Oh No! Need Some Quick Help

[ImNewToBrew]

I woke up this morning to find my beer had popped through my airlock. I'm not sure what I should do. Can anyone help?

Should I take off the airlock, siphon some out and put it back together? Is the beer ruined?

 

[SnakeAnthony6375]

If the beer is coming through your airlock, I would place a piece of sanitized tin foil over the top of the carboy while you clean out/sanitize your airlock. Replace your airlock when done. Your beer is not ruined.

In the future, you should think of getting a blow off tube. It prevents this from happening. Super cheap and easy solution.

Cheers.

 

[JLem]

Agreed that your beer is likely not ruined. With all of the pressure forcing things OUT of the fermenter, it is unlikely that any bacteria or wild yeast could get IN the fermenter. Indeed, this positive outward pressure is precisely why open fermenters work just fine.

Next time rig up a blow off tube or leave yourself enough head space for an active fermentation. How big a batch is this and how big is your fermenter?

 

[ImNewToBrew]

Thanks guys! It's only been fermenting for about 12 hour so I'm worried it might happen again. I am using a 6.5 gallon carboy. How do I rig up a blow off tube? Just a piece of tubing through the airlock? Are there any pictures you can point me to.

 

[bad67z]

This is what I do,

 

[beeber]

bad67z, nice solution. I like that.

 

[bad67z]

bad67z, nice solution. I like that.

Thanks,

It one of those things you come up with out of desperation when your awoken by your SWMBO with " wake up.. did you hears something" and you discover your airlock has hit the ceiling in her dining room.

I thought I was a "genius" for coming up with the "totally new concept". As with most great ideas, they have been discovered already by the group of extremely innovative people assembled in this forum.

tbt: those are not even my images, I got them from google.

Cheers,

Mick

 

[beerkrump]

bad67z's looks good, but (you knew there'd be a but) you don't need the liquid in the catch jar. Microorganisms can't climb/fly up the blow off tube.

The concern would be if your fermenter went though an unexpected warm up and cool down, it could suck that liquid up the tube and into your brew.

 

[bad67z]

bad67z's looks good, but (you knew there'd be a but) you don't need the liquid in the catch jar. Microorganisms can't climb/fly up the blow off tube.

The concern would be if your fermenter went though an unexpected warm up and cool down, it could suck that liquid up the tube and into your brew.

I have never had that happen. Temp control is one of the most if not the most important parameter that needs to be controlled to produce a consistent finished product. So baring a long term power outage, sucking liquid back threw a 3/8' hose is highly unlikely IMHO.

And if your are truly worried about the "suck back", the microorganisms in the air could be sucked in to the non submerged hose no matter how it is oriented ,much easier than the one in a liquid. If this were the case we would not have to put any liquid in our three piece airlocks.

That being sad if you would still take issue with this process and have concerns, I would fill the catch container with Starsan or cheap vodka.

 

[SauceBoss]

nice solution! I actually have a rubber stopper that has a bigger hole in it that fits a bigger gauge tube that i put into another bucket and so far it has worked great! After about 2 - 3 days I just put a normal airlock on it.

 

[ImNewToBrew]

So when your krausen comes through you just let it come out and then after a few days (I'm assuming this means, when the most active part of fermentation is done) you replace it with a normal airlock?

 

[beerkrump]

I was just pointing out a possible issue and was not down playing the importance of temperature control. But, power outages, spouses turning on/off/up/down the HVAC, and the brewer trying to manage the temperature of an active fermentation can all result in a pressure differential. I run my blow off tubes into empty gallon sized plastic bottles covered with a piece of foil.

BTW, with an open system, the pressure difference between the fermenter and the out side would never be great enough to cause the air movement needed to cause a "suck back" of air.

 

[beerkrump]

So when your krausen comes through you just let it come out and then after a few days (I'm assuming this means, when the most active part of fermentation is done) you replace it with a normal airlock?

That's it!

 

[bad67z]

I was just pointing out a possible issue and was not down playing the importance of temperature control. But, power outages, spouses turning on/off/up/down the HVAC, and the brewer trying to manage the temperature of an active fermentation can all result in a pressure differential. I run my blow off tubes into empty gallon sized plastic bottles covered with a piece of foil.

BTW, with an open system, the pressure difference between the fermenter and the out side would never be great enough to cause the air movement needed to cause a "suck back" of air.

Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm trying to learn something and I am struggling with understanding . How can a temp. swing in an open system suck liquid all the way back into your fermenter and not suck air into the fermenter when no liquid is present?

 

[beerkrump]

It takes a lot less pressure to move gas than liquid. In the open system, there really is no pressure gradient as there is no barrier. As soon as the tiniest difference occurs, the free moving gas can compensate. As this occurs very slowly, no discernible air movement is seen.

In a closed system, the pressure differential is not resolved until the barrier is over come.

Try this, take the longest tube you have in the brew house and gently breathe through it. Now, place that tube in a glass of water.

 

[bad67z]

It takes a lot less pressure to move gas than liquid. In the open system, there really is no pressure gradient as there is no barrier. As soon as the tiniest difference occurs, the free moving gas can compensate. As this occurs very slowly, no discernible air movement is seen.

In a closed system, the pressure differential is not resolved until the barrier is over come.

Try this, take the longest tube you have in the brew house and gently breathe through it. Now, place that tube in a glass of water.

Don't need to try it, I got it from your explanation. Thanks for the help with the visual explanation it helped a lot. My mind works better that way.

 

[Magee]

I've been making wine for 15yrs and yesterday is the first time I made beer. Sure enough this morning I check the wine cellar and the foam had bubbled through the airlock and all over the lid of the bucket and it hasn't even been 30hrs in the bucket. I had put grappa in my airlock (force of habit) instead of water so I hope the beer isn't ruined. I cleaned up, sanitized and replace with sanitized S-type airlock. I will use a blow off tube in future.....should of checked this forum before I my first attempt at making beer. Lesson learned.

 

[jaycount]

grappa?

 

[RexlerLepp]

Funny I woke up to the exact same situation this morning and in desperation did the same thing which bad67z suggests with my airlock and tube. I just kept thinking what am I going to do because the LHBS doesn't open until 11 or 12 and I was needing a fix at 730.

 

[Magee]

grappa?

Ya Higher proof than vodka great sanitizer