i'm currently fermenting my first brew ever and my fermentation is going great. so great that it has overflown through my airlock. can i just let it keep going, or do i need to replace this one with another cleaned and sanitized airlock? just dont want to drainpour my first brew due to infection. any help would be appreciated!
If it's still overflowing through the airlock, you should replace the airlock with a blowoff tube. If the activity has subsided so that it's no longer overflowing, clean and sanitize the airlock and put it back on (or replace with another cleaned and sanitized airlock).
By the time you switch to a blow-off tube, the major damage has probably already been done. Unless of course you are fermenting too warm, making a high gravity brew, or have a yeast on steroids : ) Edit: as far as infections...don't ...worry everything is heading OUT of your fermenter from the sounds of it.
Everything is blowing outward right now and your chance of infection is minimal because of overactivity right now. You'll want to try to keep your batches to 5 gal so you don't blow over and consider some antifoam drops/powder for the next batch. I'm also going to throw this out there because it's your first brew. Watch your fermentation temp. I hope you're fermenting around 65 ambient for an ale. If it's up in the 70s you might want to back it down slowly. Edit: Krusty beat me to it
it's an extract kit, belgian tripel. og sitting around 1.080, instead of just dumping the yeast in i thought maybe a yeast starter would be the way to go. boy did it take off. it's a five gallon kit in a 6 1/2 fermenter. once fermentation slows down i'm going to stick a cleaned and sanitized airlock back on. also my fermentation temp is right at 63 degrees.
You are gold...replace your airlock with another clean one/blow off and in the future always use a blow-off for 1.080 beers with healthy starters...cheers.
The information you have received is alarming. This batch is obviously contaminated with biohazardous waste components! Immediately after fermentation subsides you should transfer it to smaller containers (12-24oz) with a small amount of sugar and send the entire batch to me for 'proper' disposal. Sorry, really your fine. Change the airlock, or even pull that one wash and replace. no biggie. Relax. Dont worry. Have a domestic brew, cause your homebrew aint ready yet.
Another way of doing it, if you don't have a blow off tube, is to cover the opening with sanitized tin foil, crimped around the opening. It should keep bad stuff from falling in.
A starter was definitely the way to go. Don't interpret blowoff as a bad sign. In most cases though, a wort that big should have a blowoff tube.
checked it this morning to find the lid of the fermenter loose. lol. i clamped her back down and put some weight on top of it. i will for sure use a blowoff tube from here on out.
For a carboy I won't crimp it too tight, it might blow the foil off. In these cases I crimp it about 3/4's of the way around and for lack of a better description, I make a dryer vent looking thing. I give a good amount of room for the foam. This is for a carboy in a plastic bag in a closed freezer. But as correctly noted, you just don;t want dust falling in.
I don’t know whether the OP wants to ‘invest’ in another fermentation bucket for their next batch but I personally utilize a 7.9 gallon plastic bucket to conduct my primary fermentation. It has lot of ‘head room’ and that minimizes the chance of the krausen ‘oozing’ through the airlock. http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/7-9-gal-fermenting-bucket.html Cheers!
