Exploding Brew!

[truenewbrew]

I'm new to brewing, just tried my second 5 gallon batch and about 8 hours after pitching my yeast and securing the airlock, the 5 gallon glass carboy it was in blew the lock off the top and a geyser of my brew literally spouted out leaving only about two gallons of liquid in the container. What happened?!? Does anybody have an explanation?

 

[HI_SALENITY]

You had better post some pictures and then do a search for a "blow off tube"

8 Hours is pretty quick for it to "explode"

 

[david_42]

A very vigorous fermentation in too small of a fermenter. 5 gallon batches should be done 6-7 gallon containers. Might have pitched the yeast at too high a temperature as well.

 

[mosquitocontrol]

Definitely too small of a container for a primary fermenter. Especially without a blowoff tube.

 

[kevmoron]

Yeast clogged your airlock.

In the future, as others have said, do two things differently:

1) Use a blowoff tube for the first several days of fermentation, until the Krausen subsides.
2) Use a larger primary fermenter - at least an extra gallon of headspac; two is even better.

 

[truenewbrew]

Doesn't using the larger container increase your surface area exposed to harmful oxygen? If I were to use a plastic container, would I still want a 6-7 gal. fermenter for a 5 gal. batch? I can hardly believe it built up that much pressure! I mean, I can understand the lock getting pushed off, but it shot out over half of the brew! Very disheartening, but I guess it only builds my determination. What do you guys do... plastic, glass, both?

 

[shunt1317]

My plastic ferm. buckets are all 6.5 gallons..

 

[SnakeOilPeddler]

the only difference between glass and plastic is glass is far more posh to own, more durable and frankly....more difficult to handle, more expensive and comparatively awkward to clean. I've been brewing for years and have chosen the path of plastic. I would reccomend getting a 6.5 gal bucket for 5 gal brews as it will provide plenty of room for your giant yeast farm to party without a volcanic incident. If your concerned in difference between beer brewed in a carboy vs. in a bucket i assure you there is no connisseur* in the world who can sip a beer and say wether it came from plastic or glass, there is simply no descernable difference in quality. Im not sure what your talking about with surface area exposed to oxygen, bare in mind yeast NEED oxygen to thrive. many brewers actually inject pure bottled oxygen into their beer so its not like your beer is goin to get oxidized and ruined in a couple weeks of fermenting.

BTW puting a blow off tube on your fermenter will allow some superfluous crap to exit your beer adding clarity and apparently a cleaner flavor but the difference in the end is pretty much impossibly subtle. Aging your beer slighlty has the same effect if your still bottle conditioning. Dont sweat it too much unless you plan on competing anytime soon which you probably have no business doing anyways. Salud.:rockin:

 

[GeorgeH]

Doesn't using the larger container increase your surface area exposed to harmful oxygen? If I were to use a plastic container, would I still want a 6-7 gal. fermenter for a 5 gal. batch? I can hardly believe it built up that much pressure! I mean, I can understand the lock getting pushed off, but it shot out over half of the brew!

Remember that the yeast is making a few things during fermentation, the most important 2 being alcohol and CO2.

When you bottle, you add a tiny bit of sugar to get enough CO2 to carbonate the bottle (4 oz of sugar for 5 gallons). When you made your beer, you probably used at least 6lbs of malt extract (sugar). That's 24 times as much sugar and 24 times as much CO2!

You also want a larger fermenter because the beer will foam up during fermentation, leaving a few inches of "krausen" on top of your beer. If your beer fills up the fermenter, that krausen is going to go somewhere, and it's likely going to be your ceiling. The CO2 will push any air out of the fermenter pretty quickly, so don't worry too much about the headspace.

As for me, I use plastic buckets and glass carboys. I mostly choose what to use based on what is available, I've made good beer in both.

 

[truenewbrew]

Thanks everybody for the tips and advise. I'll try again and make the necessary adjustments, Cheers!

 

[DragonTail]

Welcome
As others have said, get a larger primary, plastic or glass.
I use both.