first batch ever

[travis2008]

brewed my first batch of stout last night followed directions everything went well I thought. today the stuff was bubbling away then the foam started getting into the airlock. I went to turkey dinner and when I came home the stopper and air lock were laying on the floor with a mess. is this batch ruined?

 

[DRonco]

Not at all. Clean up with some sanitizer and paper towels. If it's still blowing off you can use some siphon hosing in the stopper and run it into a jar of sanitizer. If you're clean and use sanitizer, you'll be fine. Happens to the best. Welcome to the obsession.

 

[DocScott]

Yeah. This happens often to new brewers. It's called a blow out. Look up a 'blow off tube' and rig one up. I always use a blow off for my primary and have never had a problem.

Your batch will be fine. Clean up and reseal. If you don't set up a blow off, watch carefully to make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

[JLem]

As others have said, you should be fine - with so much stuff blowing out, nothing is going to be getting in that could ruin your beer.

A couple of questions for you:
1) how big is your fermenter? Was this a 5 gallon batch?
2) what temperature are you fermenting at?

 

[travis2008]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I don't know any other brewers so this forum is very helpfull. I ran a blowoff tube as instructed and everything seems to b going fine now. I am using a 5 gallon Carboy. The fermometer reads 65 degrees. I was thinking Maybee i overfilled causing the thick foam to get into the airlock and plug it up or is this something that is going to happen everytime. What do u think

 

[BigFloyd]

Buy a 6.5 gallon fermenter bucket for next batch. They don't cost much. You need that headspace in a primary fermenter. Plus, the bucket is much easier to clean. Also get a bucket lid tool.

 

[ericbw]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I don't know any other brewers so this forum is very helpfull. I ran a blowoff tube as instructed and everything seems to b going fine now. I am using a 5 gallon Carboy. The fermometer reads 65 degrees. I was thinking Maybee i overfilled causing the thick foam to get into the airlock and plug it up or is this something that is going to happen everytime. What do u think

The foam (krausen) will happen every time. If your carboy is 5 gal, then a 5 gal batch will need the blowoff most of the time, at least for a few days.

 

[DeBAD]

I recently brewed an Imperial Stout and the blow off tube did the trick. Be sure to keep your eye on it though since the krausen can crawl up the tube and clog it. I had to change the tube twice during the "storm". You should be okay in about 48 hours.

Also make sure your ferm temp is right. I put my ferm bucket in a water bath and regularly changed out frozen ice bottles to keep the ferm temp around 63-65.

Last thing I did as a precaution was to lay two 2x4s over the top of the bucket and set two 10lb weights on them. Kept that animal from jumping out of the bucket! Haha!

Do these things and ride it out and in 48 hours or so you will be fine.

Good luck!