Ahhhh help! What should I do with this? (yeast explosion)

[cttbax]

Ok here is my carboy 24 hours after I pitched the yeast. The cruzen is coming up throught the airlock... This is an extract pumpkin ale kit. I added more pumpkin....lol What should I do??

Should I just replace the air lock with a fresh one in the morning? Let it calm down? I don't have a blow off hose... I bought some at lowes, but its the wrong size....anyone know what size tubing I need to make a blow off hose?

 

[Ace_Club]

Yes, you can just replace the airlock in the morning. It should calm down soon enough.

 

[cttbax]

ahaha I just realized there is 100 other thread like mine.... I guess this happens quiet a bit. I took the cap off the airlock to help relieve the pressure.

 

[kh54s10]

As long as krausen and co2 are coming out, nasties should not get in. You will probably have quite a mess to clean up but you should be able to re-install your airlock in a day or two after things wind down a bit.

I would suggest getting the right blow off assembly before your next brew.

 

[bcryan]

what temp are you fermenting at?

 

[cttbax]

72ish? I rigged up a blow off hose for now.. whew that makes a difference.

 

[biggben]

Looks tasty lol

 

[cttbax]

here is a pic of my make shift blow off hose. The hose is too small in diameter to fit the mouth of my carboy. I made a makeshift seal with some papertowls.

 

[day_trippr]

72ish? I rigged up a blow off hose for now.. whew that makes a difference.

No doubt. When a ferment runs that boisterous it can plug up the neck of the lock and blow the stopper and lock clear out - usually accompanied by a gush of brew.

1" ID heavy vinyl hose will be a press-fit into a carboy neck and will not clog no matter how enthusiastic the yeast happen to be. Run about four feet of it down into a gallon vessel half filled with sanitizer and you're good to go. That's all I use for primaries having experienced a couple of launched locks and wort splashed inside my fermentation fridges...

Cheers!

 

[cttbax]

WOw total blow out of the makeshift hose this morning! I am headed to lowes to get some 1" hose and a bigger container!

 

[scottatdrake]

So, I guess this why people do primary fermentation in a bucket and not a carboy. Not enough head space in there.

 

[cttbax]

So, I guess this why people do primary fermentation in a bucket and not a carboy. Not enough head space in there.

Yeah.. I have never had a problem in the past doing primary in a carboy...however, I switched yeast strains in this batch. I normally use California Ale Yeast (White Labs)...for this batch I used East Coast Ale yeast (White labs) and BOOM!

 

[day_trippr]

So, I guess this why people do primary fermentation in a bucket and not a carboy. Not enough head space in there.

Probably because he's fermenting at least 6 gallons in a 6.5 gallon carboy.
The same thing would be true fermenting 6 gallons in a 6.5 gallon bucket...

Without using silica anti-foam that's pretty much guaranteeing some major drama...

Cheers!

 

[cttbax]

Probably because he's fermenting at least 6 gallons in a 6.5 gallon carboy.
The same thing would be true fermenting 6 gallons in a 6.5 gallon bucket...

Without using silica anti-foam that's pretty much guaranteeing some major drama...

Cheers!

yeah I think its supposed to be 5 gallons, but by the time I fill it up, I am usually a little tipsy and my judgement is impaired. Whooops!

 

[cheier]

I have a barleywine that tastes absolutely fantastic. During fermentation, there was enough pressure on the airlock to launch the bung right out of the carboy. Put a new airlock in and let it continue doing its thing.

I frequently have dirty airlocks to deal with. You figure I would have learned to use a blowoff tube by now, but I just never feel like it.

 

[scottatdrake]

Oh, yeah. I was just coming here to suggest a few drops of Fermcap-S but day_trippr beat me to it. That stuff works really well in my experience.

 

[ChaosStout]

Get yourself some of these and some tubing http://www.midwestsupplies.com/carboy-cap-3-5-and-6-gallon-carboys.html

I dont even use regular airlocks. Just the carboy caps with blowoff tube. Save yourself alot of headache and mess clean up

 

[TheMan]

you can also just get a smaller diameter hose that fits over the inside pipe of the airlock, and thus use the airlock and bung without needing a 1 inch diameter tube.

 

[Wyrmwood]

I use a 1" hose. It fits tightly in my 5 gallon carboys and I don't lose much to blow off. In fact, some of what I lose is future trub; mostly hop particulants, heavy fats, proteins as well as some beer, depending on how active it is. Ideally, use a 1" hose and a 6.5 gallon carboy for a 5 gallon batch. If you do a 6 gallon batch in a 6.5 or a 5 gallon in 5 gallon carboy, that carboy cap and tiny hose is going to hit the roof The caps are nice in place of an airlock, but not really in place of a blow off tube unless you have a lot of head space (and don't need a blow off tube in the first place).