Is this good or bad? Slash howd it happen

[pmack2899]

I'm new and tried making a very high alcohol cherry wheat. This happened about 24hrs after pitching... Good? Bad? Can I just remove the lid and keep what is inside the fermenter? Or is the batch infected? Thanks for help!!

 

[Bithead]

Clean up the mess, put on a blow off tube. Beer will be fine.

 

[pmack2899]

Thanks a lot!

 

[Jakeintoledo]

This just happened to me on my carboy. Airlock got stuck or clogged....carboy sent it flying in a godawful mess.

Interestingly, it landed on the bung about five feet away. Thought my wife took it off for some reason.

 

[duckmanco]

I'll be that guy and recommend a temperature controlled ferment. But yeah, the rest should be safe. Might taste a touch like rocket fuel, but of your sanitation was good, should be fine.

 

[ktblunden]

I'll be that guy and recommend a temperature controlled ferment. But yeah, the rest should be safe. Might taste a touch like rocket fuel, but of your sanitation was good, should be fine.

Temperature control is the single thing that made the biggest difference in the quality of my beers, so I completely agree, but I understand most people don't have a spare fridge in their garage not being used for anything else.

 

[amandabab]

I've had a lot of beers with perfect temps blow off.

Using an airlock early in a high gravity batch (actually ANY batch) is simply a bad idea.

 

[BronxBrew]

Again there needs to be a sticky about a blow off tube for the first few days. All the beginner videos out there show just putting airlock in place. I now use a blow off first then add the airlock later.

 

[DrawTap88]

Ditto on temperature control. Dosen't have to be a fridge. I have a tub that I fill half way with water, stick in the carboy or bucket, and have a aquarium temperature control set between 68F and 80F.

The original poster's beer is fine. CO2 that would still be blowing out of the dismantled airlock will stop any bugs from getting into it. Whoever said to attach a blow off tube is absolutely correct. The easiest way to do that with your set up is to stick the airlock back in and jam a piece of 1/2 inch ID (inside diameter) tube onto the middle post on the airlock (take the cover and piece that goes up and down when CO2 is venting off) off and that will give you access to the middle post. Also, there amy not be a need to run back up to your local home brew store to get the 1/2 inch ID tubeing. If you already have an siphon or autosiphon, that piece of hose is most likely 1/2 inch ID. If you don't, well then run up to the local home brew store or even home depot and get about three feet of the hose.

 

[DrawTap88]

Again there needs to be a sticky about a blow off tube for the first few days. All the beginner videos out there show just putting airlock in place. I now use a blow off first then add the airlock later.

Best advice ever. I don't even use airlocks for primary. Just one of those orange or brown carboy caps with a piece of hose running into an empty two liter pop bottle.

 

[strambo]

I have never bothered w/ blow off tubes...but I ferment in an 8 gal bucket so it won't be an issue.

 

[turvis]

I ferment in 7 gallons buckets for 5 gallon batches and only had one batch over flow through the air lock. Still use air locks. It looks like the op was using a 5 gallon bucket that is the only time I would use one.

 

[ktblunden]

I've only had two blowouts. The first was a high gravity IIPA that I pitched on top of a full yeast cake and the second was a batch of apfelwein that had an especially vigorous ferment. I use a blowoff for any high grav beers now, but anything 1.050 or less I don't bother.