Brew Didnt Go As Planned

[Grim_Ale]

Ok, in typical fashion, my brew caused more than one headache.

I have a 6.5 gal carboy. Drew a line at the 5.5 gal mark and had my bucket of star san, equipment cleaned, and carboy full of star san. So let's brew.

Well first full boil with extract was fine. A lot of hop additions and such but everything at the right time.

So at flame out my dad starts the chiller and I go put the necessary items in the sanitizer .

As the wort got to proper temp we immediately transferred it to the carboy. It had some bubbles from the star san but I know that's fine. Well all those bubbles steadily formed a huge mass of bubbles and with some wort left I had green star san foam from all the hop particulate oozing out of the carboy. So we have to wait and pour a lil at a time. Finally get that in and realize with all the hop particulate and yeast from starter I ended up closer to six gals of wort. So now I know I need a blow off hose . The 1/2 id hose will not fit over the stem in the plastic airlock.

Now I'm panicked so I find my blow off cap that's plastic that has to antenna looking things. Dip in star san and put it on. Then I try to force on the hose to the larger part that's suppose to take a 1/2 inch hose n it will not go on. Finally force it one about an 1/8 of an inch or so and seal the other tube.

Should I worry or just wait n see? The other side of this hood takes 3/8 inch hose but I'm out. I met my OG at 1.07 but I am worried about changing the blow off cap during mid fermentation as it'll be Monday before I can get to the home brew store.

 

[BrewChem]

Let it ride... RDWHAHB..! You'll be making beer in no time..!

 

[flars]

I would use duct tape to put the 1/2 inch hose on the 3/8 inch nipple.

(Who had Red Green as their avatar?)

 

[Grim_Ale]

Well I put the 1/2 inch around the 1/2 spout and left the cap on the 3/8 tube so that shouldn't come off but I'll tape it up regardless

 

[k_mcarthur]

Run hot water over the end of the hose to loosen up the plastic tubing. Then push it on. Tape the cap on, they are notorious for popping off.

 

[RM-MN]

Find the preferred temperature range of the yeast and get that beer down to the low end, maybe even a little lower and your ferment will be much more sedate and you might not even need the blowoff.

 

[Grim_Ale]

Well full blown fermentation going on. Got home from work and good thing I used the blowoff hose. Only 8 hours after pitching and already have beer being lost, lol, from not enough head space.

The only negative about those orange blow off caps is they can leak. I heard a slight hissing and found out it was coming from under the cap. So had to duct tape that good too. I'll worry about getting adhesive off the glass after brew finishes, right now I just don't want to risk infection.

One last question is in the hurry to get to work and get the beer covered I put the full 5 foot hose on and put it in a gallon of water with star san. So the hose droops down then back up and in the gallon of water. Could this cause excess pressure issues due to the gas having to go have enough pressure to go back up and into the gallon airlock?

 

[flars]

I don't think the length of hose or the shape going into the bucket will have any effect. The coefficient of friction for gas is very negligible.

 

[Travestian]

I don't think the length of hose or the shape going into the bucket will have any effect. The coefficient of friction for gas is very negligible.

It's not friction you have to worry about. The pressure would have to build up in the line to overcome the height of the beer in the tube before the gas could bypass it. It isn't much pressure (12" of H2O is only ~ 0.5 psi) but a loose connection could pop off from it. I'd tape it to be sure.

 

[Grim_Ale]

Ok now the damn cap is leaking!!!

Not much but the duct tape is wet and I'm getting minimal blow off from under the blowoff hood running down the neck.

NEVER had this happen before. I'm sure after the krausen (sp?) subsides it'll be ok but until then what should I do? Never had a leak from a bung or blow off hood/cap.

 

[RM-MN]

RDWHAHB. Since you have so much pressure that krausen is leaking around the cap, no bacteria can swim fast enough to get in. When the ferment slows down you can clean up the mess and put on the plug with airlock.

 

[althalos]

. Well all those bubbles steadily formed a huge mass of bubbles and with some wort left I had green star san foam from all the hop particulate oozing out of the carboy.

Why in god's name is there hop particulate in your primary?

 

[RM-MN]

Why in god's name is there hop particulate in your primary?

Why wouldn't there be hop particulate in the primary? I do it all the time. Chill wort, dump into primary, pitch yeast. When the ferment is over the hops have settled to the bottom, get covered with the yeast and I get clear beer to bottle.

 

[k_mcarthur]

Why wouldn't there be hop particulate in the primary? I do it all the time. Chill wort, dump into primary, pitch yeast. When the ferment is over the hops have settled to the bottom, get covered with the yeast and I get clear beer to bottle.

+1. I don't even try to separate hop particles and break anymore. It doesn't affect taste as far as I can tell, and minimizes wort loss from the kettle. Back to OP, don't stress too much. Once krausen starts to fall change to your normal bung and airlock.