Friday night rolled around and I was home from work early. I thought "what a great time to boil up another batch of Belgian Ale" and off I went. Everything went perfectly until it was time for the chiller.
I got my son to hold the outlet line while I turned on the water at the faucet. Apparently I turned it up higher than I had previously, because after about five minutes of me standing there holding the outlet under my foot (so it wouldn't whip around like a snake, spewing water everywhere) the inlet side comes shooting off the chiller, whipping around like a snake... yeah. 50 degrees F, in the dark, trying to get that damn little line reattached to the inlet of the chiller. I was rapidly going through my entire repertoire of profanities. I fixed it. So now I had the outlet under my left foot, and my right hand holding the inlet, which kept trying to come shooting off again. Sort of like the brewer's version of Twister.
At long last (very long) the wort reached the correct temperature and I pitched the yeast and put the fermenter to bed downstairs. Then I spent some time regaining a normal body temperature and finally went to bed.
Saturday morning, after my wife has left the house for a meeting, I am sitting there watching the beautiful bubbling when THE EVENT began. What was this? Some foam making its way rapidly through the airlock. Did I mention that while pouring the wort into the fermenter bucket, it was dark, and I overfilled it leaving only about 1.5 inches of headspace? Yeah. I totally did that.
I have read the warnings. I have read and heard the stories of the beer volcano. Before my very eyes, that liquid stream of foam seemed to crystallize, and the bubbles stopped. Heck, TIME stopped. My eyes got bigger as I realized what I was seeing. Then I watched in horror as the lid began to visibly swell upwards, yearning for release...
I reached out and snatched out the plugged airlock. Insert your favorite fart joke here, because there was an audible release of gas pressure. I quickly washed out the airlock and returned it to the grommet in the lid, after brushing aside the mound of foam. Yup, the process repeated. Four times. And then I said "screw it" and left it off while I went to the LHBS to buy an 8 gallon fermenter in which to place my 5.5 gallons of brew.
So yes, I have witnessed the beginning of the beer volcano but I was lucky enough (this time) to avoid having to explain to SWMBO why there was beer dripping from the ceiling and the whole house smelled like beer.
For the other newbies: watch your headspace! It is far better to have a bigger fermenter than you think you will need just in case.
I got my son to hold the outlet line while I turned on the water at the faucet. Apparently I turned it up higher than I had previously, because after about five minutes of me standing there holding the outlet under my foot (so it wouldn't whip around like a snake, spewing water everywhere) the inlet side comes shooting off the chiller, whipping around like a snake... yeah. 50 degrees F, in the dark, trying to get that damn little line reattached to the inlet of the chiller. I was rapidly going through my entire repertoire of profanities. I fixed it. So now I had the outlet under my left foot, and my right hand holding the inlet, which kept trying to come shooting off again. Sort of like the brewer's version of Twister.
At long last (very long) the wort reached the correct temperature and I pitched the yeast and put the fermenter to bed downstairs. Then I spent some time regaining a normal body temperature and finally went to bed.
Saturday morning, after my wife has left the house for a meeting, I am sitting there watching the beautiful bubbling when THE EVENT began. What was this? Some foam making its way rapidly through the airlock. Did I mention that while pouring the wort into the fermenter bucket, it was dark, and I overfilled it leaving only about 1.5 inches of headspace? Yeah. I totally did that.
I have read the warnings. I have read and heard the stories of the beer volcano. Before my very eyes, that liquid stream of foam seemed to crystallize, and the bubbles stopped. Heck, TIME stopped. My eyes got bigger as I realized what I was seeing. Then I watched in horror as the lid began to visibly swell upwards, yearning for release...
I reached out and snatched out the plugged airlock. Insert your favorite fart joke here, because there was an audible release of gas pressure. I quickly washed out the airlock and returned it to the grommet in the lid, after brushing aside the mound of foam. Yup, the process repeated. Four times. And then I said "screw it" and left it off while I went to the LHBS to buy an 8 gallon fermenter in which to place my 5.5 gallons of brew.
So yes, I have witnessed the beginning of the beer volcano but I was lucky enough (this time) to avoid having to explain to SWMBO why there was beer dripping from the ceiling and the whole house smelled like beer.
For the other newbies: watch your headspace! It is far better to have a bigger fermenter than you think you will need just in case.
