Oh No

[mlee0000]

Last night I brewed up a 5 gallon batch of Russian Imperial Stout. I had left it sitting on the counter in the kitchen to do its magic.

I wake up this morning to a loud thunk. No big deal, right? I live in an apartment and the people above me are pretty loud. Well, then I hear spurting foam and dripping coming from the kitchen!

OH DEAR GOD!

It was on my ceiling! MY CEILING! It sprayed all over the dishes I had drying on the counter, all over the walls, pretty much everything within about a 6 foot radius was covered in yeasty wort explosion. It even dripped off of the ceiling and into the cabinets. Talk about a money shot...

I've never had anything like this happen, not even with hefeweizens! GhgHGfh.... Hell of a way to start the day.

 

[JesseRC]

lesson learned ... then !

 

[Revvy]

You are now officially a home brewer!!!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Anymore, I ferment in a closed blast chamber chest freezer. It's a thing of beauty to open up the door and realize that the bubble over can easily be rinsed out with a hose.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

A RIS is the worst one of all to clean up. Black as night, nice and thick.

Next time either attach a blowoff or cover that sucker with a couple of towels!

 

[Rhoobarb]

Blow off tube! I've had that happen - had to get on a ladder with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser the next day to clean the gunk off my catherdral ceiling! Yeah, it blew like nobody's business. My cat was quite entertained by it - she was sitting there watching it all happen when I awoke ~3am and walked in to see the mess! IIRC, it wasn't a hefe, either!

 

[JesseRC]

I made an Abbey of Leffe Bruin clone this past weekend with an OG of 1.070. I rigged up a blowoff, and nothing happened. Just steady bubbles. I did use a wide 7gal bucket that I picked up from LHBS. They are really nice, and now I know that I probably won't need a blowoff tube.

 

[RedIrocZ-28]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/russian-imperial-stout-warning-violent-ferment-92915/

Welcome to the club!

 

[xxdcmast]

I had a belgian strong going for about 5 hours and I could tell by looking at the krausen it was thinking of doing bad things to my living room. So I rushed out to home depot and picked up some rubber tube to make the blowoff valve. About 3 hours after I attached the tube there was foam in it.

When i checked the next morning there was quite alot of liquid in my overflow bucket. I would suggest a blow off tube for most brews if you care about your surroundings.

 

[ACo]

Wow, thats awesome. Nice distance.

 

[Dennis1979]

Ok, I'm 5 batches into my life as a homebrewer and have not had this happen yet, but apparently, it's only a matter of time so tell me again how to rig the blow off. I think I recall that you get 1/2 tube, connect it to the tube in the airlock and then run the other end of the 1/2 tube into what?

 

[phidelt844]

OH YEAH!!!



Sorry, someone had to do the kool-aid voice.

 

[Rhoobarb]

Ok, I'm 5 batches into my life as a homebrewer and have not had this happen yet, but apparently, it's only a matter of time so tell me again how to rig the blow off. I think I recall that you get 1/2 tube, connect it to the tube in the airlock and then run the other end of the 1/2 tube into what?

...into a bucket, bottle, etc. of water with a bit of sanitizer in it.

 

[llazy_llama]

Oh man, that looks awesome!

You should call it Ceiling Stain RIS. Or Old Faithful Stout.

Edited: Blowoff Brew! "I used to think an airlock would be enough... then I tried Blowoff Brew!"

 

[0202]

Apply directly to the living room!

 

[conpewter]

If you use the method of attaching a blowoff tube to the airlock make sure you cut off the little cross-pieces on the bottom of the airlock so that it doesn't get clogged there and blow out the whole thing.

 

[mlee0000]

Thanks for the idea llazy llama, I just might use that idea.

 

[llazy_llama]

Hahaha! Looks awesome. Hopefully it's more fun to drink than it was to make. I know scrubbing celings on a rickety ladder isn't really a good time.

 

[taylornate]

I was able to stick the 7/16 tubing that came with my kit right into the hole on my bucket. If you can do that, then there's no need to run it through your airlock first.

 

[mlee0000]

Yeah, I ended up rigging a length of tubing from the rubber stopper into a plastic gallon jug about 1/3 full of water -- with the tube of a Bic pen (sanitized, of course). A halfway decent field-expedient puke tank. Not sure of the diameter of the tubing, but it works! I will never use a bubbler airlock again.

Btw: Mr. Clean works great for removing dark, sticky wort from ceilings, floors, and cabinets. :rockin:

 

[Bernie Brewer]

You are now officially a home brewer!!!

Absolutely. You haven't REALLY brewed until you've used a mop on the ceiling.

 

[QueenCityALER]

Blow off tube! I've had that happen - had to get on a ladder with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser the next day to clean the gunk off my catherdral ceiling! Yeah, it blew like nobody's business. My cat was quite entertained by it - she was sitting there watching it all happen when I awoke ~3am and walked in to see the mess! IIRC, it wasn't a hefe, either!

+1 on that bro!!! Blow off tube is the way and the path...:rockin:

 

[QueenCityALER]

Apply directly to the living room!

ALSO AVAILABLE IN SOBER...