Over Pressured Bucket

[jmward21]

Well, I had a close call this morning. I happened to go into the basement before I left for work just to check on the fermenting beer. The wall was covered in wort splatter and the air lock was full of dark foam.

I made a 1.106 OG stout on Sunday and apparently fermentation kicked up a notch last night. The bucket was under so much pressure the lid was spherical and I couldn't even press down on it. I popped off the air lock cap and a large amount of gas came rushing out.

I should have prepared a blow off tube but I thought my 6.5 gallon bucket would be fine. Unfortunately I didn't have time to rig up a tube so I placed a pint glass (upside down) over the air lock. I left the cap off of the airlock since it was preventing the middle piece from venting the gas. I'll be stopping at the hardware store on way home to pick up a tube. Fingers crossed the bucket doesn't blow up while I'm gone.

 

[ncbrewer]

I haven't had a blow-off since I got reliable temperature control, but then again I've never brewed anything close to 1.106. I guess you really need a blow-off tube for gravity that high.

 

[Tinpanharry]

Would love to have seen a picture of the lid blown into a spherical shape!

Cheers!

 

[Rockn_M]

Good Luck!

 

[jmward21]

I haven't had a blow-off since I got reliable temperature control, but then again I've never brewed anything close to 1.106. I guess you really need a blow-off tube for gravity that high.

I built a chamber this past weekend but haven't hooked up the temp controller yet. Hopefully I'll get that done tonight. The stick on temp gauge showed a bucket temp of 64F. So the room I have it in is at a fairly good temp.

 

[jmward21]

Would love to have seen a picture of the lid blown into a spherical shape!

Cheers!

The word spherical was probably misinterpreted. The lid was rounded (or in the shape of the top of a large sphere.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Well, I had a close call this morning. I happened to go into the basement before I left for work just to check on the fermenting beer. The wall was covered in wort splatter and the air lock was full of dark foam.

I made a 1.106 OG stout on Sunday and apparently fermentation kicked up a notch last night. The bucket was under so much pressure the lid was spherical and I couldn't even press down on it. I popped off the air lock cap and a large amount of gas came rushing out.

I should have prepared a blow off tube but I thought my 6.5 gallon bucket would be fine. Unfortunately I didn't have time to rig up a tube so I placed a pint glass (upside down) over the air lock. I left the cap off of the airlock since it was preventing the middle piece from venting the gas. I'll be stopping at the hardware store on way home to pick up a tube. Fingers crossed the bucket doesn't blow up while I'm gone.

If you dont provide pictures it didn't happen. Beer Porn Beer Porn Beer Porn!!!

 

[IslandLizard]

There is a starshaped restriction on the bottom of your 3-piece airlock. Saw or grind it off. It gets plugged too easily. Now the stem may still have problems releasing the gas quickly enough.

I had a bucket with Porter breathing like an animal, bulging the lid followed by a sudden release into the jar with Starsan at the other end of the 1/2" hose. That went on for hours at 62°F.

 

[jmward21]

There is a starshaped restriction on the bottom of your 3-piece airlock. Saw or grind it off. It gets plugged too easily. Now the stem may still have problems releasing the gas quickly enough.

I had a bucket with Porter breathing like an animal, bulging the lid followed by a sudden release into the jar with Starsan at the other end of the 1/2" hose. That went on for hours at 62°F.

Thanks for the advice. I modified one of my other air locks and attached a 1/2" hose to the vent. Swapped air locks and placed the other end of the hose in a flask of sanitizer and water. It's been 14 hours since I first found the issue and it still is releasing multiple bubbles per second. This is fermenting like crazy! 10% beer, here I come.

 

[jmward21]

If you dont provide pictures it didn't happen. Beer Porn Beer Porn Beer Porn!!!

Well, I don't have any good before photos. This one was after I cleaned the wall and placed a glass over the airlock. I had to remove the air lock cap to allow the air trap to have more movement. Basically the foam pushed it all the way out.

Here is one when I got home from work. The air trap was just laying on top of the air lock. I think the glass did the trick of allowing the gas to leave and to keep anything else out of it. There was so much activity, there is a very small chance anything got in the bucket.

 

[TheCrackpot]

Been there before many times. It's even better when you come home to find the lid on the floor and a mound of foam waiting for you.

 

[IslandLizard]

Been there before many times. It's even better when you come home to find the lid on the floor and a mound of foam waiting for you.

Watch out for The Blob...

 

[JLeuck64]

That's a good sized bucket ya have there! I was so frustrated with some smaller buckets I have, that type of vigorous fermentation would make a mess that required constant attention. I recently purchased some larger buckets like you have in the photo. As long as the hose doesn't get plugged up it should work great! I've had some batches where the hose would plug up though... frustrating! The last time it happened I just decided on a whim to soak a paper towel in star-san and drape it over the air lock hole in the lid. Then I could at least get some sleep over night without worrying too much about a huge mess to clean up in the morning. Beer turned out great too! With that much gas coming off I didn't worry to much about it getting infected ( ;

 

[Hoppity]

That is a beautiful mess. Two demerits for not staying home to control a hyperactive child.

 

[olotti]

Well now ya know lol be happy as I've seen stuff well pics of foam on the ceiling the pressure got so great it blew the lid right off. A beer that big def needs a blowoff and plan on losing beer to as I experienced with my stout. Blew off .5 gal the activity was so great and i had a blowoff tube rigged. Big beers do that

 

[Toga]

The glorious lid blow offs I think every homebrewer who uses 6.5 gallon buckets for big beers experiences the lid blowing off at some point. After my first I switched to the 7.9 gallon buckets for 5 gallon batches. Even with the extra head space I had a lid blow once

 

[ImperialStaudt]

Did the blow off at least smell good? That thing was chugging along.

 

[spbrhs07]

On the subject of blowoffs... if you're hooking up a hose to the 3 piece airlock, wouldn't it run the same risk of getting plugged and blowing something up?

 

[jmward21]

On the subject of blowoffs... if you're hooking up a hose to the 3 piece airlock, wouldn't it run the same risk of getting plugged and blowing something up?

I took the advice of IslandLizard and cut off the star shaped inlet of the air lock. I've had no problems once I added the blow off. Also, I'm not using it as an airlock. The main part of the airlock is now just a means to connect a hose to the bucket. The other 2 parts are being used.

It's been a couple of days now and it is still bubbling like crazy. I'll take that as a good sign. I didn't make a starter so I was a little worried. I did however add yeast nutrient into the boil. I guess I'll find out in a week or 2 if it finishes ok.

 

[erick0619]

Man I was in your same shoes except that even with the blow off tube the lid looked like a dome. I had to improvise my blow off tube set up I pulled the lid off and poked the airlock up through the lid from the inside since the only tubing I had on hand was too small to set it up like normal it turned out to work perfect. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1422073209.371896.jpg

 

[jmward21]

I think this is part of what makes home brewing fun. Finding creative ways to solve problems or building/tinkering with thing to make them better.

 

[rocketsan]

Is it a Southern Tier Creme brûlée you are doing? Anyone know how to get that super sweet taste?

 

[jmward21]

Is it a Southern Tier Creme brûlée you are doing? Anyone know how to get that super sweet taste?

Yes it is. I found the recipe here on homebrewtalk. It's a big recipe. 10 lbs LME, 1/2 lb DME, 4.5 lb steeping grains. 3/4 caramelized sugar.

The sweetness comes from adding vanilla beans into the pot at flameout. Also the caramelized sugar gives the caramel flavor.

From reading the thread, the beer isn't an exact match but it's pretty good. Southern Tier uses a specialty extract that isn't available to the public so it's hard to duplicate.

 

[IslandLizard]

Yes it is. I found the recipe here on homebrewtalk. It's a big recipe. 10 lbs LME, 1/2 lb DME, 4.5 lb steeping grains. 3/4 caramelized sugar.

The sweetness comes from adding vanilla beans into the pot at flameout. Also the caramelized sugar gives the caramel flavor.

From reading the thread, the beer isn't an exact match but it's pretty good. Southern Tier uses a specialty extract that isn't available to the public so it's hard to duplicate.

Please don't add vanilla beans to the boil, it's a waste, and bad practice. Most aroma and flavor gets boiled away then the rest gets stripped out during primary fermentation.

Instead, clean the outside of the bean(s) and sanitize with Starsan or grain alcohol/vodka. Slice and scrape the pulp then steep all of it, including the skin, in a mason jar with vodka or rum, bourbon, cognac, etc. according to what spirit character you want to add. Fill up to just cover the bean(s). Leave at room temp for a few weeks and give it a shake or swirl every day.

When all fermentation activity has stopped (2-4 weeks) and the beer is at or near its FG, add the whole content of the jar to your fermentor. The beer is in conditioning phase at that point, and cleaning up byproducts. Secondaries are usually not needed, but in this case, since you're using a primary bucket with a large headspace, I recommend racking to a secondary, a carboy or smaller food grade bucket. Rack before adding the vanilla bean potion and make sure there is very little headspace in the secondary left. Fill it up "carefully" with sanitized glass marbles. After 2-4 weeks, check, cold crash, rack and package. You could leave it on the bean longer to extract more. Stouts really benefit from extended aging. If aging longer than 2-4 weeks, a glass or stainless vessel is best. Access to CO2 comes in handy.

 

[jmward21]

I made the milk oatmeal stout in my signature and followed your above steps. I added the beans in the secondary. I tapped the keg today and it is great! The vanilla flavor is fantastic. For the creme brûlèe, I just followed the recipe. This was a published clone recipe. I also bought pure extract to add into the keg.

 

[Tinpanharry]

Been there !

Cheers!