Overactive fermentation. Is my beer now ruined?

Ok new to the homebrew world. Still doing extract. This is my fifth brew and nvr seen this type of issue before. Brewed midwests bourbon barrel old ale. OG 1.072. Rehydrated a packet of S04 dry yeast that came with the kit. Pitched the yeast last night. When i came home from work there was krausen coming out of my airlock. Sanitized a rag and cleaned everything up. Ran out for two hours and the fermentation blew the lid off my bucket. There was krausen coming out of the top. I sanitized a spoon removed some of the krausen. Sanitized all parts of bucket and lit and closed off the bucket once again. Amis my brew ruined or is there still hope? Any help is much appreciated

Its probably fine, but you need to use a blowoff tube when you run into a beast of a fermentation like that. Many brewers use a blowoff tube for the first few days of fermentation on every batch - very simple to make one. If you use a 3 piece airlock, the easiest method is to pop the lid off the airlock, take out the middle piece and (while the airlock is dry) attach a tube to the center part of the airlock. This kind of blowoff is very common with higher gravity beers and I'm sure yours will come out great. Are you doing anything to control the temperature, or are you otherwise sure that you are keeping it within the proper range?

Ambient room temp is 64 which typically works really well. Thermometer on bucket is reading around 75 due to fermentation. Do you suggest taking it into the basement in the hopes of dropping the temp within the bucket slowing down the fermentation.

naaa that sounds good enough. I was just wondering if you were keeping it somewhere in the 70s which might have been encouraging a really vigorous fermentation (and off flavors). Sounds like you're fine

Thanks. Really appreciate the advice. Since putting the lid back on it has started to foam out the airlock again (maybe an hour). I will just leave it alone and hope for the best.

I would move that puppy to the basement brother, S-04 is kinda picky and your asking for an estery mess at that high of fermentation... Don't believe me just look it up... good luck man i am sure she will still be tasty.

Thanks for the advice. Really appreciate it

Sounds normal, but 75 is a touch high which is probably making it go a little faster. Remember, when you read the recommended temperature for a yeast it's referring to the beer temp, NOT the room temp. I think 04 is best around 66...

Demus said:

Sounds normal, but 75 is a touch high which is probably making it go a little faster. Remember, when you read the recommended temperature for a yeast it's referring to the beer temp, NOT the room temp. I think 04 is best around 66...

Click to expand...

The 75 was a result of the active fementation. I have seen a few spikes before but never anything like this. This is also the biggest beer i have brewed to date. Typically when room temp is ~64 i see a spike early on that settles down but this was an extreme. I put my bucket on the basement floor overnight and while it is still a little over active it dropped the temp down to ~67 which is much closer to ideal.

buy a carboy and start using a blow tube, it will help prevent messes in the future

adamkalot86 said:

The 75 was a result of the active fementation. I have seen a few spikes before but never anything like this. This is also the biggest beer i have brewed to date. Typically when room temp is ~64 i see a spike early on that settles down but this was an extreme. I put my bucket on the basement floor overnight and while it is still a little over active it dropped the temp down to ~67 which is much closer to ideal.

Click to expand...

The higher the gravity, the greater the activity and heat gain. Those little critters have more to eat, so they are going to produce more of everything they produce. Getting the brew cooled down after the most active fermentation isn't good enough because most off flavor compounds and fusel alcohol is produced early on in the most active stage. In fact, if there's a time it's ok to let it warm up, it AFTER the most active ferment starts winding down. This can help with attenuation, and unlike warm temperatures early on, shouldn't lead to off flavors...