A bit of a mess

[Greenmeadow]

My brother-in-law had his airlock get plugged over night. He woke to the sound of some explosion in his house, went down to investigate, and saw the lid to his fermenter lying on the floor with wort dripping from the ceiling.

Blow-off hoses have their purpose.

I just read this...no intention of sounding superior with the comment on blow-off hoses. I was just explaining the point of the story.

 

[ombre42]

Which yeast did you brew with? I brewed a hefe with the Weihenstephan strain from Wyeast and the krausen was crazy. They warn about it on the website not the package.

 

[Memorex88]

Which yeast did you brew with? I brewed a hefe with the Weihenstephan strain from Wyeast and the krausen was crazy. They warn about it on the website not the package.

Coopers 24237 that came with the kit.

I have cream ale that I pitched on Thursday going just fine

Again, I think the 1.070 OG whereas the kit's suggested 1.040 - 1.050 is where the problem lies. I added way too much DME, but we'll see what comes out of it.
The important lesson here is I caught it in time and managed a cure.

 

[BeerPressure]

I had a blowoff tube for a porter on a bucket and the krausen was so big that it clogged the hole in the lid. blowoff tube failure

 

[Memorex88]

+1

That's why I have my 3/4" tube ready for future krausen monsters

 

[icu812]

It's a plan but you should have seen the consistency of this foam! I could have put out a chemical fire with it
In 25 years of brewing, I've never seen anything like it. Then again... I've never made a brew with so much malt either hehhe

25 years of brewing and you never made a blow off tube?.....

 

[MikeG]

Wow, I think you're lucky you didn't have a lid blow off with wort on the ceiling. I've also had to rig a blowoff tube before and am glad I caught it in time. Thanks for the pics!

 

[Memorex88]

25 years of brewing and you never made a blow off tube?.....

If I never had a problem before, why the F would I need one?

 

[Memorex88]

Wow, I think you're lucky you didn't have a lid blow off with wort on the ceiling. I've also had to rig a blowoff tube before and am glad I caught it in time. Thanks for the pics!

Yes I'm lucky I heard the noise early on... and the pics... ah that's another on again off again hobby of mine

 

[HSM]

Damn! Now the blow off tube is getting clogged and I just showered my face with wort by pulling it off to unclog it! Looks like I'll be babysitting this for some time
Boy is it ever active!

On the upside.... it smells wonderful heheh

No doubt, been there. The blow off tube needs to be bigger else it's prone to clogging. It's easier in a carboy but since you are using a bung you probably can size some tube to replace the bung entirely and snug it into the lid.

EDIT: I see you found the answer on page 2!

 

[Memorex88]

EDIT: I see you found the answer on page 2!

All quiet on the yeastern front now

 

[Crash]

Mem88
it was a NB kit for English Pale Ale, but I also added and extra pound of DME kicking the Gravity up to 1.074 and added a 1,500 ml starter of Nottingham Ale yeast. I think my biggest problem was that I was itching to use a plastic carboy that I got for Christmas and basically the only head space was the neck of the bottle. I discovered later that when it blew the stopper there was enough internal pressure to fracture the bottom of the carboy -- it leaks now and is useless. [/QUOTE]

 

[Memorex88]

oh crap! That sucks You lost the batch AND a carboy? Man I only lost a bit of wort, I feel for you.

 

[Halaster]

I had this happen when I brewed my Rusian Imerial Stout. The blow off tube helped when I did my 90 minute IPA since that was really active also.

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

To late for this brew, but for future ones, if you use a blow off, I'd keep it lower then your airlock. It's not likely, but it could siphon into your beer with it being elevated (also why starsan solution or something sanitary for the liquid in your jar/bottle).

 

[Memorex88]

Good point MoRoToRiUm, I'll be totally ready the next monster.

 

[Memorex88]

I took a reading today to see how it's coming along.... 1.020! 6.6% ABV.
It took me 5 minutes to ready the hydro because there is 2 inch Guinness type head in the test jar I couldn't make a reading out. This is what I wanted in this beer Now... when to dry hop???

Fabulous taste with extreme lacing, I look forward to the end result!

I'll take a picture of the next reading I do.

 

[HopBomb]

The "no blow-off experience" seems to be much more common than I'd ever imagined. I had one too, inside of a closet full of books and clothes. I dry hopped (loose pellets) in a secondary, put it in the closet and came back a couple of days later to find exploded wort and hop goo, floor to ceiling and all over the books and clothes. And a hop clogged airlock laying on the floor. That was 15 years ago, and only recently have I had the will (and time) to start brewing again.

I wish I'd known I wasn't the only fool who'd ever made that mistake. My wife still chuckles and hasn't let me live that one down. That experience is indelibly etched in my brewing memory, and a mistake I won't make again. And as one might surmise, it perhaps influenced my choice of screen name here.

 

[Memorex88]

HopBomb <----

Good story and sorry to hear you still get the "wife elbows to the ribs".

Well I hope that people that haven't had the experience will learn that the blowoff tube MUST be big enough to do the job. 3/8" is too small as you witnessed with my experience.
The 3/4" might be the smallest size to use. In my case, the tube fit's perfectly in the hole of my bucket lid.

 

[EvilTOJ]

Bubble Monster you say?



OM NOM NOM NOM

 

[Corkster]

LOL Evil.....

That's pretty dang funny....

I am glad I came across this topic early on as I have not even actually started brewing just yet. (Well I tried to do a cider last fall, but having no idea what I was doing I messed it up horribly) I will probably start an actual beer batch in the next couple weeks as soon as I can afford the ingredients.

I will definitely be purchasing some 3/4" tubing and going with the blow-off method rather than the air-lock!

 

[GroosBrewz]

LOL Evil.....

That's pretty dang funny....

I am glad I came across this topic early on as I have not even actually started brewing just yet. (Well I tried to do a cider last fall, but having no idea what I was doing I messed it up horribly) I will probably start an actual beer batch in the next couple weeks as soon as I can afford the ingredients.

I will definitely be purchasing some 3/4" tubing and going with the blow-off method rather than the air-lock!

Yo- Blow off is the only way to go.. It's cheap and it works.. It also helps blow off some of the nasty stuff in your beer (hop resins, etc) though I dont know if it blows off enough to really make a difference. Dont skimp on the blow off tubing.. Get what you think you need plus an extra foot or so.. My blowoff hose is a little bit short so it has a little kink in it which it makes hard to arrange the set-up sometimes.. I personally use a plastic 2 qt pitcher as my blow off vessel, filled with an a couple inches of cheap vodka in the bottom as my sanitizer.. I used to use bleach but am off that now.. Yeast and bleach just dont get along. Doi you wanna brew this weekend?

 

[Corkster]

Hey Bro,

I will probably start a batch of Premier cheap stuff this weekend. I ended up spending way more already than I had intended to and still haven't bought the blow off tubing!

I just gotta figure out how to tell SWMBO that I wasted $30 on a $6 batch of beer.

(got another bucket spigot, a hydrometer test jar, and 5 lbs of corn sugar)

 

[Dr Vorlauf]

Now the jar can overflow into the laundry sink (which is used for my homebrewing only) and down the drain :rockin:

I think this would have happened with a 10 gallon bucket also. It's so aggressive... it's got a life of it's own!

I hope that that isnt a case of Bud in the lower right hand corner. You brew could catch the BMC flu from that stuff !

 

[hopsalot]

yah keep that away from your beer

 

[Memorex88]

I hope that that isnt a case of Bud in the lower right hand corner. You brew could catch the BMC flu from that stuff !

I needed bottles and still do but Superbowl Sunday is coming up and with a little help from my friends, I'll have enough for the 2 batches I'll be bottling soon.

 

[TexasStu]

I hope for your sake they aren't twist-offs!

 

[Memorex88]

I hope for your sake they aren't twist-offs!

That's not a problem with Canadian bottles

 

[BugleBrew]

If you have a hardware store nearby, most sell different diameters of vinyl tubing. That might be an option if it is closer than LBHS.

 

[Memorex88]

Well folks, here it is. The day of judgment.

The beer is the color of a true Munich Dark Lager. It's a little stronger than I wanted at 6.5% ABV but that was to be expected with some loss from the "Bubble Monster" ending in a more concentrated beer.

That said, it's got a wonderful head ala Newcastle. Tiny bubbles but it doesn't linger as long yet there is tremendous lacing on the glass.
It's very malty and scrumptious with a little bitterness and slight hop aroma.

I really like this beer for my first BIG beer in years that unfortunately had some issues.

The recipe has been modified with 1/2 the DME for the next batch AND more importantly, pitch at a colder temperature.

There you have it. My experience has come full circle.

I hope you enjoyed the show as much as I did.

Here is the finished product...