Blow-off through airlock, what now?

[Bradmont]

I started my second ever batch with a buddy yesterday, and the yeast are going pretty vigorously this morning. The krausen when I checked it this morning was filling pretty much all the head space in the carboy, and just now I saw that it has bubbled up and through the airlock (the single-piece S kind) and pushed out the sterilized water (there's a bit of wort in there now). There also seems to be a fair amount of pressure, I can hear the CO2 pushing out the cap on top of the airlock. It didn't make for a severe blowoff, but this happened in the last hour or so, so it might get worse.

So, I'm wondering what I should do now -- if I refill the airlock, I'm a little afraid the same thing will happen again, and I don't have the equipment for a blowoff tube. Should I leave it until it calms down a bit, or go ahead and refill the airlock? Any other suggestions?

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

While it's pushing out co2 at a fast rate there ain't nothing getting in there. However, i would still put a fresh airlock full of sanitizer in there. That gunk solidifies pretty hard and could plug your airlock. Just be sanitary while doing a changeover and you are golden.

 

[Bradmont]

Ok, I replaced the airlock with a three-piece that I had in the supply bin. I didn't put the cap on top super tight, though, and while I was washing out the old one, I heard a pop and the cap clattered to the floor. A minute later, the same again, and it had popped the middle piece out too. I think I'm just going to wait a while before replacing it.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Sterilize a piece of aluminum foil and cover it loosely until it calms down.

 

[Bradmont]

Cool, will do. Thanks!

 

[pwndabear]

if it's still going crazy, you can attach a piece of vinyl tubing to the innermost part of your 3-piece airlock and have it running into a bucket of sanitizer. if you do this make sure you sanitize the tubing.

 

[TomSD]

You haven't experienced blow off until you are cleaning wort off of your ceiling.

Really though it is cranking out CO2, hence the blowout, so you are good as long as you sterilize before you replace.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

if it's still going crazy, you can attach a piece of vinyl tubing to the innermost part of your 3-piece airlock and have it running into a bucket of sanitizer. if you do this make sure you sanitize the tubing.

He doesn't have the gear for a blow-off. I'm betting that he will do soon though.

 

[Bradmont]

Actually, I went ahead and did what pwndabear suggested, with a small-diameter syphon tube. I was thinking that a blowoff needed to be one of those big, fat syphons, but this is doing the job fine. The bucket is a big aluminum pot, so I'm getting interesting metallic bubbling sounds from the brew closet now...

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.