What the happened? More important, what next?

[mvolps22]

I was making my first ever home brew, it's supposed to be like guiness, I followed the directions to a "T" but when I checked on my beer this evening, this is what I found:

It's flaky and crusty around the air lock so I think it's done doing whatever it was doing. What did I do wrong? Is the beer ruined? What do I do now?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Ichthy]

Go here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/blowoff-tube-bucket-154531/
and scroll down. Nothing's wrong, you just need to hook up a blowoff tube.

 

[sp1365]

Yep, it look like you just had a very vigorous fermentation. Next time try a blow-off tube and you will be set. Your beer is fine. Clean it up, re-sanitize everything, and continue as normal.

 

[C2H5OH]

Mmmmm. Now that's good stuff.

*Returns trousers to designated location*

Just a case of low head-space for a heady-brew. Like itchy said, use a blow-off with the primary, and go to an airlock in the 2nd-airy. (If you do 2nd-airies)

 

[mvolps22]

Thanks all for the quick help. I'll do this tomorrow when I get home from work since home depot isn't open right now. I don't have any tubing laying around.

 

[osagedr]

You might be past the point of needing a blowoff for this particular batch. Might be okay to remove the airlock; remove the lid; clean it all up and sanitize it and get your blowoff tube before the next batch.

 

[Grimster]

What did I do wrong?

Not much just needed an overflow but judging by the carnage, bah!

Is the beer ruined?

Whether or not this beer is ruined? No telling did THIS ruin it? I doubt it. Clean it all up, replace the airlock, and let it keep doing it's job.

What do I do now?

What you do now goes something like relax drink a homebrew and relax (redundancy rules) there's a nice acronym for it I see once in a while but I'm too lazy to look it up again. The image involves Yoda I remember that much.

 

[danculwell]

RDWHAHB
(The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.)

 

[brewmonk]

Redundant Department's Office of the Redundancy Department!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

You did sanitize the underside of the lid.......didn't you?

Yes? Leave the lid alone, pull the airlock, rinse it out, re-sanitize the downtube, put in on the lid and fill it again. Then just,

walk away.

 

[jgln]

Looks like it is going to be a great beer. Is that an old basement wall or a fancy stucco wall in your house? I would really keep my fermenters far away from those walls if so to avoid a very difficult to impossible cleanup. Looks like you got lucky.

 

[HickoryMike]

You are probably fine....blow-off's happen.

One thought I did have was regarding your fermentation temperature. If you ferment too hot, fermentation can go nuts and give off a lot of off flavors. Keep in mind, the internal temperature during fermentation will be a good 5 degrees warmer than the ambient room temperature. IF your beer was hanging around 75 degrees or more, this could have resulted in the blowoff and would likely lead to off flavors.

Just a thought....