Lid blown off primary...

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Shifty11

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Had an awesome brew day on Sunday. But Tuesday we found our primary looking like this. (See pic below)

What could have caused it to blow the lid completely off? In other words, how'd we get such actor yeast and how to avoid in the future?

Some items of interest:
-5.5 gallon batch
-S-04 dry yeast
-room was about 70-72 degrees (**think it might be too warm...**)
-All grain amber ale:
•will post grain bill later...
•Acid rest, protein rest, mash, and sparge
-fermenter was in closet


View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1430934664.743580.jpg
 
Nice! Sounds like a success story to me.

In regards to your Q, maybe the airlock/blowoff got clogged with krausen.
 
The airlock got clogged and pressure built up enough to blow the top off. To avoid this, get a large diameter blowoff tube.
 
Know your yeast - search about what strain(s) you are using to find their behaviors. S-04 is notorious for going exponentially nuts probably anywhere over about 65*.


One thing with buckets, even with a lot of headspace, if something goes absolutely nuts, usually the diameter of the hole in the bucket is fairly small and with like a 3/8" vinyl blowoff (or even more restrictive, blowoff via a 3-piece airlock) things will clog. If it can be contained in a tupperware like this and you have any notions of a ferm really taking off, leave the lid loose until things die down. Krausen will spill out, but no pressure bombs like this.
 
Instant win! I have seen this at least 3 times in my brewing career. The last one was got me my new brewshed as it did this exact same thing in my closet all over my wifes clothes.
:rockin:
 
Welcome! my first beersplosion was also US-05 at about 68F, before I had temp control. airlock was clogged with krausen and hop matter at the bottom -- it had a little cross-shaped plastic bit circumscribed in the bottom of the circular airlock tube. I drill those out now, and started using blowoff tubes.
 
Fermcap-S helps quite a bit. Look into getting a bottle of the stuff.

Congratulations on your first explosion! It's a homebrew rite of passage.
 
Nice pic..

Nice mess..

Next time get the temp down lower. IF it was 70-72 the brew could have been almost 80. So, yess it will go nuts.
 
Congratulations. You are an advanced brewer now.

Well then I was an advanced brewed after my first brew
Wyeast 1007 German Ale did it for me
It happened in the pantry. Beer hit the 9 ft high celing
This is my setup for a every brew since. 1/2 inch tube blowoff.
Congrats that beer is gonna be the "Bomb"! :mug:

1430938033034-249145385.jpg
 
Nice pic..

Nice mess..

Next time get the temp down lower. IF it was 70-72 the brew could have been almost 80. So, yess it will go nuts.


I actually had S-04 in a ferm chamber (freezer) with the probe measuring the freezer air temp set to I believe 63*. By my observations prior, this would have generally done a good job holding temp of the beer to about 67*. By the time I had gotten home to tend to my blowoff vessel overflowing like mad (and by my guesses it had peaked a bit earlier in the day), measured temp inside the carboy at 79.5*F.


I would say it's likely this was in the 80s.
 
Well then I was an advanced brewed after my first brew
Wyeast 1007 German Ale did it for me
It happened in the pantry. Beer hit the 9 ft high celing
This is my setup for a every brew since. 1/2 inch tube blowoff.
Congrats that beer is gonna be the "Bomb"! :mug:

the difference between beginner and advanced brewer is the latter knows what NOT to do next time.
 
Awesome! Thanks guys. I very much feel accepted and a part of the brewing collective! My brew partner and I have done 5 or 6 batches in the past month and a half and are finally taking it seriously after dabbling a bit in years past. But this was a first for both of us. It looked like a firecracker shell went off in there!
Sounds like the temp is definitely the issue. We will do this beer again, as I think it was going to be a great one, but from now on we will find a cooler place to ferment.
And I think a blow off tube might be in the future as well! Thanks for all the Love!
Cheers,
Shifty
 
Hope you didn't dump it! Worse things have happened to beer, it may be just fine!
Blow-off tubes are awesome, they prevent a ton of fermentation related fiascos. Has anyone else been sprayed down by krausen after pulling a plugged airlock off a carboy? That's a lot of fun...
 
TIL that I will probably never use US-04 yeast in any of my brews.

Nottingham it is!
 
First thing I thought when I saw the title: oh my god I hope there's a picture

That looks like quite a clean-up, but hey, story.
 
Temp control is important.


And not just "I'm going to find a cooler room to ferment in" temp "control". Chances are this still would have happened to the OP in an ambient 63-64*F room with a tiny blowoff tube in a bucket with the lid on tight.
 
I definitely have it and/or US-04 in a few of my recipes I have logged & want to try, so I am sure I will be letting you all know how badly my fermenter overflowed at some point in the future.

*thumbsup*
 
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