HELP!!! Exploding Ferment Bucket!!!

[rook]

HELP -- i did my first brew on saturday from a Hefewiezen kit from morebeer.com. I have watched my buddy brew once before -- but i am still pretty much a total rookie. The brew was successful and i bucketed it and put the airlock on. It took about a day and a half to start bubbling in the airlock (this was sunday night). This morning (tuesday am) i checked on it and the lid blew off the ferment bucket and the airlock was several feet away. to my horror -- there was beer splattered on the walls. Most of the beer is still in the bucket -- but the lid was partially off and i do not know what time it blew. i was following directions from 3 different sources: one from the morebeer.com kit, another from homebrewing for dummies (appropriate i know), and yet another from the local brewing supplies store. I was following the directions that came with the kit the closest. I followed all of the directions the best i could and did not really run into any problems until the boling was done. I do not have a wort chiller so i chilled the wort in the sink with ice on the outside. the directions from the morebeer.com kit said that once the brew reached 130 degrees i could add it to the ferment bucket and vigorously add the remaining water (i am using a 3 gallon brew kettle) to aerate the beer. I did as those instructions said. I was aware that i could not pitch the yeast until the beer coled to below 75 degrees. As the beer was sitting in the fermentation bucket it dawned on me that it was going to take a long while before it would cool to 75 degrees. so i started looking at the other directions i had and they explicitly said that you should not aerate the beer until it cools to 70 degrees first. I then put the bucket back in the sink and put ice around it. When it got down to around 75 degrees i pitched the yeast and put the lid on and shook it up some more. I then added the airlock and placed it in my storage closet. I could have cried this morning when i say the beer everywhere. Has this ever happened to anyone before? Any idea what caused it? Is it because i aerated it to soon? i was under the impression that aerating it too soon would increase the risk of contamination. I am also aware that adding too much corn sugar at bottling will cause the bottles to explode, but (obviously) i had not added any sugar to anything yet. That makes me think that perhaps there was too much sugar in the DME? any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, i would presume that what is left in the bucket is a total waste -- is that correct? Like i said, most of the beer is still in the bucket (approx 4.5 gallons) -- but i am not sure when it blew -- the last time i looked at it was yesterday (monday) morning. All right, brain. You don't like me and I don't like you, but let's just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer. Homer Simpson

[Jughead]

The beer in the bucket should be fine. Just get the lid back on and you should be okay. The lid likely blew because of a vigorous fermentation (a good thing). If the foam from the fermentation reaches the top of the bucket and sneaks into the airlock, it can block the airlock, which causes pressure to build until...

If you get the lid back on while it is still fermenting and creating a layer of CO2 over the beer, the beer is somewhat protected from air and other nasties.

You may need a bigger bucket or a smaller wort next time. Or, you could use a blow off tube instead of an airlock for the first few days.

And yes, we have had this happen before.

[mmmBeer...]

Relax…have a homebrew. Sometimes you get a very active fermentation that can pop the top off of a bucket. I think it has been addressed in a couple of other threads.

If you are using a Hefe strain such as Whitelabs Hefe or Hefe IV, the fermentation can be very violent. I am not sure why, but I have noticed this in the 4 hefe I have made using these yeasts. I get a lot more blow off out of my hefes than I do other beers.

Since your beer was fermenting and pushing out the krausen, there is very little risk of infection. Just put the lid back on and let it do its thing.

[bigmf]

Hefes are known for having really vigorous fermentations. The good news is with all that outward force from the fermentation, you can be almost certain nothing got in.

Best of luck and....


WELCOME TO THE BOARD!

[sallad]

quick! re-sanatize you lid and airlock. you should be fine. it happens from time to time.. not a big deal, really. you might want to invest in a blow off tube rather than an airlock for initial fermentation. airlocks are more prone to become clogged, causing pressure to build up and buckets to explode.

but (obviously) i had not added any sugar to anything yet.

malt extract has lots of sugar- it provides the fermentables (which are sugars) that turn into alcohol.

any idea what your OG was? (i.e., did you take a hydrometer reading?) higher gravity beers are more likely to have vigorous ferments because they have more sugars...

[rook]

Thanks fellas. Whew! i thought i had killed five gallons of that sweet nectar of the gods! I appreciate your feedback. Happy brewing. I will keep this thread posted on what results.

[Jughead]

Four replies in 22 minutes. Not bad eh?
(Must be a slow work day.)

Anyhow, welcome to the board.

[rook]

yeah, you guys are a big help. glad to be aboard. i just ran home and put a new sanitized lid as well as another airlock on it. my OG was 1.056 and i used white labs hef ale yeast (WLP 300). it is pretty frothy and messy inside the bucket and much of the splatter on the walls had lots of the sediment bits from the hops and what managed to steep through the grain bag. i would imagine that the little i did lose will make little difference in the taste, right? also, is it safe to assume that in a few hours the airlock should start bubbling again -- since the fermentation just began on sunday night?
lastly, i have a glass carboy that i was going to transfer the beer to once fermentation is over using a racking cane. however, the racking cane i have does not work very well so i was just going to purchase another fermenting bucket and run a tube from the tap of the current bucket to the new bucket before bottling. can anyone foresee this being a problem? my wort was a bit chunky (i.e., lots of sediments from the hops and steeping grains) and i was thinking of racking it atleast twice to get some of the sediments out. thanks again. cheers.

[bigmf]

I think you should probably try the racking cane since a lot of stuff could decide to come through the spigot on your bucket. Or worse, it could decide not to come through if some stuff gets jammed in there.

The racking cane should leave a lot more of the sediment behind.

M.

[wortchillergoal]

Welcome to a great hobby. I would agree that a racking cane would do a better job. Before someone does I will suggest you get an auto-siphon. This makes racking very easy.

By the way, all home brewers have expolded fermenters and experience a boil over or two. I believe they are considered dues.