Blow off tube came out, put back in and is fermenting like I have never seen before

[italianorose]

I brewed last night a kit, and I have only brewed once before a couple months ago. My first brew was flawless according to my expectations and I was pretty happy with the results.

The batch I brewed last night had another good brew with no problems until I got home from work today with wort on my table, foam lining my carboy, and my blow off tube out of my stopper. I did not sanitize my tube and I also made sure not to touch the end going into the stopper when I put it back (rookie mistake). I should have known better and it didn’t dawn on me until I googled this issue and now I feel like an idiot. I did clean my table off last night so it fell on a clean surface, but still.

My question is this: My fermentation is going wild. It bubbles every other second literally now for almost an hour. My first brew did not do this, like one bubble every 20-30 seconds I feel like. I am nervous, can I move my carboy under my table so if it shoot’s up it doesn’t paint my ceiling? I am new to this and I don’t know if I can even touch my carboy and move it?

I had to create an account because I usually just lurk. Thanks in advance!

 

[Martys1]

Have a brew and chillax, it will be ok

 

[italianorose]

Have a brew and chillax, it will be ok

Will do haha thanks

 

[hotbeer]

It might stop bubbling in a few hours or days and then you'll think you killed it. Don't worry, that's normal too.

I would have taken the time to clean and sanitize the tube, its bubbler bottle and all of the exterior of the fermenter. Or just replaced them with clean stuff.

If you are using the small diameter tubing most kits give you, then I'd recommend going to something with twice as much internal diameter to use for your blow off tubes.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Yeah, "should have" sanitized or put fresh ones one.. will it hurt anything, probably not. Been there, done that, beer was fine. Definitely look into a larger size blow off tube as mentioned above.. I think 3/8 inside diameter hose will fit over the inside part of a 3 piece airlock. And that also helps keep everything together as the airlock acts as a splice from the stopper to the hose. As for the active ferment, some yeasts go more crazy then others, also the temp can change how fast or slow it goes. If it's to warm that can give you some off flavors, again depending on the yeast strain.

Edit, here is an old pic I found of a blow off tube with 3 piece airlock.

 

[RM-MN]

I brewed last night a kit, and I have only brewed once before a couple months ago. My first brew was flawless according to my expectations and I was pretty happy with the results.

The batch I brewed last night had another good brew with no problems until I got home from work today with wort on my table, foam lining my carboy, and my blow off tube out of my stopper. I did not sanitize my tube and I also made sure not to touch the end going into the stopper when I put it back (rookie mistake). I should have known better and it didn’t dawn on me until I googled this issue and now I feel like an idiot. I did clean my table off last night so it fell on a clean surface, but still.

My question is this: My fermentation is going wild. It bubbles every other second literally now for almost an hour. My first brew did not do this, like one bubble every 20-30 seconds I feel like. I am nervous, can I move my carboy under my table so if it shoot’s up it doesn’t paint my ceiling? I am new to this and I don’t know if I can even touch my carboy and move it?

I had to create an account because I usually just lurk. Thanks in advance!

What part of the blow off tube went into your beer and how deep? Answer: It probably didn't even go inside the fermenter. If it didn't go into the fermenter, bacteria didn't either as they are notorious poor at flying into a breeze (the breeze being the CO2 stream coming out of the stopper).

Every fermentation is a little different. Maybe a change in recipe, maybe a little more yeast or better aeration, maybe the same as the last one you made but you jostled the fermenter putting the blow off hose back on. A little jostling will cause more CO2 to come out of suspension in the fermenting beer and that will make the airlock bubble like mad for a while.

 

[italianorose]

Yeah, "should have" sanitized or put fresh ones one.. will it hurt anything, probably not. Been there, done that, beer was fine. Definitely look into a larger size blow off tube as mentioned above.. I think 3/8 inside diameter hose will fit over the inside part of a 3 piece airlock. And that also helps keep everything together as the airlock acts as a splice from the stopper to the hose. As for the active ferment, some yeasts go more crazy then others, also the temp can change how fast or slow it goes. If it's to warm that can give you some off flavors, again depending on the yeast strain.

Edit, here is an old pic I found of a blow off tube with 3 piece airlock.
View attachment 760740

okay, I will get a bigger tube. At this point I am chalking this up to a learning experience.

Will I be okay to keep using a blow off tube the whole two weeks it’s fermenting? I know I have to wait until bobbles slow down and then switch from blow off to my airlock, but after yesterdays scare I’m scared with an airlock it will blow my carboy up. Maybe I am being too cautious? Thank you for your time in your reply.

 

[italianorose]

What part of the blow off tube went into your beer and how deep? Answer: It probably didn't even go inside the fermenter. If it didn't go into the fermenter, bacteria didn't either as they are notorious poor at flying into a breeze (the breeze being the CO2 stream coming out of the stopper).

Every fermentation is a little different. Maybe a change in recipe, maybe a little more yeast or better aeration, maybe the same as the last one you made but you jostled the fermenter putting the blow off hose back on. A little jostling will cause more CO2 to come out of suspension in the fermenting beer and that will make the airlock bubble like mad for a while.

Okay so it appeared my tube did not ever enter the beer, but what happened is it blew out of my bung and on onto my table. I put back in bung, and it fermented even more crazy (what you said is probably true!) and it then a few hours later the carboy popper my bung completely off and painted my ceiling. So I cleaned everything up (ceiling fortunately was easy to clean), and sanitized everything all over again. This time, I mixed sanitizer and water in a gallon pot with 1/4 gallon of water, and re applied blow off tube and this time put under my table in a large bucket. I then used a chip clip to keep my blow off tube inside the pot. This was all done late at night, and now 2:30 PM central time, my carboy has been much more mellow and my house smells like beer. It is still bubbling quite frequently but that is present state. In your experience do you think this batch has potential to be drinkable? Thank you for your time in your reply!

What an adventure, but I still love it and have ambitions for a 5 gallon batch soon and trying to learn all grain brewing!

 

[RM-MN]

If the bung blew out of the fermenter, it is probably caused by you putting the other end too deep in the liquid. It only needs (if it needs at all*) to be just under the surface of the liquid so bubbles can come out easily.

I'm sure your batch will be drinkable but I'll place bets that it will have more esters than it should and perhaps some fusel alcohol, both caused by allowing the fermentation to be a too warm of temperature. That warmer temp also encourages the yeast to get very active so they produce lots of CO2. My beers became much better when I started controlling the temperature during the first few day of fermentation. The current beer is fermenting at 63F. and is producing a slow stream of bubbles.

* If it needs at all? One of my fermenters has a simple small hole in the lid with a piece of Saran Wrap taped over it, just something to allow the CO2 out without letting bugs in. It makes beer just the same as those fermenters with airlocks.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

okay, I will get a bigger tube. At this point I am chalking this up to a learning experience.

Will I be okay to keep using a blow off tube the whole two weeks it’s fermenting? I know I have to wait until bobbles slow down and then switch from blow off to my airlock, but after yesterdays scare I’m scared with an airlock it will blow my carboy up. Maybe I am being too cautious? Thank you for your time in your reply.

You'll be fine if you leave the blow off the entire time, just know that when fermentation is done, if ... if the temp drops in the fermenter you can get suck back so keep an eye on the hose so that you dont get starsan back into the fermenter. That will only happen if there is a significant drop in temp. What yeast are you using and what temperature is it fermenting at... sorry if you said already and I missed it.