Lid blew off of primary

[Steve50]

Brewed a shandy on Saturday, came home today and top of the primary was blown off! I cleaned and sanitized and re sealed. Anything else I need to do ? Will I be ok ?
thanks Steve

 

[MaxStout]

Cleaning/sanitizing/resealing are the right steps, and it should be fine in that respect, assuming nothing crawled in there.

But what caused it to blow in the first place? Plugged airlock or blowoff tube, etc? You didn't mention what kind of fermenter you are using.

 

[Spundit]

It is not ideal to expose the fermenting beer to the open air but I can almost guarantee it will be fine.

One worries about contamination and oxygen exposure. Once your yeast gets going it can generally outcompete anything that gets in from the air. Any oxygen that got in will be used by the active yeast so no real worries there.

Defineately look into why this happened and remedy it so it doesn't occur again. I assume something is broken or got plugged up.

 

[Steve50]

The airlock got clogged. It blew off from a 5 gallon fermenting bucket.
thanks again Steve

 

[RM-MN]

It is not ideal to expose the fermenting beer to the open air but I can almost guarantee it will be fine.

You need to explain that to Anchor Brewing.

https://www.anchorbrewing.com/blog/brewing-insights-open-fermentation/

 

[skeeterman]

Brewed a shandy on Saturday, came home today and top of the primary was blown off! I cleaned and sanitized and re sealed. Anything else I need to do ? Will I be ok ?
thanks Steve

I would use a piece of cloth to cover the fermenter for the first week or so. OK, I use an old bed sheet! When things settle down, put it under airlock. CO2 from the yeast action will keep out O2.

 

[hotbeer]

Larger diameter blow of tubes will help keep the mess from happening. Or at least let it travel through the tube to the bubbler bottle or container where it will be cleaned up more easily.

You probably will need to make a larger hole in your FV lid. 3/8" wasn't enough for mine.

 

[Gorm]

+1 to a blowoff tube. You might try a larger capacity primary. 6.5-7 gal will help

 

[IslandLizard]

It blew off from a 5 gallon fermenting bucket.

For a 5 gallon batch of beer, a 5 to 5.5 gallon fermenting bucket does not have much, if any headspace.
Count on leaving at least 1 gallon of headspace for a 5 gallon batch. It depends on the yeast too, and how well you control fermentation temps.

1. Count on reserving 15-20% of a fermenter for headspace.
2. And control your fermentation temps. Aim to keep the temp of the fermenting beer (inside the fermenter) toward the lower end of a yeast's range. That makes better beer too.

 

[grampamark]

Buckets which hold about 6.5 gal. are readily available and cheap. I’ve used this one for quite a few 5 gal batches, which are usually 5.5+ gal into the fermenter, without a blowoff tube. Even with a gamma-style lid a bucket isn’t completely airtight which helps with avoiding overflows.

 

[Kickass]

You need to explain that to Anchor Brewing.

https://www.anchorbrewing.com/blog/brewing-insights-open-fermentation/

Nothing against OP, but Anchor may not have your average closet collection of dirty socks and shirts draped about

Edit: not intended to worry OP. You’re batch will likely be unaffected.

 

[RM-MN]

Nothing against OP, but Anchor may not have your average closet collection of dirty socks and shirts draped about

Edit: not intended to worry OP. You’re batch will likely be unaffected.

Why does your closet have a collection of dirty clothing. I put my dirty clothes in the laundry.

Why would you be fermenting your beer where there is dirty clothes? I try to keep my brew area kind of clean.

 

[Dynachrome]

I brewed with buckets the first couple years. My method was to just set the top on the bucket gently and not seal it for the first five or six days. The yeast makes enough carbon dioxide during that time that keeps the oxygen out. Oxygen is what is bad with this style brewing. It will make a cardboard flavor.

After 5 or 6 days, then you can put a lid with a valve on it. I agree with the headspace statement. And I always tried to have my beer bottled before 3 weeks.

 

[ncbrewer]

I brewed with buckets the first couple years. My method was to just set the top on the bucket gently and not seal it for the first five or six days. The yeast makes enough carbon dioxide during that time that keeps the oxygen out.

I did that for a while, with no problems. I did set a 1 pound weight on the lid to make sure it wouldn't get moved easily. When I had to replace the fermenter, I went with a 7.9 gallon ale pale (5 gallon batches), with the lid secured right from the start. No blow-off tube. I keep temperature under control and don't brew big beers - mine are around 1.055 for less. This also works well.