I recently brewed my 8th batch of beer (2nd all grain). This was my first time crushing my own barley, and also my first time using a yeast starter. I used a yeast starter because I wanted to make a high-alcohol espresso porter.
Based on calculations in Palmer's book, I think I pitched about 170 billion yeast cells into about 5.5 gallons of 1.065 OG beer. I used a standard 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket for primary fermentation. Temperature in the closet was about 66 F, but temperature inside the bucket was about 72 F. I kind of assumed this beer would overflow the airlock, as this happened the only other time I made a beer with higher than 1.060 OG.
Things were much worse than I predicted. About 18 hours into fermentation, the airlock clogged and the lid blew off. I don't need to describe the horrific mess, hours of cleaning, and ruined walls.
Obviously, I want to avoid this happening in the future. One option, I suppose, is to use a blow off tube. This seems like a lot of hassle, still a bit risky, and a waste of beer. The more obvious solution would be to use a larger fermentation bucket. The only ones I can find online are the 7.9 gallon wine bucket and the 10 gallon. 7.9 gallons still seems a bit small, however, and the 10 gallon doesn't have a fitting for an airlock? Does anybody have a good solution? Ideally, I would prefer to use an airtight 9 gallon bucket that accepts an airlock. I'm guessing 2.5 gallons of extra space over the standard 6.5 gallon bucket would be more than enough safety net.
Based on calculations in Palmer's book, I think I pitched about 170 billion yeast cells into about 5.5 gallons of 1.065 OG beer. I used a standard 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket for primary fermentation. Temperature in the closet was about 66 F, but temperature inside the bucket was about 72 F. I kind of assumed this beer would overflow the airlock, as this happened the only other time I made a beer with higher than 1.060 OG.
Things were much worse than I predicted. About 18 hours into fermentation, the airlock clogged and the lid blew off. I don't need to describe the horrific mess, hours of cleaning, and ruined walls.
Obviously, I want to avoid this happening in the future. One option, I suppose, is to use a blow off tube. This seems like a lot of hassle, still a bit risky, and a waste of beer. The more obvious solution would be to use a larger fermentation bucket. The only ones I can find online are the 7.9 gallon wine bucket and the 10 gallon. 7.9 gallons still seems a bit small, however, and the 10 gallon doesn't have a fitting for an airlock? Does anybody have a good solution? Ideally, I would prefer to use an airtight 9 gallon bucket that accepts an airlock. I'm guessing 2.5 gallons of extra space over the standard 6.5 gallon bucket would be more than enough safety net.
