Oh no...is it toast?

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jawats

jawats

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I am taking the "wait and see" rec, but has this happened to anyone (I am sure it has) and how did it come out?

I made this recipe:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/imperial-stout-127313/

I went downstairs this morning, and it was bubbling away. I went down this evening, and it had blown the top completely off my white 5 gal. fermenter. I cleaned the lid in hot water, replaced it, put the bubbler back in, and it is now bubbling away again.

What do you think? Is the beer toast, or is this an "it depends" situation?

--J.
 
Your beer is most likely just fine.

I think everyone here has had a blown or clogged top at least once and the beer turned out fine. You did the right thing, so now just sit back and wait for the fermentation to finish.

-Steve
 
Just remember that it hasn't been many years since there was no such thing as an airlock to blow off and people still made good beer...

Your beer will probably be just fine. :D
 
Barc said:
Just remember that it hasn't been many years since there was no such thing as an airlock to blow off and people still made good beer...

Your beer will probably be just fine. :D
Click to expand...

+1, back in the "old country" they didn't have some of the fancy technologies we have today. Remember you have yeast and now alcohol to help combat some of the nasties.

I think your beer will be fine.:mug:
 
MistyMountainHops said:
That happened to me a while back - then I learned the beauty of a blow off tube. Your beer will be fine! :mug:
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I just went and checked it ...the lid had blown off again. Looks like a huge mass of foam in there.

I'll check it continually now.
 
jawats said:
Thanks!

I just went and checked it ...the lid had blown off again. Looks like a huge mass of foam in there.

I'll check it continually now.
Click to expand...

AGHHHH!

It's foaming out the top...will blow unless I check it...help!
 
Totally fine. This has happened to me several times with no ill effects.

It's foaming out the top...will blow unless I check it...help!
Click to expand...

If you're willing to sacrifice a bit of beer you can siphon off a bit to create some headspace. You could probably even siphon it into another sterilized container and let that continue to ferment as well.
 
jawats said:
AGHHHH!

It's foaming out the top...will blow unless I check it...help!
Click to expand...

Blowoff tube. Take the black grommet out, insert tubing, put into bottle with sanitized solution.

My Imperial Stout turned my blowoff bottle black and it overflowed. Since I had to go to work, I put it in my boil pot, cracked the lid, and it was foaming out the cracked part big time, even when I got home 8 hours after. The next day it had stopped, so I put the blowoff tube back on. I'm sure it would have been fine with just the tube, but I didn't want to take a chance. It finished fine, and has been in a secondary for a few weeks (brewed it 8 weeks ago) and I'm bottling it soon. Just relax, and don't get too nervous. Just see what the end product is. I'm sure it will be just fine.
 
I personally think you should keep all that protein in the beer if possible instead of letting it foam out, so I'm against the blowoff tube and would rather just transfer a bit to a second container.
 
ODaniel said:
Blowoff tube. Take the black grommet out, insert tubing, put into bottle with sanitized solution.

My Imperial Stout turned my blowoff bottle black and it overflowed. Since I had to go to work, I put it in my boil pot, cracked the lid, and it was foaming out the cracked part big time, even when I got home 8 hours after. The next day it had stopped, so I put the blowoff tube back on. I'm sure it would have been fine with just the tube, but I didn't want to take a chance. It finished fine, and has been in a secondary for a few weeks (brewed it 8 weeks ago) and I'm bottling it soon. Just relax, and don't get too nervous. Just see what the end product is. I'm sure it will be just fine.
Click to expand...

I have a rubber stopper in the little opening, and was unable to free it. I went ahead and moved it to a secondary (I have 2 better bottles), and now both are bubbling happily. I think the colony planted a flag and took over. I soon expect to be able to tax the colony on its tea...

I took a taste and gravity reading - too much foam for the gravity, but the taste was delicious. None of the astringent flavor I had with the initial wort. My OG on this one was 1.100 - biggest I've had.
 
jawats said:
I have a rubber stopper in the little opening, and was unable to free it. I went ahead and moved it to a secondary (I have 2 better bottles), and now both are bubbling happily. I think the colony planted a flag and took over. I soon expect to be able to tax the colony on its tea...

I took a taste and gravity reading - too much foam for the gravity, but the taste was delicious. None of the astringent flavor I had with the initial wort. My OG on this one was 1.100 - biggest I've had.
Click to expand...

Just kind of grab it and pull, it will come out will little effort. Make sure you leave your beer in primary until it is completely finished fermenting - which averages 7-10 days, although sometimes it's more. I only primary mine for 3-4 weeks, as do others, then bottle/keg, but I had to free the bucket I was using so that's the only reason my Stout is in secondary. It was in Primary for 3 weeks though.
 

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