help my primary runneth over

[kevin]

I have a 80 shilling scotish ale that I bumped up with an extra 2 lbs of dme. I didn't think it would be this explosive but when I got home yesterday the airlock was full of krausen. I cleaned and replaced. then I went to was the video pirates of the carribean "good movie" and came down to check on the primary "bucket" and it look like someone threw a M-80 in there the lid was blown off. then at 4:30 the dog "boxer" is licking me to go out and I checked the bucket a portion of the lid came up and it looked as if my primary barf. so now I just check the bucket and the airlock is full of krausen again and I got to go to work soon and I don't think the airlock is going to hold so should I remove the lock and put a clean bucket over the airlock hole? I don't have any tubeing short enough for a blow-off.

[toneyc]

Do you have a racking cane? In a pinch, I used my racking cane by placing the short end through the stopper and dropping the long end into an extract bucket half full of water. Worked like a charm.

:)
Toney.

[Asahikun]

How about leaving the airlock in there but removing the plastic thing that sits on top and the water - just to minimise the size of the hole. This will mean it shouldn't get blocked and blow the lid off completely. With that amount of outward pressure and that small an opening, I doubt anything is going to get in. You might want to lay some small towels or something around the opening to soak up the inevitable krausen that's gonna spew out.
I'd get a blow-off on there asap then the lid will only lift up a little and not the flying lid you've got going on right now. Good luck.

[kevin]

I hope it doesn't cover the walls, I removed the airlock since there is so much pressure coming out and put my 4 gallon ss pot on top of the lid covering the hole. I figured some krausen might ooz out but at least it shouldn't explode.

[kevin]

Originally posted by toneyc
Do you have a racking cane? In a pinch, I used my racking cane by placing the short end through the stopper and dropping the long end into an extract bucket half full of water. Worked like a charm.

:)
Toney.

I gonna do that when I get home

[paul84043]

I had the same problem and did what Tweek suggested.

Your Homebrew store will have some 1" Tygon tubing that will fit the standard sized hole that a stopper goes into. I put that in the neck of the carboy (or the hole in the bucket) and loop it up high and into a milk carton 1/4 full of sanitizer.
The beauty of this is that for one, there is such a large hole that you will NEVER clog it, second, if you have it going up far enough, the foam breaks down and everything runs back into the fermenter making your losses due to blowoff almost zero.

It's critical to keep the hose clean, but it is the absolute best method I have found.

[kevin]

Originally posted by Asahikun
How about leaving the airlock in there but removing the plastic thing that sits on top and the water - just to minimise the size of the hole.

I did that but reduce the amount of water so more krausen could fill the airlock. But what happens is the cross end of the airlock got plugged with slug.

[kevin]

what else is strange is the sg was only 1.048 so I wasn't expecting any extra krausen and I use White Lab Edingburgh yeast with no starter.

[Asahikun]

...if you have it going up far enough, the foam breaks down and everything runs back into the fermenter making your losses due to blowoff almost zero.

I thought the main point of having a blow-off was to stop the krausen falling back into the beer.

[Tweek]

For most the point of a blow off tube is mearly to not make a mess and to prevent infection from lost airlocks. There are some that use blow offs to reduce the amount of trub you get in the primary, but you also loose beer and this is not necessary.

[Asahikun]

I can understand the point of not making a mess and not losing your airlocks.
I also thought losing the krausen was desirable since, if Papazian is to be believed, your beer will have less of a bitter bite and you will get rid of fusel oils which can contribute to hangovers.
I use a blow-off and sometimes actively remove the krausen by applying pressure to the lid but I only lose a tiny amount of beer through this process.
So, is there no truth to what Papazian says?

[paul84043]

On my barleywine I lost over a gallon of beer through blowoff, which was entirely unacceptable.
On a normal beer, you keep all the kreusen in the container, but it typically either falls out of suspension, or stick to the side as the Kreusen falls. Either way, I transfer the good stuff away from it when I rack to the secondary.

The other huge benefit to the large tube is the complete and total lack of any kind of pressure buildup due to a blocked blowoff tube.

I still have beer on my ceiling from an explosive episode one early morning that I don't ever care to repeat.

You don't have to take our advice, it's just suggestions and opinions, that's all.
If you're happy with your process, then stick with it!

[kevin]

I'm still at work, getting nervous about seeing what kind of mess I'm gonna need to clean up.

[toneyc]

So how is it? Did everything turn out OK or was there a serious mess?

:O
Toney.

[kevin]

A little krausen came out of the hole about a 1/8 of a cup. I put the airlock back in and it back to bubbling but no foam in the airlock. If that happen I would gone right to the racking cane trick. I think the eye of the fermenting has passed.

One more note I tried a taste of that krausen and it is really bitter stuff.

[paul84043]

Good to hear that the worst has passed...I remember a few times wodering if I was going to come home to a huge mess...

[toneyc]

Yes, good to hear all is well!

Something I've done since the last time that happened to me is to cut the "crosshairs" out of my primary airlocks. I have had krausen flow up and out of the airlock since then, but I haven't had another plugged airlock. I don't know if that fixed it or if I've just been lucky.

:)
Toney.