1.018 and it started at about 1.076. I figured I could rack it....

Is the blowoff tube necessary??? And also...should I be worried about contamination??

I am using an S- airlock in case that matters...

No problem in what you've done, you just probably did it a little too early. The blow off tube is reccomended but not neccessary. You could wait until you see the overflow, remove the airlock, clean it, sanitize and re-attach but you may find yourself doing this a few times before the foamy part is finished. Contamination will need to be at least a consideration as any time you expose your beer to open air you increase chances of contamination. It's not a crisis though, relax. Your beer is doing well.

Your gravity readings sound good, it's just that it appears that the 02 reading was premature. It's apparently got some primary style fermenting left in it. Just leave it alone as much as possible. Attach the blow off tube if you have one and keep an eye on it.

Maple ferments long and slow. You should budget extra primary time when you use maple.