Aggressive Fermentation "Emergency"

First of all, sorry for making my first post an emergency help post....and maybe it really isn't, but I'm new to extract brewing and I'm in a jam.

I started in early September and I've made 5 batches as of yesterday. The first 4 have all been Brewers Best kits. I haven't had any problems and the one brew I've tasted (Irish Stout) was great.

Yesterday I made the 5th batch and a couple things were different. One, I ordered a kit from Jaspers (Fireside Warmer) and two, I made a double batch (doubled two kits and split equally into two bucket fermenters).

Everything seemed to go fine with the brew. I noticed that the brew started to ferment very quickly...like inside of 2 hours. I checked earlier today and the airlocks were going good. Tonight, a couple hours ago, I looked in there and there is a mess. The airlocks are still bubbling, but the bucket is over pressurized, there is beer coming from the lid seal and there is beer in the airlock. I've been busy with some family stuff tonight so I haven't checked it since. ..not sure what it looks like right now.

Just so you'll know....I split the batches equally, pitched the yeast separately for each bucket, and both buckets are having the problem.

What is happening, what can I do, and is my brew ruined?

Thank you, hopefully this can be salvaged.

U needed to search for a blow off tube. Any idea what fermentation Temps are? What yeast did u pitch?

Shoot....I had heard of the blow off tubes,but wasn't aware of when they were needed.

I don't know right off my head, but the basement stays around 70 degrees and the bucket thermometers have always stayed around 72 or so. I didn't check on this batch because everything had been so constant prior to now.

I believe the yeast was Nottingham,although I'm not 100%...I'll have to check later, I'm not in a place I can.

I'm pretty sure it was Nottingham though.

I would say clean up any beer this that has squirted out with some starsan and a lint free rag (or paper towel). After that, ditch the airlock and instead stick a length of tube into the bung, with the other end going into a jar of starsan solution (called a blow off tube).

This happened to me with the first imperial stout I brewed, totally caught me off gaurd. I had mine in a glass carboy and it just squirted all over the place (yet somehow didnt blow the airlock off). I just cleaned it up and put a blowoff tube on it. After the vigorous ferment was done (or maybe when I transferred to secondary), I reinstalled the airlock. It turned out fine.

Just remembered I had a picture of it.

Keet said:

I believe the yeast was Nottingham,although I'm not 100%...I'll have to check later, I'm not in a place I can. I'm pretty sure it was Nottingham though.

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Nottingham is a fast starter and can be veracious. Unfortunately, it likes a little cooler temp range (low 60s) than other ale yeast strains. So if it is in the low 70s now, you're going to have some off flavors in the beer. But who knows? Even though it won't fit the intended profile of the beer recipe, maybe you'll like it??

Temperature control during fermentation is the most significant thing you can do to increase the quality of your beer.

It sound like you're a fast starter too! Doubling up batches already?? Go for it!!!

Good luck!!

the first time I used S-04 it did the same thing...and I did put a blow-off tube after I saw how active it was. Good thing because even with the blow-off tube it still made a mess. It overflowed my container that I had the other end of the tube in.

What was the starting gravity of your beer? I have seen the same yeast act differently with the same SG. (that was with Danstar Munich yeast)

Thanks a lot for the help. I have gotten the buckets cleaned up and new airlocks in place. I don't have a blow off tube yet, so I can't do that yet. The fermentation had slowed considerably after I originally made this thread. However, as soon as I popped the new airlock on, it immediately began bubbling. I'll how for the best...not much else I can do at this point.

I am curious as to why this happened. Very little is different in what I did besides the brews. This brew had a bag of fresh, unpasteurized malt....as opposed to the cans that can sit on a shelf forever. Also, there was about a pound of brown sugar added to the brew...can this extra food make the yeast go crazy? Also, I've used the Nottingham without this happening on some of the other batches. I'm just concerned because I so don't know when it will be necessary to use a blow off.

As to some of your questions, the original gravity was 1.067. This was actually a little low as the recipe stated it should be about 1.071-1.079. I added a little extra water, so I imagine this accounts for the lower gravity.

I doubled up the batch because I'm brewing with a friend and splitting the batch. This only gives us 2 cases. ...seems like if we can do it, why not increase our productivity. Of course, the first time we do it, we have problems. Go figure.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the help.

Keet said:

I don't have a blow off tube yet, so I can't do that yet.

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I have used the tube from the racking cane as the blow off tube into blowoff container, filled with sanitizer, and it worked well. Just a thought and it is equipment you already have....

Well, it may not be necessary at this time. The worst part of the fermentation had ceased before I even cleaned up. One I cleaned up and changed airlocks, one of the buckets started immediately bubbling, but hasn't gotten crazy. The other one never really started up again, which I thought was a little weird. I would've expected them to act in a similar fashion.

The bucket that isn't bubbling is probably leaking out of the lid.

After blowing the lid off during fermentation of a wheat beer I simply took apart the air lock and used the bottom piece only with a piece of smaller diameter nylon tubing on the top of it as mentioned above routed it into a large bottle or jar half filled with sanitizer.
If your primary is glass I would always use a tube for the first couple of days since if the airlock clogs you risk blowing up the bottle. With a bucket I still use this method but really only need it brewing beers with high adjunct materials like wheat or when I use dry yeast at higher temperatures. Only drawback is it is harder to judge when fermentation is near complete. Just dry hopped too early when I used a new yeast..