My airlock exploded!! Help!

[Thirdeye]

I come home from work today and the lid of my primary is bulged out and there's yeast and gunk inside the airlock. This is my third batch (a porter). I brewed it up yesterday (Sunday). What went wrong and what do I do? Here's the recipe:

Malt: 8lbs Amber ME
Grains: 3/2 lbs dark xstal malt
1/2 lbs Black Paten Malt
1/2 lbs Chocolate Malt
Hops: 1oz Chinook @boil
1/2 oz Cascade @ 30
1/2 oz Cascade @ 50

Is my batch ruined? Is the world gonna end?

 

[Brakeman_Brewing]

Its probably fine, for future reference I would recommend rigging a blow-off tube instead of using the airlock.

 

[Nurmey]

Yes, the world will end!
Nothing went wrong, things are going right and it means you have good fermentation going on.
Clean and sanitize everything and put it back together. If you have a blow off tube, now is the time to put it on. If you don't have a blow off, get ready to repeat the cleaning and sanitizing.

 

[Thirdeye]

Yes, the world will end!
Nothing went wrong, things are going right and it means you have good fermentation going on.
Clean and sanitize everything and put it back together. If you have a blow off tube, now is the time to put it on. If you don't have a blow off, get ready to repeat the cleaning and sanitizing.

I really shook the crap out of the London Ale yeast before I pitched. Do you think thats what happened? Super oxygenated yeast = fermentation on steroids?

Does this mean I will get especially drunk off this batch?

 

[Fingers]

I come home from work today and the lid of my primary is bulged out and there's yeast and gunk inside the airlock.

C'mon, don't leave us hanging. Did you lean over and pull the airlock out?


Heh. Booom! You'll only do it once. Hops stings the eyes.

 

[Thirdeye]

C'mon, don't leave us hanging. Did you lean over and pull the airlock out?


Heh. Booom! You'll only do it once. Hops stings the eyes.

Nope, I had the foresight to realize that is exactly what would happen. HA HA, no soup for you!

As a matter of fact, all i did was add more vodka to the airlock. So now the airlock fluid is a mix of vodka and beer and hops.

 

[Funkenjaeger]

As a matter of fact, all i did was add more vodka to the airlock. So now the airlock fluid is a mix of vodka and beer and hops.

Take it out, clean it, put it back and refill, you're not doing yourself any favors by leaving it nasty.

 

[splat]

+1 on the blow off tube.... I had read tons of posts about it, and always thought "it wont happen to me".... I use a 6.5 gal bucket to ferment in, so I thought I had enough headspace to not need one. I found out on new years eve, 20 minutes before 40 people started showing up that I DID NEED ONE!!!!! I checked on the beer before people were there and the airlock was foaming all over the place making a mess. I had to cut up my siphon hose, and the plastic tip off another airlock to make a blowoff tube....Most guys probably use bigger hoses, but the one I made worked great....So from now on I will probably use one for the first few days just to be safe, and then put an airlock back on after it calms down...The other end of the hose should be in a jug of sanitizer.... Good Luck... I have heard stories of guys mopping the ceiling after a blowup

 

[shafferpilot]

I really shook the crap out of the London Ale yeast before I pitched. Do you think thats what happened? Super oxygenated yeast = fermentation on steroids?

Nope. The Darker beers seem to foam up more. I've had beers that rattled my airlock at an alarming rate that never pushed krausen more than 3 inches above the beer. I had a porter that fermented pretty slowly and blew its airlock out after almost a week of slow and steady fermentation. Just be glad you didn't come home to a room full of crap, I've seen some scary pics.

 

[DeathBrewer]

it just means there are lots of yeasties having a good time!

try a hefeweizen with an airlock sometime and make a big starter.

Ka-BOOOOOMMMM!!!!!

 

[Thirdeye]

Man, it wont stop overflowing. I took the airlock out and cleaned it but it happened again. I guess I need to rig a blowoff. I dont have any sanitizer other than clorox though. Could I use Vodka instead?

 

[shafferpilot]

Yes, vodka will work. Water is what I would use at this point since the only direction of flow is definitely OUT! Don't worry it will subside by tomorrow afternoon. Just keep cleaning it over and over so it doesn't clog up again.

 

[shafferpilot]

it just means there are lots of yeasties having a good time!

try a hefeweizen with an airlock sometime and make a big starter.

Ka-BOOOOOMMMM!!!!!

Is that how you got your screen name??