Blowout... Is my beer gonna make it?

[dave8274]

I made a batch of Edwort's Pale Ale yesterday. I should have learned my lesson when I used Nottingham for a cider, but I didn't. Everything looked great and the airlock was bubbling along when I left the house this afternoon. I just got home and discovered the airlock full of gunk, the fermenter lid had blown open and was now resting on the bucket unsealed, and there was a very bitter chunky liquid on the bucket lid.

I sealed it back up and installed a blowoff tube, but what is the likelihood my beer survived? If it's all that bitter, it will be undrinkable.

 

[wfowlks]

it will be fine the layer of co2 should protect it. I've had it blow off and it came out fine

 

[harpua]

Just carbonated an IPA that exploded at day 2...and its perfect. Just wait and see.

 

[CBMbrewer]

The "chunky liquid" on the rim of the bucket was most likely krausen and hop debris. That would explain why it is so bitter. I'd bet that you will be just fine. In the future, always use a blow off tube at the beginning of fermentation.

 

[dave8274]

Yeah thanks, lesson learned. This was my 1st AG batch and the 1st one that was more than 5 gallons. I should have known I'd have an issue.

 

[BigFloyd]

Are you using Nottingham on this as well? At what temp?

 

[dave8274]

Yep, Nottingham. The room is in the mid to high 60s.

 

[Ramitt]

That would explain it, if the room is in the high 60's the wort is hitting the low to mid 70's. Look into some form of temp control in the future. More than anything else I did improving temp control made my beer better.

 

[dave8274]

I'm looking into picking up a freezer as a fermentation chamber, but in the meantime I'm just going with the coldest room in the house. It should be quite a bit cooler down there in the winter, but I want to have a better solution by next summer.

 

[BigFloyd]

If you can't keep the beer temp consistently below 68*F, I'd stay away from Notty. It's one of my favorite dry yeast, but it has a significantly lower temp range than other (non-Saison) dry ale yeasts.

 

[EineProsit]

It happened to me too. Check it out

 

[wfowlks]

I like WLP001 It does a great job at higher temps. I actually just made a batch, Grain -> Beer in 6 days with the WLP001, turned out great. Nice and dry with no esters or fusel flavors/aroma.