spoiled batch?

[mboardman]

I recently boiled up a midwest brewing supplies batch of Pale Ale and dutifully transferred the wort after cooling, into a 5 gal carboy and added the included packet of dry yeast. It was a bit full, but I hated to dump any out, so in the morning I was rewarded with a geysering foam spray from the bubbler. Beer all over the floor, walls and windows. I decided to transfer the batch to a larger fermenter, my 6.5 gal plastic bucket. I didnt think to sanitize, was a bit annoyed and panicked at how active this yeast was and the mess it was causing. Anyway, a day after transferring to the plastic bucket, the batch appears dead. No yeast bubbling and the foam is gone or sunk to the bottom.

Im assuming my plastic bucket wasnt clean enough and Ive contaminated the batch. Anything I can do to reclaim it? Fermentation for a pale ale should take at least 2-3 days, but this appeared to stop after about 16 hours all told (8 hours after transferring to plastic bucket).

What do you think guys?

 

[daksin]

You just didn't leave enough headspace and the krausen either overflowed or clogged the airlock, building up pressure to explode like you saw. Use a blowoff tube next time. Your beer is probably mostly done now- transferring it knocked a lot of CO2 out and so your krausen is gone. It may reform or it may not. I'm sure the beer will be fine.