Please help, fermentation barrel

[bitterbrewer]

Ok I'm a first time brewer and yesterday I put my beer in the fermentation bucket, today the lid of my bucket has bubbled up as if the pressure is going to blow the lid off, I'm quite paranoid of this happening :/ I can here a kind of noise as if the pressure is that high it's forcing the lid up and some of the co2 is squeezing out from around the lid. What do I do ?

 

[CRoth36]

Put a blowoff tube on it. Sanitize some tubing that will fit into the hole of the bung and then put the other end into a bucket with sanitizer

 

[bitterbrewer]

I don't have a hole it's a fermentation bucket, it's just basically a massive bucket that holds 23 litres, the label says fermentation bucket on it, I have a pressure barrel too, but that's for when the fermentation is finished instead of bottling I'm using the pressure barrel as it has a tap on it, the how to book I got with my homebrew kit says after 4-6 days fermentation will be complete then transfer to bottles or pressure barrel for 16 days, but I am really paranoid about this lid blowing and beer going everywhere, could you imagine trying to get the smell of 23 litres of beer away

 

[bitterbrewer]

that's it there I got it all from the same shop, that's everything apart from my pressure barrel

 

[cluckk]

If it seals and has no vent to release pressure, then it is not a fermentation bucket. Crack the edge open to release pressure. As soon as you can get an actual fermentation bucket with a hole in the lid that allows you to install a hose or airlock.

 

[RM-MN]

Pry the lid loose on one side to let the pressure out. There should be a vent hole of some kind to release the CO2 before pressure builds. Mine has a hole with a grommet that takes an airlock to automatically vent.

 

[bitterbrewer]

It says fermentation bucket on it, so should I crack the lid a bit and leave it, cause I release some pressure earlier and reseated it quickly but it just rose up the same again within 5 minutes

 

[RM-MN]

Usually there is an airlock but at this time you can leave the lid loose and it will vent just fine.

 

[bitterbrewer]

Thanks for your help folks maybe tomorrow I could make a small hole in the too and as said use tubing and put one end in another bucket with sterilised water, would that be ok ? I wasn't sure if I could leave the lid open a bit because of oxygen and bacteria in the air.

 

[RM-MN]

What I have done is even simpler. The idea of an airlock is to let your vessel vent without letting things fall back in. I drilled a tiny hole (3/32") for the vent and taped a piece of plastic (saran wrap) on 2 adjacent sides to lay over the hole. That lets the plastic lift up to vent but lays flat over the hole to prevent things that fly or crawl from getting direct access to the hole.

 

[bitterbrewer]

That is a great idea thanks

 

[beernardo]

I've had the airlock clog on very active ferments, and the pressure from the gas will blow the top off. I've had it happen at least twice that I remember. It's a pretty violent explosion, but I didn't have to clean up much beer. It does spew yeast all over the place, which is messy to clean. One time, in my apartment in Baltimore, I was awoken by the bang. When I went into the room, which had ~14' ceiling (and these awesome windows and bookcases), the airlock had exploded upward with such force that it left a giant dent in the ceiling. The lid was laying about 6 feet away, and there was yeast coated over my books.

Take-away? You can actually not put the lid on your bucket, but cover the ferment with a towel while it is active. Nothing will drop in (because of the towel), and that lets out the gases very efficiently with no chance of getting clogged. I always do this with a seriously top-cropping yeast. The yeast for the Baltimore explosion was WLP570, and I found that fermenting that yeast in particular warm, and 'open' (with a towel) actually made for a flavor profile that I liked better. But at 69-70F, that yeast would produce enough of a krausen that it overflows a 7 gallon fermenter on a 5 gallon batch.