wort in my airlock?

[zeelo]

hello, this is my first time brewing. i used a kit and everthing seemed to go pretty smooth. its been in the primary for 2 1/2 days now. i didnt see much activity until this morning and when i got home from work...(about 14 hours later) there is a lot of foam in the airlock and some even leaked out from the top of the airlock. please tell me this is normal and my beer will be ok...please

 

[ScottT]

Everything is O.K.

This is the reason most of us use a blow off tube during the first few days of fermentation.

Just get your airlock replaced with another soon, or clean and sanatize that one and get it going again.

 

[JillC25]

sounds like you had a good fermentation!

like scott said- clean/sanitize your airlock and replace it. did you just have water in it?

some brewers have suggested using a bigger primary bucket (7.9 to 10 gallons). this way your beer will have room to ferment plus you don't have to worry about the risk of contamination with a blowoff tube.

 

[zeelo]

holy cow! i cleaned the airlock about 3 times lastnight.. when i got up this morning to check on it the lid was off! i just put the lid back on and cleaned the air lock again. maybe i should tranfer it into the carboy tonight,or is it to soon? thanks for your help.

 

[El Pistolero]

If you've still got that much active fermentation going on, you definately don't want to transfer to secondary yet.

 

[Toilet Rocker]

The activity sounds incredible. At what temp are you fermenting? What size is your fermentor? What was your SG? This only happened to me once, so many times on one batch is crazy, unless it has little headspace.

 

[Walker]

From Palmer's online book, discussing fermentation that just won't stop. Something to consider....

Cause: Gusher Infection
The sustained bubbling is often due to "gusher type" infection. These infections can occur at any time and are due to wild yeasts or bacteria that eat the higher order sugars, like dextrins. The result in the fermentor is a beer that keeps bubbling until all of the carbohydrates are fermented, leaving a beer that has no body and very little taste. If it occurs at bottling time, the beer will overcarbonate and will fizz like soda pop, fountaining out of the bottle.
Cure: Improve your sanitation next time.

If the beer seems to be bubbling too long, check the gravity with a hydrometer. Use a siphon or turkey baster to withdraw a sample from the fermentor and check the gravity. If the gravity is still high, in the teens or twenties, then it is probably due to lower than optimum temperature or sluggish yeast. If it is below 10 and still bubbling at several per minute, then a bug has gotten hold. The beer will not be worth drinking due to the lack of flavor.

 

[Dude]

From Palmer's online book, discussing fermentation that just won't stop. Something to consider....

Cause: Gusher Infection

I think its too early to suggest that. But good idea for future reference.

This sounds like just a normal fermentation to me. Some yeasts do more than others.

 

[NUCC98]

Last brew I made that had that much activity was my Imperial Stout...13% alcohol......to quote Chong, "Ho, ho, ho; man, I hope you're not planning on doing anything for the next couple of months."

 

[zeelo]

thank you guys for all the help, the bubbling has slowed way down now so i will give it a couple more days before i transfer to secondary.

The activity sounds incredible. At what temp are you fermenting? What size is your fermentor? What was your SG? This only happened to me once, so many times on one batch is crazy, unless it has little headspace.

the temp is around 70, the fermentor is 6gal and my starting SG was 60

13% would be awsome