Fermenter Bomb

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Superkabuto

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Location
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This weekend was my second batch. I improvised an imperial stout, a 5 gal. batch in a 6.5 gallon plastic bucket primary. The fermentables:

6.6# LME syrup
2# DME dry
1# Amber ME dry
3# Corn sugar

OG = 1.082. Because of the high gravity, I used WL099, the super-high gravity yeast. I made a starter the day before, and added yeast nutrient with 15 min left in the boil. The airlock was bubbling away this morning. I was feeling pretty good about this beer.

Then I got a phone call at work today.

My wife said, "There's beer going up into the bubbling thing". I said, "Oh. If it starts to make a mess then crack the lid a bit."

My wife picks me up from work, and when we got home THE LId HAD BLOWN OFF THE FERMENTER, SPLATTERING SLIMY CRAP ALL OVER THE KITCHEN. I thought it would be fine if I left the lid off for a bit, but the krausen just kept overflowing everywhere (in the hallway, in the bathroom, etc.). I had to think fast. I grabbed my other fermenter and just dumped half of it in. The other fermenter was not clean or sanitized. I just rinsed it out quickly. To top it off, my airlock broke when the lid blew off. I have it in but there's no water.

Both buckets are still aggressively fermenting. They still smell nice, too. It'll be a miracle if this batch isn't ruined.

Sorry for the long post. I just had to vent :(
 
"Had to vent" LOL very ironic! Best of luck with the beer.. maybe it will be the elusive "perfect batch" that you cannot possibly recreate! :)
 
Holy Sh*t.....if that happened to me my wife would pour gas on me and light me on fire. This is why I brew in the garage.

I hope your beer turns out good.
 
well i think the "WL099, the super-high gravity yeast" was over kill and caused your problem. next time pick a normal yeast and make a starter or buy more than one vile. if this happens again tell the wife to move the bucket outside. because its in a bucket you don't have to worry about light hitting it.

or better yet rig a blow off tube. its cheap insurance against a mess.
 
Usually when my wife calls me at work it's because my kid is misbehaving, not my beer. :(
 
Holy Sh*t.....if that happened to me my wife would pour gas on me and light me on fire. This is why I brew in the garage.

I hope your beer turns out good.

Thanks for the encouragement.

While I was trying to figure out a way to save my beer, the wife was cleaning up the mess, taking care of our two small children, and making dinner at the same time. I was apologizing profusly, but she didn't seem that mad.

@ Tipsy Dragon: Yes, a blow-off tube may be in my future. I've read a bunch that it can be hard to bottle carb high gravity brews and so I thought the WL099 would be some insurance. I've got 2 more vials sitting in the fridge and so I might as well use them. Another alternative would be just to start it off in two fermenters. They seem to be doing fine now.


@ Brewing Clamper. Sorry, a photo shoot wasn't on my mind at the time. Actually it crossed my mind, but I thought I should clean up the mess asap before SWMBO flipped her lid.
@ Bad Karma: Thanks. You just named my beer.
 

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