not a blow over... valve gave out?

[cswalker]

So I pitched yesterday about 4pm. checked last night and everything was fine. checked this morning, and looked like I had my first blow-over. nothing was in the air lock, so I topped it off, and went to the shop to get my wet-vac. Upon inspection there was no beer on top of the lid. SO I think the spigot valve on the bucket has given way. What do? Advice?

 

[Virigoth]

Is that a ROPAK bucket? I saw somewhere the other day about the bottoms leaking after the glue gave out. There are 2 different versions of those buckets I guess

 

[kh54s10]

I can't advise on this one. But in the future ferment in a vessel that does not have a spigot.

 

[cswalker]

Cleaned and sanitized everything. Looks like the seals on the spigot gave out. Transferred to another bucket, but there's a lot more head space. there seems to be almost no activity from the yeast yet. should i give it a day or so, or re-pitch?

 

[Euphist]

Definitely give it at least another day. Depending on the strain, I've had lag times of between 4 hours and 3 days.

I agree with kh5...I use plain buckets for fermenting and save the spigot for bottling.

 

[unionrdr]

All my fermenters have spigots. But you have to get used to tightening them properly. Too loose or too tight & they'll leak. It doesn't necessarily mean the seals are bad.

 

[sumbrewindude]

Also there's a possibility that the spigot was on TOO tight, and instead of a nice even pressure on the two washers, one might have been twisted/not seated as flush with the face of the bucket as it could have been which developed the leak. Had that happen with my bottling bucket once when I went all gorilla strength with the back nut. Good thing I leak tested with sanitizer first and caught it.

I'd check to make sure the rubber washers are in good shape, maybe grab a few spares, and re-assemble just over two finger tight with a leak test. If you like the spigot, keep it.