Unexplained ferocity of fermentation for my IPA

[wilby720]

Lost 5 gallons of 1 day old IPA yesterday and I am trying to find where I went wrong.

20 hours into primary fermentation in glass carboy with a standard airlock, the bottom burst off the vessel and all 5 gallons dumped out on my floor. What I've read and been taught is the three main variables in terms of fermentor space and airlock needs are: yeast variety, head space and temperature. I'll go through the entire brew below, but the short of it:

• 67* F in the closet.
• 5 gallons volume in a 6.5 gallon glass carboy
• Wyeast 1056 American Ale
• OG: 1.061 (@72*)

I checked in on the brew 10 hours prior (about 10 hours post pitch) and it was bubbling calmly as I'd expect this yeast to do. From what I can tell, fermentation took off a some point in the afternoon. It appears to have filled the headspace entirely and then proceeded to fill the airlock with trub and/or hop pellet debris. At some point filling the airlock to a point that the float was compressed down onto the base enough to hold pressure.

The brew was my first partial mash IPA based on an article I found on counter top partial mashing.
Fermentables
Amount Fermentable Use
6.0 lb Dry Malt Extract - Light 58% Boil
2.5 lb 2-Row (US) 25% Mash
0.5 lb Caramel/Crystal 40L (US) 5% Mash
0.5 lb Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (US) 5% Mash
0.5 lb Wheat Malt (DE) 5% Mash

Hops
Amount Hop Time Use
0.5 oz Columbus (US) 60 min Boil
0.5 oz Centennial (US) 60 min Boil
0.5 oz Columbus (US) 30 min Boil
0.5 oz Cascade (US) 30 min Boil
0.5 oz Cascade (US) 15 min Boil
0.5 oz Simcoe (US) 2 min Boil
0.5 oz Simcoe (US) 14 days Dry Hop
0.5 oz Centennial (US) 14 days Dry Hop

Yeasts
Name Lab/Product Quantity
American Ale Wyeast 1056 1 pack

Extras
Amount Name Time Use
2.2 g Irish Moss 10.0 min Boil
2.2 g Yeast Nutrient (Wyeast) 10.0 min Boil

Mashed in 2 gallon cooler lined with bag. 5.5 qts water at strike temp 165* F. Got down to mash temp 152* F and let it sit for 60 minutes. Temperature reading at end of mash was around 149* F. Drained off 2 quarts and poured back through. Boiled 2 qts water in kettle. Drained off whole cooler and added to kettle. Sparged in 5.5 additional quarts in cooler (180*), after 5 minutes drained off and added them to kettle. Ended up just shy of 3 gallons of wort after the mash step. Added 2.5-3 gallons boiling water to kettle. Standard boil as I've done with extract brewing prior. Standard cooling, transfer to carboy, pitching and aeration I've done prior.
OG, like I said was 1.061, which computes out to a crappy efficiency of about 60% on the mash.

Any ideas or red flags on where I went wrong?

I've used this yeast 4 or 5 times now and used it on bigger beers. None of those ever got more than an couple inches of krausen.

My only guess right now is that there was some defect or chip or crack in the carboy. That paired with the airlock blocking up failed before the top of the airlock or the stopper.

 

[TxBigHops]

Wow. My condolences. I just posted my own topic related to a vigorous ferment of my own, but nothing like this. I can't believe it didn't just blow off the stopper. I always use blow off tubes for the first 5-7 days of my ferment. Every beer I have made has completely filled all available head space with krausen.

Do you suspect that there might have been a pre-existing crack in the glass?

 

[day_trippr]

If the bottom blew out fairly cleanly I'd suspect a defective or damaged vessel for it to give up before the bung got shot out.

Sorry for your loss. The next quaff of this fine ESB is in honor of that batch...

Cheers!

 

[fuelish]

Do you suspect that there might have been a pre-existing crack in the glass?

This, or a pre-existing "weak spot" in the glass due to manufacturing ??? Am I the only person that shoves the big-arsed tube into the mouth of the carboy for blowoff ??? Never never ever a clog....ever...just sayin'

 

[philosofool]

That sucks. I'm sorry.

I use plastic and stainless for everything except some secondary fermenatations (which I rarely do anyway), and this is part of why. I've never had a carboy explode, but they can.

Here's my diagnosis of what happened. The yeast started out warm and fermented vigorously, which made them warmer. The carboy developed a fair amount of pressure when the airlock jammed up. The carboy exploded because the yeast amassed around the bung was effectively creating a solid wall around it. Pressure built up and it exploded. I once droped an empty 6.5 gallon carboy from about 3 inches above the ground (while cleaning it) and the bottom sheared off. I haven't bought glass since. It could also be a defect in manufacturing, but it's hard to know for sure.

In my opinion, you need to plan on a blow-off hose or use FermCapS (aka foam control.) Sometimes you need a blow off with foam control. A cooler fermentation also helps. I like buckets better than carboys because they are easier to clean, harder to break, and easier to put a blow-off on.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]Am I the only person that shoves the big-arsed tube into the mouth of the carboy for blowoff ???

Hell, no!

Never never ever a clog....ever...just sayin'

Troo fact

Cheers!

 

[jbaysurfer]

I like the cleanliness of your setup Day Triprr...I'd say something like "you can tell a lot about your brewing based on that" but then I'm not sure what it says about my setups which are not nearly as well organized.

 

[Brewtah]

I am sorry. Hopefully not too much damage. Hope the floor held up too.