airlock full of beer

[cwag001]

Why is my airlock full of beer, even the bottom of it is covered in yeast , I took it out and washed it, then put it back. Good or Bad idea

 

[Dan]

It will be fine. Fermentation got aggressive and pushed some yeast and trub into the airlock. It happens. Cleaning the airlock and reinstalling is fine. You might want to do some google searches on "blow off tubes". Sometimes airlocks just can't handle the initial stage of a gynormous fermentation..

Your beer will be just fine. Sanitation is the most important aspect. Keep that in check and all is good. Fermenation temp is also a key factor at this point.

 

[MikeNZ]

Had this happen to me yesterday, though it overflowed and filled the lid up with beer.
I picked up the carboy and took it outside to pour off the beer from the lid. Put it back inside and now it appears to be doing nothing, no steady bubbling from the airlock like before. Have i ruined this batch???

 

[BitterBomz]

Had this happen to me yesterday, though it overflowed and filled the lid up with beer.
I picked up the carboy and took it outside to pour off the beer from the lid. Put it back inside and now it appears to be doing nothing, no steady bubbling from the airlock like before. Have i ruined this batch???

Your post sounds confusing. A carboy is a glass or clear plastic jug which looks like a 5 gallon water bottle. I think you mean you're using a fermenting bucket with a lid that has a grommeted hole for an airlock.

How long has your beer been in your fermenter? If there was a big enough time gap between the initial bubbling of the airlock and the time you noticed beer on the lid of your bucket, it is likely that fermentation has completed. Fill the airlock to the fill line and sit to watch for bubbling for about 5 minutes.

Your beer should be fine, but next time use a blow off tube. A blow off tube is simply a vinyl tube that comes out of the center tube of the airlock; you will need a few feet of 7/16 tubing. Run this tubing to a seperate vessel ( I use a half-filled gallon of water), and submerse the end of the tube in water. This will allow a violent fermatation to push foam through the tube while keeping oxygen out of your fermenter.

 

[LionnaireLewis]

This happend to my last batch as well. Luckily I have several spare airlocks and a bucket of StarSan handy to sanitize . I normally use blow off's on bigger ale's but not for smaller OG batches.
I would suggest keeping some spare's handy if your not doing a blow off.

 

[jknapp12105]

Spontaneous fermentation! That's how you know your beer making skills are Workin! It's not. Bad idea to just put a blow off tube on just until your fermentation slows down.

Blow off tube: get one of your flexible plastic hoses you have, put one end in the plug. (Same thing your airlock goes into) and the other end in a thing of water. Make sure everything is completely and sterilize, even the water.

 

[MikeNZ]

Your post sounds confusing. A carboy is a glass or clear plastic jug which looks like a 5 gallon water bottle. I think you mean you're using a fermenting bucket with a lid that has a grommeted hole for an airlock.

How long has your beer been in your fermenter? If there was a big enough time gap between the initial bubbling of the airlock and the time you noticed beer on the lid of your bucket, it is likely that fermentation has completed. Fill the airlock to the fill line and sit to watch for bubbling for about 5 minutes.

Your beer should be fine, but next time use a blow off tube. A blow off tube is simply a vinyl tube that comes out of the center tube of the airlock; you will need a few feet of 7/16 tubing. Run this tubing to a seperate vessel ( I use a half-filled gallon of water), and submerse the end of the tube in water. This will allow a violent fermatation to push foam through the tube while keeping oxygen out of your fermenter.

Yea that's what i meant haha.

Beer has been in for 3 days now, it over flowed on day 2.
I have the airlock half filled, and as far as i can tell, no bubbling at all, though i have read that doesn't mean it's not working??

 

[granpooba19]

Yea that's what i meant haha.

Beer has been in for 3 days now, it over flowed on day 2.
I have the airlock half filled, and as far as i can tell, no bubbling at all, though i have read that doesn't mean it's not working??

Correct, just because the air lock isn't bubbling doesn't meant there isn't fermentation going on.

 

[Goldback52]

Just keep and eye on the airlock clean if necessary. Don't forget while fermenting the CO2 if forcing itself out of grommet so no bacteria will get in beer.