Beerplosion!

[FungusBrew]

Okay, so I had my first beerplosion. It was 5 gallons of hefeweisse on its first night, exploding out of my 6 gallon carboy. There was no blowoff tube just an airlock. The pressure blew off the airlock, and shot beer 7 feet in the air straight up, coating my ceiling in a thick, yeasty syrup. I should have believed everyone when they told me how crazy hefes ferment. Oh well, now I know for next time.

What do you guys think? Is my beer most likely contaminated? What are the chances this batch is near ruined?

 

[Germelli1]

Okay, so I had my first beerplosion. It was 5 gallons of hefeweisse on its first night, exploding out of my 6 gallon carboy. There was no blowoff tube just an airlock. The pressure blew off the airlock, and shot beer 7 feet in the air straight up, coating my ceiling in a thick, yeasty syrup. I should have believed everyone when they told me how crazy hefes ferment. Oh well, now I know for next time.

What do you guys think? Is my beer most likely contaminated? What are the chances this batch is near ruined?

I would say there is a .00005% chance it is ruined. It is pretty obvious that there was more pressure in the carboy than the room it was in, so that would have kept anything from getting in!

Fashion a blowoff tube and bottle that ***** when it is done!

PS hopefully it doesn't have the same effect on your digestive system!

 

[Pappers_]

I would say there is a .00005% chance it is ruined.

I think you're being conservative. More like .0000000005%

 

[WillPall]

Yeah, a good beersplosion will keep your beer good and clean (can't say the same for the room though). Congratulations! You've reached another brewing milestone.

 

[Yooper]

You seem to have forgotten rule number 1!


Post pictures!

 

[FungusBrew]

Whoa, you guys rock! Yooper, no pics

In my devastated state, I forgot to take photos for future reflection. But trust me, use your imagination...!!!

It's all better now, the ceiling, and my spirits! Thanks!

 

[superjunior]

You seem to have forgotten rule number 1!


Post pictures!

beat me to it

 

[Diver165]

Fashion a blowoff tube and bottle that ***** when it is done!

+1 on that!

 

[MetallHed]

did you have a good smoke after?

i'm always tired afterwards and don't wanna be touched.

 

[renderit]

Kruesen texture, mmmmmm.

 

[akthor]

Is this something that happens with carboys only? Or is it something that happens in buckets too? I assume this happens with folks doing their own recipes? This isn't a common occurence with kits is it?

 

[xiang]

Is this something that happens with carboys only? Or is it something that happens in buckets too? I assume this happens with folks doing their own recipes? This isn't a common occurence with kits is it?

It has more to do with the available head space in said containers.

In this pic, I had just over 5.5gal in a 6gal better bottle.

 

[Yooper]

Is this something that happens with carboys only? Or is it something that happens in buckets too? I assume this happens with folks doing their own recipes? This isn't a common occurence with kits is it?

Sure it is! Anytime an airlock gets blocked, in a bucket or carboy, you can have beer popping off the lid or bung and paint the ceiling.

It can happen with a kit or with other ingredients.

Now, as to not scare you, I'll elaborate a bit! Usually, blow offs happen when several things happen- one is a very active fermentation. It can be more likely in warmer weather- a hotter fermentation will certainly have more force than a cooler one. Wheat beers tend to form a bigger krausen, and are more likely to need a blow off tube. Also, if you ferment 5 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy, you're asking for something like this to happen! Also, if you pitch a batch on a yeast cake from the previous batch, this is more likely.

I ferment 5.25 gallons in a 7.9 gallon bucket at 62-64 degrees, occasionally going up to 68 degrees. I rarely make wheat beers. I have never had a blow off, and I've needed a blow off tube once, about 4 years ago on a too-warm fermentation. I always pitch the correct amount of yeast- not too much, not too little.

Even so, without that big amount of headspace I could have a blow off! I usually use buckets just for that reason- more headspace in primary.

 

[akthor]

So I do 5 gal batches in 6.5 gal buckets so I am good to go right?

 

[Diver165]

So I do 5 gal batches in 6.5 gal buckets so I am good to go right?

Yep, you're good to go.

 

[maxamuus]

I ferment 5.25 gallons in a 7.9 gallon bucket

+1 I love big buckets. Plenty of room in there and i haven't seen any beer in the airlock yet. Not to say it cant happen i just like giving my beer plenty of room to party in there.

 

[Valcarde]

Yep, you're good to go.

I suppose that doesn't translate to a 6.5 gallon carboy well. Have a 5-galllon hefeweizen fermenting away in a 6.5 gallon carboy, had an airlock first thinking 'Oh, there's so much headspace, I won't need a blowoff tube!' Check it before going to bed, see a lot of foam. I put on a blowoff tube right there.

Good thing I did, the tube had lots of foam in it the next mornig

 

[Diver165]

I think it has more to do with the type of beer. I've done 5 gal batches in 6.5 gal better bottles w/o a hint of a blowup. If I'm not mistaken, Hefes go ape **** the first few days in the fermentor anyway.

 

[Bentpirate]

Blow off tubes are easy insurance. All of my primary's have blow off tubes any more with out exception. I have a few rinsed out water bottles for the collections filled 1/2 with water and I just empty as needed. I like the calmness it gives me
I learned the hard way... blow off tubes are like the Zen of fermentation... become one with the blow-off......

 

[ChshreCat]

YET AGAIN....

Someone is not following CORRECT PROCEDURE for this situation.

The FIRST thing you do...

BEFORE posting to HBT...

BEFORE reaching for a towel...

BEFORE replacing your airlock...

TAKE PICTURES to share with us! Sheesh, how many times do we have to remind people? We need to have this added to the user agreement when people sign up for HBT.

 

[Whut]

YET AGAIN....

Someone is not following CORRECT PROCEDURE for this situation.

Yeah, we wanna see BEER PORN! ! ! ! !

 

[MetallHed]

So I do 5 gal batches in 6.5 gal buckets so I am good to go right?

not neccissarily..

my last brew was a weiss kit from midwest. i blew the top off and it was a five gallon batch in a 6.5 gallon bucket..

depends on the beer and the OG..

wheats go nuts... so do a blowoff everytime for those.

 

[Indyking]

To the OP, what did you do to clean up the ceiling? Is it a finished ceiling?

Of note, I have a friend who had a beer explosion, about 1 year ago I think, in his finished basement. He cleaned up the ceiling with wet cloths and tried to dry it up as best as he could by using dry cloths. Ceiling was stained but looked fine until recently when a piece of it came off. It turns out there is so much mold in there that the ceiling is basically ruined. The wort stain was sort of concealing it, so it did not get noticed! So, he is now spending a good deal of money to fix it. The company fixing the ceiling told him that this could have been avoided if he hired a restoration company to dry it up promptly after the explosion, but, of course, he didn't. So, just a word of caution...

 

[FungusBrew]

Hey Indy,

The ceiling is a finished one, and used to be relatively white at the point of impact. It wasn't a horrific explosion by any means, but still managed to do some damage. I got most of it cleaned up, but there's still the stain there. I used was a damp rag as well. Maybe I should hit it again with some chemicals. Thanks for the warning!

 

[New2Brew17]

YET AGAIN....

Someone is not following CORRECT PROCEDURE for this situation.

The FIRST thing you do...

BEFORE posting to HBT...

BEFORE reaching for a towel...

BEFORE replacing your airlock...

TAKE PICTURES to share with us! Sheesh, how many times do we have to remind people? We need to have this added to the user agreement when people sign up for HBT.

In honor of this absence of procedure, I present my first beerplosion...

Luckily the whole lid gave out instead of just the airlock. I did not measure, but the lid was a good 5 feet away!

 

[SIXFOOTER]

My first Heffe launched the air lock on day 1. After some pondering and while cleaning up the launch residue I came up with a simple mod for the air lock that seems to have fixed the problem.
I only use the bubblers because the S type are to hard to clean. Drill out the holes in the cap of the bubbler, 1/4" will do nicely. The problem is the little bits of hops are bigger than the holes.
like this

 

[Andy_LV]

oh well, I was about to go to bed... and had to check on a dark ale I brewed yesterday...

I think it decided to take a walk and sneak up on me while Im sleeping - got it when it was just about to leave the lid

Surprisingly vigorous fermentation, low temp - ambience is about 19C and plenty room for it to foam in a 35l bucket... still, it wants out!!!

Check out how the bucket lid is bent! I have a bad feeling that it will spit something out or launch the lid itself... Oh boy...

On the bright side, wort tastes, smells and looks GREAT!

 

[guitarsophist]

I have a witbier that has been in primary for more than a week. It bubbled furiously for three days and then started to slow down. I didn't check it yesterday, but today when I looked at it the airlock was full of yeast, and some had bubbled out the top. The temp was actually cooler. When It was really going at first it was about 74, and now it is at 69. Anybody have an idea why it suddenly took off again? I am glad it didn't blow. The airlock was pretty clogged, so it probably would have. Now with a new airlock it is making big bubbles, usually several at once, but it looked like the krausen had fallen back a bit.

John

 

[Andy_LV]

its probably eating complex sugars now - not so easy to digest, hence it goes slower

 

[Zacharias]

To put your mind at ease, it is harder to ruin a batch of beer than you might think. People were brewing way back before cleansers, soaps or even a basic understanding of microorganisms, and they did so successfully!

During a joint venture between myself and a good friend of mine, my pal stuck his whole arm into the primary fermenter after two days because he dropped a ladle in it . I have no idea what he was trying to do so I cannot speak on his part. To our surprise the beer ended up being perfectly fine!