Emeregency!

[grasshopper1917]

Hi, My primary fermenter is an plastic pail that is suposed to be air tight - it usually is a-ok. I decided to make some coopers stout and read on the internet that it ferment really viorously and a blowoff is recomended - well i didnt listen.

Now i have a pail of stout brewing and the karausing is forcing it way through the lid - the lid is almost air tight so gas is really trapped and pent up in there - i try to burp the pail but the karsen starts going haywire - wow i never seen s fermentation like this.

Anyone have recomendations? Of should i wait it out and pray to the beer gods the klid doesnt get blown off!!

Helllllp

 

[tranceamerica]

can you take the airlock off and put on a blowoff hose? You won't have any infection problem because of all the CO2 coming off it.

 

[grasshopper1917]

lol dont have an air lock its just a pail - there lies the problem

it is making a little mess which i can live with i just hope it doesnt blow me lid right off!

 

[Yooper]

can you take the airlock off and put on a blowoff hose? You won't have any infection problem because of all the CO2 coming off it.

Exactly- that will work. You can use your racking tubing, sanitize, and jam the end into the airlock hole. Take the other end and stick it in a pitcher of sanitizer. You should be all set.

 

[Yooper]

oh, you need to put a hole in your lid for an airlock, even if you need a blow off tube this time. Airlocks are really handy, to let co2 out and no nasties in. Trust me- your lid will blow to the ceiling and spew krausen and beer all over if it's not vented!

 

[Jaybird]

am I reading this right you dont have a hole in the AT ALL??? Just pull the lid up on one side and get ready for a mess. it will calm down in a day or so.
Jay

 

[Yooper]

am I reading this right you dont have a hole in the AT ALL??? Just pull the lid up on one side and get ready for a mess. it will calm down in a day or so.
Jay

Can you put it in the bathtub, to help contain most of the mess? That will help you out.

 

[denverd1]

So..

Is it in the tub?

 

[grasshopper1917]

its in the basement on the cement floor and im 'burping it every few minutes' just never had a fermentation like this before!

Thanks for the tips guys!

 

[denverd1]

Well, enjoy brewing the stout! Great beers.. I'm sipping a fresh batch of stout right now. Excellent beer. Good luck and RDWHAHB

 

[tranceamerica]

Now I'm completely confused, how can you brew w/o some way to let the co2 out - you have to have a hole and airlock, or yeah, it'll blow off, regardless of the vigor of the fermentation. Holy bottle bombs batman!

 

[grasshopper1917]

No me and my freinds dont have an airlock - our primary is just a bucket. Thats the way the local homebreshop sells em - it actually has worked fine for 1 year and about 100 gallons -no problems at all. Just this stout kit has a wild fermentation - so this is the exception tot he rule - ohh well I have a good mop im gonna need it - im pretty sure the beer in the end will turn out fine and ill have a good story for familly gatherings....

in anycase im not worried i have about 10 cold homebrew in the fridge waiting for me

 

[grasshopper1917]

Thought you guys may want some visuals to see hehehe

http://www.geocities.com/sampsonsuds/mess.html

 

[JustDave]

I honestly don't understand why you would have a fermentation vessel with no air holes at all, or why what's happening is coming as a surprise to you.

Fermentation produces alcohol and CO2 as its byproducts. The CO2 needs somewhere to go, and when there's no escape route it takes whatever path it can find. If the lid is on tight and it can't fit through the cracks, you get the bulging lid and stuff spilling over the sides like you're seeing.

Run to Home Depot, get some tubing and drill a hole in the lid to rig a blowoff. If you don't have a drill, use a screwdriver or something like that.

 

[Bytor1100]

But you have a carboy with an airlock. Is that a secondary? I'm completely confused,

 

[grasshopper1917]

Yea the carboy with airlock is secondary - there is some pale ale maturing in there - I know it doesnt make alot of sense lol

Like i said though I have gone a year without a single problem - 90 gallons of beer - but this one ferments like crazy - with that being said i may discard tradition and go with the consensus and get a lid with a hole for an airlock (atleast before i make coopers stout again) - still i have faith this beer will turn out good despite the mess.

Main concern is making sure the girlfriend doesn go into the brewing room before i clean it up hehehe

 

[rico567]

Yeah- no airlock, there's your problem. Go to Midwest (they've got them, other places probably do too) and order the rubber grommet for the pail lid and an airlock. Drill a hole for the grommet with a standard metal twist drill (I've done this to plastic buckets, in another context) and you're good to go.

But.

An airlock won't necessarily prevent you from getting the lid blown off by an enthusiastic fermentation. I had several batches that foamed right out of the airlock. Then I got clued in to fermenting my beers at lower temperatures (mid to low 60's) and I have no further problem. Primary fermentation is still done in a week, but the airlock action, even with a hefeweizen, is nice and steady, and the krausen doesn't climb more than halfway to the lid.

If you ferment in carboys, then I think that the blowoff hose may well be the way you need to go. Fermenting in the 6 gallon bucket, using extract brews, I don't see where I need it.

 

[Revvy]

Here's a diy on what size grommet you need to put a hole/airlock on your existing bucket.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=596890&postcount=3

 

[grasshopper1917]

Just a little update things have calmed down now - made a bit of a mess on the floor (floor had to be mopped anyway) but didnt blow the lid off or anything.

As for the lid with a airlock I have about 5 or 6 homebrew shops in my town so im sure one of them will have a lid with a hole in it. It will definatley be something I look into before making any more coopers stout!!! lol

 

[Dycokac]

Just a little update things have calmed down now - made a bit of a mess on the floor (floor had to be mopped anyway) but didnt blow the lid off or anything.

As for the lid with a airlock I have about 5 or 6 homebrew shops in my town so im sure one of them will have a lid with a hole in it. It will definatley be something I look into before making any more coopers stout!!! lol

I didn't think there were that many homebrew shops in Canada, is Nova Scotia an exception?

 

[boo boo]

I didn't think there were that many homebrew shops in Canada, is Nova Scotia an exception?

Hardy har har.
I have that many here and we're only half the size Halifax is. Now I can only say that 2 stores are anyway close to a real HBS, but we can still get some things from the others.

Grasshopper, just drill a hole in the top of the lid you have and use a predrilled stopper to put your airlock in.

 

[grasshopper1917]

There are plenty of homebrew shops in Canada - well atleast in Nova Scotia. Halifax (my city) has atleast 5 good sized ones that I can think of - and then there are another handfull of smaller ones and some that sell mostly wine kits.

Beer is very expensive in canada - 38 dollars for a 24 case of your regular domestic brew a 6 pack of microbrew is about 12$ so homebrewing can offer some nice savings.......

 

[bniesen]

All I got to say is LOL

 

[pavlovsdog]

Just a thought, considering you do not have an airlock, does your beer come out of the primary with carbonation?

 

[EvilTOJ]

Beer always has carbonation when it's been fermented. It's never enough for bottling or kegging, however.

 

[brrman]

Hardy har har.
I have that many here and we're only half the size Halifax is. Now I can only say that 2 stores are anyway close to a real HBS, but we can still get some things from the others.

Grasshopper, just drill a hole in the top of the lid you have and use a predrilled stopper to put your airlock in.

Hearts Delight!!! Holy crapola. I was there once. I am from Corner Brook.

 

[grasshopper1917]

Just a thought, considering you do not have an airlock, does your beer come out of the primary with carbonation?

Usually there are some tiny bubbles but nothing much - I always take a drink when transfering to secondary from the hydrometer test tube and its pretty flat. Usually during the first 2 days of fermentation I life the top every so slightly to let the gas hissssssssss out - this is the first time in a year I ever had a problem like this. Everyone has told me its just that the coopers Stout kits ferment pretty wild. As you can see

Cheers

 

[Arneba28]

Seriously, what HBS sells a bucket without a hole in the lid. I wonder how many calls they get along the lines of "why did my beer explode all over" except like that but with a really strong canadian accent.

 

[Couevas]

Seriously, what HBS sells a bucket without a hole in the lid. I wonder how many calls they get along the lines of "why did my beer explode all over" except like that but with a really strong canadian accent.

Like, "eh....what a-boat my exploding beer....eh?"

 

[Couevas]

But seriously, take our advise.....get a hole in that lid and put an airlock or blowoff on it!

Just because your Cooper's Stout is the only brew that has fermented like this, it doesn't mean it won't happen later to a brew that you have done before (or a new one for that matter).

Just wait until you are trying to clean the dried, hardened krauzen from your acoustical ceiling texture.

 

[Thor the Mighty]

you have much to learn, young grasshopper

 

[Woodsa]

I can't beleive your LHBS sold you fermenter without airlock, & you've been brewing for a year without one.

 

[Aleforge]

I can't beleive your LHBS sold you fermenter without airlock, & you've been brewing for a year without one.

From the picture it has a spot to cut one out. I wonder if they just sell them undrilled. Crazy thing is how many batches grasshopper has brewed without an explosion! I don't have that kind of luck.