Wort escaping through the airlock!

[Enriquevs]

Hey!
I'm new to this Forum though I've read a lot here in the past few weeks. It's mainly helped me to relax and let beer do it's thing. Thanks for that.

However, something started happening in my 2nd brew and wanted to make sure everything is OK.

I'm using a 5 gal bucket fermenter which I filled way up to the top and after a few hours of bubbling, I came home to find out some of the wort has escaped through the airlock and continues to do so. The Lid seems still in its place but I'm not sure if that might be the case if fermentation increases. The water in the airlock has been replaced by the wort as you can see in the image.

What do you guys say? Should I worry?

Thanks a lot!

 

[EJay]

You just had your first blowoff. Hook some tubing to the center of that airlock and run the end to a bowl of stansan (or water would work too). Its pretty common the first few days of fermentation.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Do a search for "blow off" or "blow off tube" and you'll find some options and photos. Once the krausen starts to fall you can replace the blow off with a sanitized air lock again. Good thing all you got was some foam going through the air lock. Some guys have had a "krausen volcano" that painted the ceiling. Blow off is always a good precaution.

 

[flars]

Loss of wort through the airlock can often be prevented by leaving some empty space, head space, above the beer in the fermentor. Five gallons of beer would be a typical volume for a six and one-half gallon fermentor.

Not letting the fermentation get to warm will also prevent over active fermentations and excess krausen development. Most ale yeasts ferment well in the low to mid 60°F range.

 

[dlaramie08]

You're gonna need a bigger bucket.

 

[AkTom]

This ^. I started with a fermentation chamber and even on the cool side, I've almost had eruptions. I either use a blow off tube or keep a close eye on it. Even with a bigger bucket of carboy some times you just get an active fermentation.
Cheers, brew on.

 

[Kent88]

dude, use a blow off tube and quick. I left a gallon of a milk stout go too long in a carboy without switching and it gysered in my face when I did. I had a buddy with a couple gallons of imperial stout in his basement that completely shot off the stoppers and airlocks. I'm thankful I had my stout in my lagering fridge (which was briefly set to low aleing temps in the summer) in the garage so it didn't get all over the carpet.

I'm considering just putting a blow off tube on every batch that fills up a carboy immediately.

 

[Aonghus]

dude, use a blow off tube and quick. I left a gallon of a milk stout go too long in a carboy without switching and it gysered in my face when I did. I had a buddy with a couple gallons of imperial stout in his basement that completely shot off the stoppers and airlocks. I'm thankful I had my stout in my lagering fridge (which was briefly set to low aleing temps in the summer) in the garage so it didn't get all over the carpet.

I'm considering just putting a blow off tube on every batch that fills up a carboy immediately.

Now that is a hell of a facial!

 

[Kent88]

Aonghus, I wouldn't recommend it for a spa treatment. I had just cleaned up and was about to drive off to see a buddy and then my in-laws. I ended up saying 'eff it', washed my face, changed my shirt, and figured that, should one of Wisconsin's finest pull me over, he shouldn't immediately assume I started drinking at 8am.

Shouldn't. Thank goodness I didn't have to find out!

 

[Enriquevs]

Thanks so much! You are awesome!

I couldn't attach my bottling hose to the airlock since it's a little thick but activity seems to have stabilized now.

I'll definitely get a larger bucket to prevent this in the future. Would your advice here be to get a 6.5 gal bucket for primary and use the 5 gal buckets I have for secondary? OR should I just do everything in 6.5 gal buckets?

Thanks so much!

 

[dlaramie08]

I would get 6.5 buckets for fermentation and use the 5 gain buckets for sanitizer and miscellaneous things. Secondaries are unnecessary.

 

[frank_wood1966]

On my first home brew I was "advised" to put my fermenter in a cool, dark, place. For me, in a condo, I have a small utility/laundry room that I thought would be perfect. So I put the thing in there in the evening, get up and check it in the morning, and there's no activity in the air lock. No worries, only been 10-11 hours or so. My wife and I head on in to work, she gets off early, decides to do some laundry... you know where this is going. When she turned the dryer on, the heat went up, and well, she walked in the hallway an hour later, calls me at work, and asks "I think we struck oil!" because there's a river of beer "flowing" down our hallway! LOL

 

[brewprint]

I always use a 6.5 gallon fermenter for 5 gallon batches. Since I'm doing larger batches now of 5.5 to compensate for trub and hop loss I could see myself going larger.

I have a blow off tube handy at all times. I have usually only had trouble with batches that are 1.060 and higher going into an airlock.

 

[flars]

Thanks so much! You are awesome!

I couldn't attach my bottling hose to the airlock since it's a little thick but activity seems to have stabilized now.

I'll definitely get a larger bucket to prevent this in the future. Would your advice here be to get a 6.5 gal bucket for primary and use the 5 gal buckets I have for secondary? OR should I just do everything in 6.5 gal buckets?

Thanks so much!

6.5 gallon buckets, with temperature control, often will not need a blow off tube. Having the blow off tube installed for the first five days of fermentation is really good insurance though.

5 gallons is good for a secondary vessel, but not a bucket. When using a secondary, minimizing the head space is more important than the amount of head space in a fermentor. In a secondary vessel there is no CO2 being produced to protect the beer from oxidation. A five gallon carboy would be a better choice for a secondary vessel.

Secondary vessels are great for additions to the beer like fruit or oak cubes. If you don't have additions like this, a secondary may not be necessary. Beer will clear just as well in the primary given sufficient time. Usually three weeks is sufficient for FG to be reached and the beer to be ready for the bottle.

Notice I made no mention of a secondary fermentor. Secondary fermentor is a misnomer. No fermentation should be expected in a secondary vessel, or otherwise called a brite tank.

 

[Enriquevs]

Thanks for clarifying all this.
I'm really enjoying to brew. So may different things to take into consideration.

I'll keep you posted in how it all turns out.

 

[Ole_Smoky]

Haha that's a good story Frank, I got the same call last week, unfortunately my 5th batch got a little excited. I managed to cram a piece of draft gas line into the hole for a make shift blowoff. I made the mistake of telling the wife to pull out the airlock, don't do that, she wasn't happy about the explosion that resulted towards her head!!

View attachment 1427486913260.jpg

 

[brewprint]

Haha that's a good story Frank, I got the same call last week, unfortunately my 5th batch got a little excited. I managed to cram a piece of draft gas line into the hole for a make shift blowoff. I made the mistake of telling the wife to pull out the airlock, don't do that, she wasn't happy about the explosion that resulted towards her head!!

I was afraid this might happen to me someday.

Note to self: Do NOT ask wife to remove airlock!

 

[Qhrumphf]

At absolute minimum, I would go with a 6 gallon fermenter for a 5 gallon batch, and 6.5 for a 5.5 gallon batch. Bigger is better, within reason at least.

As mentioned already, secondaries are usually not necessary, but IF you decide you need to secondary, then you'll want to go as small as possible. With a 5.5 gallon batch in the primary fermenter, after loss to the yeast cake you can fill a 5 gallon carboy secondary just about to the brim, which is good.

Point is, lots of headspace in primary, as little headspace as possible in the secondary.

 

[Roadliner]

I'm with everyone on the Larger fermenter... but I always have a growler half full of sanitizer with a blowoff tube to start my batches. It's just a precaution.. sometimes not needed.. sometimes it is. Never hurts to have.

 

[IslandLizard]

To the OP:

Sorry that happened. As you're witnessing, fermentation has a mind of its own without boundaries. There will be more surprises along the way.

Just a word of caution, don't let any of that beer that came out of the airlock flow back into the bucket. It's not sanitary anymore, and surely will cause an infection.

Mop it up with a clean rag and re-sanitize the top of the lid and around the airlock/grommet before pulling it out.

 

[schematix]

Throw out those airlocks. Blow off tube 4ever.

 

[beerdeddude]

If blow off occurred, but now the airlock is now bubbling like normal, do I need to worry about blow off occurring again or should it be okay?

 

[Qhrumphf]

If blow off occurred, but now the airlock is now bubbling like normal, do I need to worry about blow off occurring again or should it be okay?

How long after pitching? You're probably ok, but depending on other factors (addition of new fermentables, raising temp, etc), I've had some beers pick up to the level of needing a blowoff again, especially if there isn't much headspace in the fermenter.

 

[beerdeddude]

It's been 24 hours.

 

[Qhrumphf]

If it's only 24 hours after pitching, I'd leave the blowoff on personally.

 

[beerdeddude]

Even if it seems to have stopped? Does the line need to be sanitized?