Fermentation blew lid off my big mouth bubbler

[samandbekah]

Hey everyone,

Just curious here - I have a very nice fermentation going on currently for my Belgian Pale Ale... I checked on it last night to see the progress and noticed some of the krausen had crept up into the air lock... Had it happen before, so I thought no big deal.

I woke up this morning and went downstairs to my fermentation closet and noticed that the plastic screw-on top of my Big Mouth Bubbler carboy (glass version) had been blown off and was about 4 feet away from it... Honestly, I was quite impressed because those lids screw on pretty darn tight... Was more surprised it didn't explode the carboy itself...

Anyways, it was still actively fermenting when I found it, the yeast cake was sitting on stop still and very close to the opening - I am thinking this was very similar to a state in which "Open Fermentations" ferment in (those of you who are very experienced, please be lenient on blasting me if I am describing an open fermentation wrong).

I re-santized my lid and air lock and screwed it back on and checked on it at lunch and it was back to normal bubbling away. All in all, the lid was probably off for a maximum of 6 to 7 hours... Are there any major worries I should be concerned about??? Any insight is much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[nthammer]

really, only time will tell. you could have attempted to scoop out the top of the krausen in case any bad things fell on it while it was open, my last stout i took the airlock off for about 2 days to allow for blowoff, but i still had the top covered with a jar (no airlock). nothing bad happened to it though.

 

[Indian_villager]

As soon as you see it in the lock you know it is time to hook up a tube.

 

[samandbekah]

As soon as you see it in the lock you know it is time to hook up a tube.

No doubt and lesson learned, I had it happen once before and it was still bubbling so I thought it would be fine... I doubt if I'll ever use just an air lock again after that!

 

[schematix]

Nothing you can do now. Likely you'll be ok though since you have positive pressure pushing out of the ferm. I'm surprised you don't have Kraussen on your ceiling though!

Most people on here use blow off tubes until fermentation subsides. Air locks are very prone to plugging so use the tube!

 

[Hoosierbrewer]

Blow off tubes are the way to go. I will use airlock with bucket occasionally, but usually for a smaller beer and without wheat in it.

 

[BrewinBromanite]

After the first time I needed to clean a krausen explosion off of the ceiling over the bathtub, I've used a blow off tube ever since.


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[dmarc85]

You'll be good bro.


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[jtratcliff]

You'll be good bro.

+1

your fermentation was still active... All that positive pressure blowing your lid off was also pushing away any microbes likely to cause an infection.

Now if your Krausen had fallen and not much was going on... different story.

 

[dmarc85]

an active fermentation is a pretty hardy animal. I've had my kids run off with my air locks then see them put their dirty fingers in the opening. I've seen my dog bite off my airlock then lick the opening! There have even been times I've cleaned mold off the outside rim of my empty fermenters just after kegging; no matter what, my beer has always survived and tasted great.

The only time I had a beer get infected was when my puppy took a #2 right next my fermenter as I was chilling it with my lid partially open.

Beer is tough!




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[samandbekah]

Nothing you can do now. Likely you'll be ok though since you have positive pressure pushing out of the ferm. I'm surprised you don't have Kraussen on your ceiling though!

Most people on here use blow off tubes until fermentation subsides. Air locks are very prone to plugging so use the tube!

Thanks everyone, appreciate the feedback, I feel much better ...

As for the Krausen on the ceiling... lol I did a 2nd look last night and it certainly was, all over the door of the closet too - I have 9 foot high ceilings in my fermentation closet and it reached it lol pretty impressive stuff... I friggen love those amazing yeasties...

And yeah, I'll DEFINITELY be using a blow off tube from here on out!

 

[Grannyknot]

I'd like to go back to the lid being blown off a big mouth fermenter?
How in the hell did this happen? Seems like it would blow the stopper & airlock out before it would somehow negate any the threads on the lid???

 

[samandbekah]

I'd like to go back to the lid being blown off a big mouth fermenter?
How in the hell did this happen? Seems like it would blow the stopper & airlock out before it would somehow negate any the threads on the lid???

haha I wondered the exact same thing... It happened over night but I imagine it "unscrewed" itself in the process of loosening up... there was no damage to the lid threads and in fact, screwed back on just fine. It did snap the airlock in half though... quite impressive