Grrr. Out with my lady friends, got a semi-frantic text from hubby stating 'there is water all around your beer.' Now keep in mind that this is my first ferment (primary) in a carboy using a blow-off tube with the end in a one gallon plastic measuring cup filled with sanitizer. This is in our downstairs 1/2 bath, the only room with semi-controllable temps. I texted back with 'Is there brown goop in the tube?' 'No.' 'I'll look at it when I get home.' (Relax....have a homebrew....crossed my mind).
Got home, sure enough there was water on the bathroom floor, and it had seeped under the
baseboard into the surrounding hallway carpet, as well as peeling some of the paint off said baseboard. 'WTF???' I said ....
Long story short, after some investigating and appropriately placed paper towels, I found the culprit. A one-gallon plastic measuring cup, bought from a local restaurant supply house, being used to hold about a little less than a gallon of sanitized solution, had two huge cracks in it not seen until today. Funny that it didn't leak until today, seeing as I made the set-up on Sunday....hm. So, I changed the tubing out for an airlock and am hoping I didn't contaminate in the process.
I guess what I'm trying to say is I tried to save my beer from air, and keep my hubby happy by ridding us of the moisture problem.