Had a blowout, fermentation may have stopped

[dave8274]

I brewed a barleywine Tuesday night, and pitched a 2L starter of WLP007 late Tuesday night. By yesterday morning it had started bubbling, and I put on a blowoff tube. Despite that, sometime last night I had a blowout, and this morning found the walls splattered and the lip popped open.

I cleaned it up and reinstalled the blowoff tube, but not it's been about 7 hours and there is no activity at all. The wort was still sweet so I know it wasn't done. Is it possible I lost too much yeast in the blowoff and stopped fermentation? Not sure what I should do at this point.

 

[shawnbou]

I've never heard of losing too much yeast in a blowout, but I don't know for sure.

Are you sure you don't just have a bad seal on the lid now because of goo on the gasket, so your gases are escaping through the lid instead of the airlock? That would be my first assumption.

 

[dave8274]

I've never heard of losing too much yeast in a blowout, but I don't know for sure.

Are you sure you don't just have a bad seal on the lid now because of goo on the gasket, so your gases are escaping through the lid instead of the airlock? That would be my first assumption.

That's what I was worried about, but I cleaned the lid, gasket, and rim of the bucket really well before I put it back on.

 

[unionrdr]

It's most likely done with initial fermentation. Initial fermentation goes pretty quick sometimes,especially with higher internal temps. what was your temp when you pitched?

 

[duboman]

I highly doubt it's done that fast and no, you did not lose so much yeast that it would stop altogether. Most likely with the blow out, removal of the lid, cleaning, etc all the built up pressure inside was released and it may take a bit to reform enough to begin pushing again. It may also proceed a lot slower since it's a few days now and things slow down.

Check the seal and be sure it's secure as gasses could be escaping somewhere else and let it ride, all will be fine

 

[dave8274]

I pitched in the mid 60s, and it's still there. I wouldn't think a 1.082 OG beer would be done that quickly either. I'll let it go and wait till tomorrow morning before I worry about it

 

[andy6026]

I'd guess that it's a combination of initial fermentation done and an incomplete seal in the bucket lid. I only got a couple of brews at best out of each of my buckets before the seals started leaking enough to show no visible signs. I've also brewed a very high gravity beer that was finished initial fermentation within 2-3 days. So I wouldn't find your situation surprising at all. If you're worried to the point of feeling the need to do something then first give your fermentation some gentle agitation, then take a gravity reading a 3 days in a row and see if it's creeping down at all. If it's not then you may want to start the process to re-pitch.

 

[unionrdr]

If you pitched a decent amount of yeast to start with,you likely just need to swirl up some yeast & raise the temp a couple degrees to get it to finish. If it isn't creeping down slowly & uneventfully already.