Had my first proper blow out

[Hankhill11]

3rd batch of beer. It was a Caribou Slobber from northern brewer. Blowout was within 12-18 hours of pitching yeast.

It was huge. About 3.5 gallons was ejected from a 5 gallon glass carboy. The only lucky part was that I made a refrigerator into a fermentation chamber, and the blowout happened from within. Even with that, it still blew open the door and obviously the frig isn't meant to hold that much liquid, so it all ran out, and there was spray in a cone area out from the door. needless to say it was an enormous mess, and not something I want to deal with again.

I had a blow off tube using a two piece air lock base, as most folks do. I think the only difference was, the airlock i happened to use was the kind with the little 'X' of plastic at the bottom of the tube, which i think clogged.

From now on I'll make sure to use only ones with as opened a bottom as possible, and may even cut them back a bit to get an even wider opening. I had thought about drilling a couple stoppers and using short lengths of copper pipe, and the next size up tubing. anyone do anything like that?

 

[applescrap]

Wow, that sounds awful. Glad sounds like you got it cleaned up. I hope your plan works.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I'm all for proper blow outs

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I just stuff an end of 1-1/4" OD vinyl tubing in the carboy neck...

Cheers!

 

[RPh_Guy]

Standard 3/8" ID vinyl tubing fits directly through a drilled stopper.
I've used it many times for blowoff without clogging.

Other things
1.Try to keep fermentation temperature on the low end of the yeast's range. It'll taste better and probably have less blow-off.
2. Consider using foam control like Fermcap-S.

 

[Beerwildered]

fwiw, I just stuff an end of 1-1/4" OD vinyl tubing in the carboy neck...

View attachment 607249

Cheers!

Can I get a closeup of that balloon solution you’ve got working there?

 

[day_trippr]

Sure! (and to the OP, please pardon the interruption )

Standard ball lock gas post with a matching post adapter to get to 1/4" ffl, then a standard nylon flare washer followed by a 1/4" mfl-1/4" barbed adapter. Fittings can be found at chicompany.net amongst other places.

The short copper tubes are stuffed up into the center holes so the clamps around the balloons don't smush everything before they're gas tight. Also after pushing the balloon stem down over the cap "post" I put a couple of turns of masking tape around the balloon so the worm clamp doesn't chew a hole through it...

Cheers!

 

[Beerwildered]

Sure! (and to the OP, please pardon the interruption )

View attachment 607290

View attachment 607289

Standard ball lock gas post with a matching post adapter to get to 1/4" ffl, then a standard nylon flare washer followed by a 1/4" mfl-1/4" barbed adapter. Fittings can be found at chicompany.net amongst other places.

The short copper tubes are stuffed up into the center holes so the clamps around the balloons don't smush everything before they're gas tight. Also after pushing the balloon stem down over the cap "post" I put a couple of turns of masking tape around the balloon so the worm clamp doesn't chew a hole through it...

Cheers!

Love it! Thanks!

(Now back to our regularly scheduled post)

 

[Jag75]

fwiw, I just stuff an end of 1-1/4" OD vinyl tubing in the carboy neck...

View attachment 607249

Cheers!

Tripper , that's a nice set up. Could you use a smaller diameter hose connected to an airlock or is it better to go with 1 1/4 hose shoved in the opening. Does that fit real snug ? Was thinking a smaller hose wouldn't be much help

 

[day_trippr]

It's totally press fit on both my 6.5g and my retired 5g glass. If I fill the catch bucket ~2/3rds full and place the hose ends near the bottom the CO2 "thumps" emitted by the hoses are quite impressive (can easily hear them from the second story hall) so the seals are at least very close to gas-tight if not totally so.

The point of going maximal bore tubing is to virtually eliminate chances of an explosive clogging event. Having seen the pictures on HBT when skinny blow-offs fail it's an easy way to avoid pita clean-up jobs. And I hate pita clean-up jobs

Cheers!

 

[Hankhill11]

The point of going maximal bore tubing is to virtually eliminate chances of an explosive clogging event. Having seen the pictures on HBT when skinny blow-offs fail it's an easy way to avoid pita clean-up jobs. And I hate pita clean-up jobs

Cheers!

I was to angry, heart broken, and frustrated to take a picture of my esplosion.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I hadn't considered all of them yet.

 

[Bubman]

What yeast and ferm temp? Vessel and batch size?

I have brewed that recipe several times and never have come close to a blowoff . I brew 3 gal biab in a 5 gal bmb with just an airlock.

 

[Hankhill11]

I think I used the Danstar Windsor Ale Dry yeast that was one of two recommended on the box. I fermented at 68 maybe? I can't remember exactly, but I only went downstairs to check on it because I noticed my remote thermometer said the fermenterator was at 61. I have never had anything close to this myself.

Danstar Windsor Ale Dry yeast
~68 degreesF
5 gal batch
5 gal carboy

I just purchased a 6.5 gal big mouth bubbler, and will be rigging a more "blowout proof" blow-off for any beer I do from here on. I mostly do cider and haven't had problems thus far.

 

[Soulshine2]

3rd batch of beer. It was a Caribou Slobber from northern brewer. Blowout was within 12-18 hours of pitching yeast.

It was huge. About 3.5 gallons was ejected from a 5 gallon glass carboy. The only lucky part was that I made a refrigerator into a fermentation chamber, and the blowout happened from within. Even with that, it still blew open the door and obviously the frig isn't meant to hold that much liquid, so it all ran out, and there was spray in a cone area out from the door. needless to say it was an enormous mess, and not something I want to deal with again.

I had a blow off tube using a two piece air lock base, as most folks do. I think the only difference was, the airlock i happened to use was the kind with the little 'X' of plastic at the bottom of the tube, which i think clogged.

From now on I'll make sure to use only ones with as opened a bottom as possible, and may even cut them back a bit to get an even wider opening. I had thought about drilling a couple stoppers and using short lengths of copper pipe, and the next size up tubing. anyone do anything like that?

I stuff a length of clear 3/8" tubing in the bung and run it into a 1 gallon jug 1/4 filled with star san.

 

[rburrelli]

Yeah. 5 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carbon can cause that situation. Good thing you are getting the BMB.

 

[devilssoninlaw]

I had a very vigorous ferment with the same kit a couple weeks ago. I wasn't expecting anything after only 12 hours of pitching my yeast but my air lock was going nuts.

I had some 3/8 tubing, so I stuck it into the bung and into a bottle of sanitizer. It was a good thing I checked on it. I was using a 6 1/2 gallon bucket with a 5 gallon kit, I'm glad I didn't have a situation like you had.

 

[shoengine]

Yeah. 5 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carbon can cause that situation. Good thing you are getting the BMB.

I found that one out the hard way. I ended up having to pour out a gallon from one of my batches due yo the carboy size. That's when ai picked up a 6.5 gal carboy.

Not that it was a permanent solution though, as somehow I even managed to overflow my 7 gal brew bucket this last brew. Bad habits!