So I ruined my first batch after less than 48 hours

[turkey]

I started out with a Heifeweizen brew and was instructed by my brew supplier to hook up a blow off tube. I went ahead and did this and the brew decided to explode while I was away at work. I don't know how long it was sitting out in the open, but I dumped the whole batch. I'm totally bummed now

My next brew isn't going to be a foamy one until I get more experience. Can someone please give me advice on how to fend off explosions? I don't want this to happen again. Quite a mess it made

 

[Thalon]

What type of vessel did you use for a fermenter? Was it a plastic bucket with a tube hooked up to the same hole you attach the airlock, or was it a glass carboy with a 1" ID tube fitted to the entirety of the mouth? I would always recommend the carboy + 1" tube for beers you know will ferment vigorously. The plastic bucket lids have too small a hole. What happens is the smaller tube gets clogged which builds up the pressure inside until it blows. I have *never* seen the 1" tube get clogged that bad.

 

[Three_Trees]

When you say explode, do you mean the entire bucket/carboy broke apart, or just the top? Because you did say you ended up dumping it, so do you mean just the top blew off? In that case, it would have been fine to be exposed to the open for a bit.

 

[Yooper]

Never, ever dump a batch until it's been completely done for a while and tried. We always suggest posting here first because we can often tell you how to save it.

There was probably not a thing wrong with the beer you dumped. If you had it in a 7.5 gallon bucket, you could have just sanitized the lid and stuck it back on with the blow off tube. Same with the carboy. I'm guessing either your carboy was too small for the fermentation for your tubing clogged up.
Either way, most of the time the beer is fine unless you actually have critters swimming in it.

 

[libs]

Second to Yooper. The foam and CO2 that is being produced will give you some protection. If you have a vigerous enough fermentation to blow the top or hose or whatever got blown off, there should be that much more protection.


PS nice new avitar Yoop!

 

[Philip1993]

I'll third that Yooper post. Never dump a beer based on the possibility that it'll be bad...

 

[david_42]

I've had multiple blowups and none of them went weird. Clean the lid & if the foam is still up to the top of the bucket, slide the lid across the top, cutting the foam off.

Next time you have a big problem, post first. Someone on the forum has seen it before.

 

[Radarbrew]

I've seen a lot of posts where the folks say there hole in the bucket lid is too small for a blowoff tube. I thought all those lids had about a 1' hole where you could easily adapt some pvc and a couple elbows to it where it drains into a water filled bucket to bubble. When I don't use that, it's a rubber stopper with a hole big enough for the regular airlock. Just saying.....

 

[WOP31]

Ihad a Beer up in my attic for a couple of days and at some point hte carboy cap blew off an it sat up there, while i was out of town for 4 days and nothing happend to it, basically i am saying the same thing as everyone else, you shouldn't dump a batch until you are sure that it is bad, and the only way to tell that is to let it finish out.

Anyway don't get discouraged, just go out and start your next batch.

Cheers

 

[turkey]

I've seen a lot of posts where the folks say there hole in the bucket lid is too small for a blowoff tube. I thought all those lids had about a 1' hole where you could easily adapt some pvc and a couple elbows to it where it drains into a water filled bucket to bubble. When I don't use that, it's a rubber stopper with a hole big enough for the regular airlock. Just saying.....

I have the plastic bucket with the standard hole. It was plugged with the rubber stopper and the stopper's smaller hole was plugged with the airlock. the blow off tube was then attached to the airlock.


Sure, I could have posted about what to do but it was 2:30am when I got back from work. Some one please spell it out for me because I'm very confused. How do I avoid blow off with a plastic bucket? Right now I don't feel like investing in another glass carboy after buying this brand new kit and not having brewed a single batch.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense. I'm tired

 

[malkore]

its actually hard to ruin beer. you have to try your best to screw up all the sanitation, and what not, to truly ruin it.

next time, take it all the way. you're not out anything but a little time, vs. assuming its ruined and tossing $20-$40 of ingredients down the drain.

 

[Trencher]

I have the plastic bucket with the standard hole. It was plugged with the rubber stopper and the stopper's smaller hole was plugged with the airlock. the blow off tube was then attached to the airlock.


Sure, I could have posted about what to do but it was 2:30am when I got back from work. Some one please spell it out for me because I'm very confused. How do I avoid blow off with a plastic bucket? Right now I don't feel like investing in another glass carboy after buying this brand new kit and not having brewed a single batch.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense. I'm tired

You need to take the airlock out of that equation. A blowoff tube is basically a primitive, clumsy airlock. Put your tubing directly into the stopper hole or get some tubing that will fit snugly into the hole in the bucket lid.

 

[shunoshi]

Yeah, the airlock definitely needs to be taken out of that setup. I just use my siphon hose (I think it's 3/8") which fits snuggly into the airlock hole in the bucket lid. That setup saved me from explosive results on my last batch after my airlock had been overwhelmed.

 

[rdwj]

Why would you dump before asking?

 

[Nyxator]

Some one please spell it out for me because I'm very confused. How do I avoid blow off with a plastic bucket? Right now I don't feel like investing in another glass carboy after buying this brand new kit and not having brewed a single batch.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense. I'm tired

Every wheat beer I brew I use a small glass tube connected to the bung/stopper and to vinyl tubing. I drop the end of the tubing into a pot or soemthing to contain the blow off.

My first Hefe blew my airlock right off even in a glass carboy. They have very active fermentations (especially at the temps I like to ferment them). I've never had this happen with any other style of beer.

 

[Philip1993]

I have the plastic bucket with the standard hole. ... How do I avoid blow off with a plastic bucket?

Elementary my dear Watson, use a bigger hole.

Go to home depot (or your shed) and get a section of 3/4-1 inch hose about 6ft long. Cut a hole slightly smaller than the hose and jam the hose tightly into the hole. Place the open end of the hose into a bucket of water w/ sanitizer. You have just created a huge airlock, more commonly known as a blowoff tube.

If you blow off a 1in hose, stop trying to use a 3 gallon starter

 

[eddie]

When you hook up your blow off tube, don't connect it to your airlock. The four little holes in the bottom of the airlock can become crusted over with krausen and block the outward flow of gases. This is probably what led to your explosion.

 

[malkore]

most buckets are 6.5-7gallons to the rim...meaning they have enough head space to avoid needing a blow off (although i read about Wit beers that are always exceeding headspace)

i've never bothered with blow off tubes cuz I primary in buckets, and secondary in the standard 5gallon carboy.

 

[Nyxator]

most buckets are 6.5-7gallons to the rim...meaning they have enough head space to avoid needing a blow off (although i read about Wit beers that are always exceeding headspace)

Personally, every wheat beer I have brewed has exceeded the headspace of a 6.5 gallon carboy.

 

[Mr Nick]

I have the plastic bucket with the standard hole. It was plugged with the rubber stopper and the stopper's smaller hole was plugged with the airlock. the blow off tube was then attached to the airlock.


Sure, I could have posted about what to do but it was 2:30am when I got back from work. Some one please spell it out for me because I'm very confused. How do I avoid blow off with a plastic bucket? Right now I don't feel like investing in another glass carboy after buying this brand new kit and not having brewed a single batch.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense. I'm tired

I am New here myself, But as others have said...I don't think you should have had the air lock or the rubber stopper installed. The blow off tube should have been directly hooked up to the opening with the other end placed in a smaller container with some water in it. Which provides an air lock for your blow off tube.

 

[Danek]

So out of interest, why would you use an airlock at all? If a blowoff tube does the same job, and in addition prevents beer explosions, couldn't you just skip using an airlock altogether and instead use a blowoff tube the whole time?

 

[libs]

Air locks take up less space and provide more reliable protection when fermentation slows down.

 

[OblivionsGate]

I think everything has been covered, but (still a noob myself) i would suggest getting a bigger bucket and pick an air lock or blow off method, one or the other.

As far as posting goes, although i've never posted at 2am, i have made a few "Holy ****, i just screwed my beer, HELP!" threads and they were answered within a few minutes.

This forum = lifesaver.

 

[Philip1993]

Air locks take up less space and provide more reliable protection when fermentation slows down.

I agree with the space comment. As for the more reliable, I don't understand what you mean. All airlocks are nothing more than a glorified "P" trap. If anything, a blow off tube an bucket is less likely to blast out, or be sucked back into the carbuoy because of the volume involved.

 

[TexLaw]

The little airlocks are just easier to deal with and take up a lot less space. I don't want to fool around with a bucket and hose in my fermenation tank (a.k.a, the beer fridge, chest freezer o' beer).

I agree with the others on the explosion. It was probably fine.

This stuff, right here, is almost priceless: Foam Control

I've used it for years and have been happy with every batch. No blowups, no blow-off tube setups, no problems with head retention in the final beer. It costs about fifty cents extra per five gallon batch when you break it down. I'll pay that every time.


TL

 

[paulthenurse]

Just cause it's 2 am and you think that no-one is reading this forum is no reason to not ask. I work overnights and if it's slow here I'm on line reading. I've got 25 years of brewing mistakes that I can share with you, so don't be shy. You are gonna make boo-boos. The good news is that no pathogens can live in beer, so if it don't small bad, it's probably just fine. Or at least it won't kill you. Your next batch will be better.

 

[libs]

I agree with the space comment. As for the more reliable, I don't understand what you mean. All airlocks are nothing more than a glorified "P" trap. If anything, a blow off tube an bucket is less likely to blast out, or be sucked back into the carboy because of the volume involved.

First, it is a lot easier to bump into your blow off tube set up and break the seal.

Second, the material used in most blow off tubes can deteriorate after time and if the fermentation slow down, the air and anything else that was not properly cleaned out of them (and cleaning them throughly can be a PITA) can find its way into the fermenter.

This is just my opinion.

 

[Philip1993]

Since this is an identical situation with a very different outcome, I thought it appropriate to add a link here for future "victims":

Exploding bucket lid -first batch!

 

[dinks]

Newb here... 1st post.

Planning on starting my first brew this weekend. Most likely a 5gallon light lager (yuengling clone) and I will be using a glass carboy. Would you recommend that I start off with a blow off instead of an air-lock? or should I just get a carboy larger than 5 gallons?

 

[Yooper]

You are risking losing alot of beer when you ferment 5 gallons in a 5 gallon container! I'd either use a 7.5 gallon bucket (which I always use) or a 6.5 gallon carboy.

 

[dinks]

You are risking losing alot of beer when you ferment 5 gallons in a 5 gallon container! I'd either use a 7.5 gallon bucket (which I always use) or a 6.5 gallon carboy.

I am so glad I asked, was gonna go pick a 5 gallon after work. Thanks :rockin:

 

[jonbeck14]

Since this is an identical situation with a very different outcome, I thought it appropriate to add a link here for future "victims":

Exploding bucket lid -first batch!

Yup, I'm the proud author of that thread.

We're racking to the secondary tonight, foaming has slowed down considerably, and it smells delicious. I think we'll be ok. We followed the advice to re sanitize the lid and put it back on. Everything has been fine since then. I won't be using a lock next time I make a wheat, I'll just go with a blowoff hose. SWMBO will not be happy if there's an explosion in our little Wrigleyville Apartment, even if the cubbies make the playoffs.

 

[Philip1993]

Major screw up. I meant to reference the other thread right before yours where the guy tossed out his batch on day 1 just because the lid blew off.

 

[TexLaw]

You are risking losing alot of beer when you ferment 5 gallons in a 5 gallon container! I'd either use a 7.5 gallon bucket (which I always use) or a 6.5 gallon carboy.

I agree! You will lose close to a half gallon, just from the krausen that builds up. Then, you will blow off more.


TL