Do I have a big problem?? cider in my AirLock?

[BadgerBrigade]

I have a problem
I found my airlock is overflowing... I had my girlfriend wash her hands well and put her finger on my bung hole (OMG I GOT TO REALLY USE THIS SENTANCE IN REAL LIFE...lol).. While I pulled the airlock out and washed it and poured vodka all over it and inside (back up to the level) and put it back in... Now it's over flowing again??? I brought it inside I guess it's too warm in here... But the garage is too cold... DANM!
What do I do???

 

[Snicks]

Next time try and make a blow-off tube. Clean your airlock again and put it back on (maybe loosely, if it pops it can damage your ceiling), hopefully the foaming will subside soon.

Also keep your girlfriends finger out of your bunghole! At this point in fermentation there is that much co2 coming off that you have no worries about oxygen or anything getting in, lay a paper towel over it while you clean.

 

[BadgerBrigade]

Thanks man... I'm really kind of tripping out here... So I'm Gonna wipe the top of the bung off and put the airlock backing loosely but should I put the airlocks top on... And it's outside in about 45° temperature and still bubbling like CRAZY!! It's supposed to get down to 37 well that's slow the fermentation and the bubbling?

 

[bottlebomber]

If you are making beer and there's cider in your airlock, then yes, freak out because your carboy is possessed. If you are making cider, well then there is no problem. Relax, bring the cider back inside please. The only thing chilling it is going to do is make the yeast drop out before they're completely done. The cider I did this year fermented out in less than 24 hours. Just try to keep it off the walls, and you'll be fine.

 

[cullen]

You do not have a big problem. Do not panic. What you have is very active fermentation. If you can't rig up a blowoff tube, try putting your fermenter into some sort of pan to collect the mess. It will subside in a few hours.

 

[BadgerBrigade]

Okay cool thanks a lot guys I feel much better...
It's 40° outside and 60° in the house should I bring it in and put it inside the shower until morning? I'm confused bottlebomber? I thought that the cooler temperature would make its not foam so much or do I want it to foam as much as it will? And not slow down fermentation? I put a cup of brown sugar for each gallon was that my problem? Right now I have the airlock on but the cap is not on the top of the airlock only the middle piece...

 

[bottlebomber]

If your cider drops to 40 degrees it will stop fermenting, and you'll have to rouse the yeast. This will seriously be over in a matter of hours, sucrose ferments out extremely quickly. The sugar probably had something to do with it.

 

[asidrane]

Okay cool thanks a lot guys I feel much better...
It's 40° outside and 60° in the house should I bring it in and put it inside the shower until morning? I'm confused bottlebomber? I thought that the cooler temperature would make its not foam so much or do I want it to foam as much as it will? And not slow down fermentation? I put a cup of brown sugar for each gallon was that my problem? Right now I have the airlock on but the cap is not on the top of the airlock only the middle piece...

If the cider gets too cold the yeast will stop fermenting and go to sleep. You want to let it ferment out until the end. The foaming is a sign of a roaring fermentation, just let it go.

 

[BadgerBrigade]

If the cider gets too cold the yeast will stop fermenting and go to sleep. You want to let it ferment out until the end. The foaming is a sign of a roaring fermentation, just let it go.

I had it outside for about 30 minutes and the bubbling has slowed way down I hope in my nervousness I didn't just reverse mess myself up by putting the yeast to sleep... I just brought it back in the house and gave it a little shake I noticed there is some little bubbles on the inside of the carvoy still going but they're the small ones that I saw at the very beginning

 

[FatherJack]

+1 on the paper towel covering any openings. I usually spray mine down with sanitizer before laying it over

 

[BadgerBrigade]

I don't have any sanitizer but I used a little isopropyl alcohol?
But now I brought it back into the house and put it into the shower...
I have the airlock on with no top... but now the bubbling seems to have slowed way down and I'm thinking I should reinsert my airlock, clean and with vodka back in it?

 

[EROK]

You NEED sanitizer, get some star-san or something ASAP.

You could use aluminum foil to cover until the overflow stops, just keep changing out the "sanitized" foil until the krausen slows and you can put an airlock on it. Usually after 48 hours you are safe, as the worst is over. While CO2 is coming out you are usually safe as long as you have good sanitation. Once the airlock is on you can clean up the mess all over the outside of the carboy.

Good Luck !

 

[lou2row]

The question is:

Did your girlfriend wash her hands AFTER having her finger in your bunghole?

 

[BadgerBrigade]

Okay so it's the next morning now, I have to go to work and can't get star-San anywhere...!
I have clean the outside of the Carvoy, and now I'm going to pour isopropyl alcohol all over the bung... I'm then going to remove the airlock and put a piece of foil down over it the hole Just long enough for me to clean the airlock and reinsert it and then going to add fresh vodka... My bubbling has slowed way down it has almost stopped completely... It was bubbling once every three seconds first thing this morning but now about once every 5 or 6 seconds? is this batch totally trashed???

 

[BadgerBrigade]

Actually it looks like it's bubbling about once every three seconds again?
If I put the yeast to sleep would it still bubble or no?

 

[bottlebomber]

No dude its not, there's nothing wrong. Cider ferments out extremely quickly. So you have a brief but impressive feeding frenzy, followed by an abrupt halt in fermentation. Can't wait till you have a TASTE of it heh heh heh... cider takes a while, and in a way much more skill than beer. BUT I think you'll be fine

 

[asidrane]

Actually it looks like it's bubbling about once every three seconds again?
If I put the yeast to sleep would it still bubble or no?

The bubbling is a result of pressure (CO2) leaving the carboy. The excess pressure is almost always a result of CO2 generated from fermentation. You are fine, just RDWHAHB.

 

[BadgerBrigade]

The bubbling is a result of pressure (CO2) leaving the carboy. The excess pressure is almost always a result of CO2 generated from fermentation. You are fine, just RDWHAHB.

What is RDWHAHB?

 

[BadgerBrigade]

So after I sanitized my airlock... I noticed it was only bubbling once every three seconds... But now I'm leaving for work and I see that it's bubbling about once a second again? Am I premature in putting the airlock back on? Am I going to have another Mount Saint Helens or Vasuvious episode??? Lol
I could've rigged a blow off system this morning but I didn't think I needed to...
I guess I'll know when I get home...'
But no one has answered me if isopropyl alcohol will work in a pinch if I don't have Star San? On the outside of everything of course... I'm using vodka on the inside of the airlock..

 

[vtchuck]

Okay so it's the next morning now, I have to go to work and can't get star-San anywhere...!
I have clean the outside of the Carvoy, and now I'm going to pour isopropyl alcohol all over the bung... I'm then going to remove the airlock and put a piece of foil down over it the hole Just long enough for me to clean the airlock and reinsert it and then going to add fresh vodka... My bubbling has slowed way down it has almost stopped completely... It was bubbling once every three seconds first thing this morning but now about once every 5 or 6 seconds? is this batch totally trashed???

If you can't find anything else, I'd use vodka to sanitize rather than isopropyl alcohol...pretty nasty stuff if you ingest it

 

[Hernando]

+1 for blow off tube.

I am sure your cider is fine.

 

[Lucky137]

What is RDWHAHB?

Famous quote from Charlie Papazian, the king of homebrew and founder of the American Homebrew Association: "Relax, Don't Worry, Have a HomeBrew!"

It's general brewing advice; don't worry about it, it'll be fine! Someone once told me that wert WANTS to become beer. It's difficult to prevent it from doing so. Same goes for wine, cider, mead, or whatever other delicious alcoholic beverage you are creating. Once you have sugar in a solution and add yeast, it's extremely hard to stop it from becoming a delicious fermented beverage. You may get some different flavors from all of the temperature changes, but once you bottle that sucker up and try your first sip of this incredible substance you have created, you will realize that the whole process is not nearly as complicated as you once thought.

Having said that, here are some things to remember:

1. You must get some type of sanitizer! StarSan is my personal favorite. In a pinch, fill a 5 gallon bucket with water, add 1 tsp of bleach, THEN 1 tsp of white vinegar, and VOILA you have a bucket of sanitizer for ~$.02. (NOTE: DO NOT add the vinegar and bleach together first, this will kill you. Literally.)

2. When those yeast suckers are taking off, and the alcohol levels are rising in that cider, you really have very little to worry about in the way of infecting it. It sounds like you're soaking every object in your house with alcohol - certainly unnecessary, trust me. People on here can tell you stories about dropping things/dunking their whole arm into a wert or must and having it ferment without any problems. One guy even used a spoon in his beer that had all over his dog's butt not 5 minutes earlier. I'd still of course advocate for sanitary practices, and you should still sanitize everything that touches or comes close to your stuff just to be safe, but it's not an area to freak out about too much.

3. If you can't rig that blowoff tube, keep doing what you're doing. If the airlock keeps filling up with cider, keep emptying it and filling it with sanitizer or vodka. Next time, get a blowoff, or brew slightly less cider in your carboy. You can also try using a champagne or wine yeast, which should create less krausen (that thick bubbly layer) while fermenting.

Good Luck!

 

[BadgerBrigade]

If you can't find anything else, I'd use vodka to sanitize rather than isopropyl alcohol...pretty nasty stuff if you ingest it

Okay.. will do..

I'll stop using the isopropyl....
But again, I only used it on the bung.. At the seam of where the bung meets the carvoy... just to make sure I killed any bacteria... but yeah I'll use just vodka..

 

[BadgerBrigade]

1. You must get some type of sanitizer! StarSan is my personal favorite. In a pinch, fill a 5 gallon bucket with water, add 1 tsp of bleach, THEN 1 tsp of white vinegar, and VOILA you have a bucket of sanitizer for ~$.02. (NOTE: DO NOT add the vinegar and bleach together first, this will kill you. Literally.)

2. When those yeast suckers are taking off, and the alcohol levels are rising in that cider, you really have very little to worry about in the way of infecting it. It sounds like you're soaking every object in your house with alcohol - certainly unnecessary, trust me. People on here can tell you stories about dropping things/dunking their whole arm into a wert or must and having it ferment without any problems. One guy even used a spoon in his beer that had all over his dog's butt not 5 minutes earlier. I'd still of course advocate for sanitary practices, and you should still sanitize everything that touches or comes close to your stuff just to be safe, but it's not an area to freak out about too much.

3. If you can't rig that blowoff tube, keep doing what you're doing. If the airlock keeps filling up with cider, keep emptying it and filling it with sanitizer or vodka. Next time, get a blowoff, or brew slightly less cider in your carboy. You can also try using a champagne or wine yeast, which should create less krausen (that thick bubbly layer) while fermenting.

Good Luck!

Dude! you are really awesom!e thank you so much this is really great information!

 

[BadgerBrigade]

Okay guys, just giving you a progress update and maybe seeing if anybody has any input....
Am I getting close?
I started my cider on the 3rd of December
(Cider is: 5 gallons pasteurized apple juice, 4 cups brown sugar, 12 ounces pineapple juice, Champagne yeast and a little cinnamon and nutmeg)
At the end of this week it's going to be four weeks in the carboy (is it carvoy or carboy?).... Someone on the forum here suggested I leave it for six weeks.... I just got a hydrometer so I guess I should take a reading here in a week or so but I've never done that before and kind of nervous about opening the carboy for the first time.... Should I just leave it let it go for the six weeks and then open it and check it? I'm guessing it will be done by then? I know this doesn't really matter but it is only bubbling once every 35 seconds in the airlock and the bubbles look like they have really slowed down in the carboy.... I also think I'm going to buy some easy talk bottles because that just seems like the better way to go... I know it's a lot more expensive but it just seems like they're really cool and nice for homebrew
Any thoughts on any of this?, my time in the carboy?

 

[BadgerBrigade]

Came out GREAT!!!

(I'm rereading my old post b/c I'm gonna do my 2nd batch and I can't quite remember all the steps.... Plus I'm going to do a pear cider also, So I'm scouring for information because I really don't want to mess it up.... But I think I'm pretty good)