Long time lurker, First time poster and brewer.
Last Thursday I decided to make my first brew a Pumpkin Milk Stout- a simple recipe ready in 5 weeks.
36 hours into my first batch fermenting, I went downstairs to grab a beer and I hear a hissing sound. Looks like the batch started to really ferment violently as the 3 piece airlock was full of karusen. The foamy mess was clogging the small holes in the airlock not allowing enough pressure to be released and the lid of the bucket had a pronounced bow to it. I decided to bleed the pressure by opening the top cap of the airlock but not removing it. Just in case I gently move the bucket into the slop sink.
20 minutes later I hear it... pop! I rush into the basement to see not only had the lid blown off but the foam and wort/new beer was all over the ceiling, washer, dryer, laundry, and anything else within the blast radius....I mush have missed that chapter in the books. I put the lid back on as it landed clean side up.
Now the airlock is fully brown and gummed up w/ foam, I decide to use a new clean airlock that I fill with vodka ( I read that was ok in a pinch somewhere) because I don't have any sanitized water handy. 10 minutes after that the krausen and foam was back in the airlock. I mix up a small batch of sanitizer as I sense I'm loosing this battle. I filled the sink with cold water to bring the temp down, my thermometer had the air temp at 72* which seems high as it was in my basement in a closet in the dark.
The airlocks keep clogging and I don't have hose/growler to make a blow off hose. The only think that I could think of was to sanitize a solo cup and put that over the airlock with the top piece removed. The airlock was now the large piece that went into the bucket and the float, covered by the solo cup. The reason why i did this was it allowed the airlock to remain functional and sealed but allowed the foam to leave the airlock w/o clogging up the cap. The solo cup kept the float below the water, without it the force of the foam pushed the float up and out of the airlock..... I was thinking on my feet the foam was like a science project volcano gone wrong.
I needed to leave the house for 36 hours, so I left it sitting in my sink like this not knowing what I'd come home to. Upon my return everything calmed down. I put on another cleaned and sanitized airlock and the batch is bubbling normally with no foam shooting up and out.
Lets see what happens next week when its time for bottling, maybe by some miracle this thing won't be infected or ruined.
Either way I'm moving to the blow off tube for my next batch.
Last Thursday I decided to make my first brew a Pumpkin Milk Stout- a simple recipe ready in 5 weeks.
36 hours into my first batch fermenting, I went downstairs to grab a beer and I hear a hissing sound. Looks like the batch started to really ferment violently as the 3 piece airlock was full of karusen. The foamy mess was clogging the small holes in the airlock not allowing enough pressure to be released and the lid of the bucket had a pronounced bow to it. I decided to bleed the pressure by opening the top cap of the airlock but not removing it. Just in case I gently move the bucket into the slop sink.
20 minutes later I hear it... pop! I rush into the basement to see not only had the lid blown off but the foam and wort/new beer was all over the ceiling, washer, dryer, laundry, and anything else within the blast radius....I mush have missed that chapter in the books. I put the lid back on as it landed clean side up.
Now the airlock is fully brown and gummed up w/ foam, I decide to use a new clean airlock that I fill with vodka ( I read that was ok in a pinch somewhere) because I don't have any sanitized water handy. 10 minutes after that the krausen and foam was back in the airlock. I mix up a small batch of sanitizer as I sense I'm loosing this battle. I filled the sink with cold water to bring the temp down, my thermometer had the air temp at 72* which seems high as it was in my basement in a closet in the dark.
The airlocks keep clogging and I don't have hose/growler to make a blow off hose. The only think that I could think of was to sanitize a solo cup and put that over the airlock with the top piece removed. The airlock was now the large piece that went into the bucket and the float, covered by the solo cup. The reason why i did this was it allowed the airlock to remain functional and sealed but allowed the foam to leave the airlock w/o clogging up the cap. The solo cup kept the float below the water, without it the force of the foam pushed the float up and out of the airlock..... I was thinking on my feet the foam was like a science project volcano gone wrong.
I needed to leave the house for 36 hours, so I left it sitting in my sink like this not knowing what I'd come home to. Upon my return everything calmed down. I put on another cleaned and sanitized airlock and the batch is bubbling normally with no foam shooting up and out.
Lets see what happens next week when its time for bottling, maybe by some miracle this thing won't be infected or ruined.
Either way I'm moving to the blow off tube for my next batch.
