English IPA blew up!

When you say exploded, do you mean the carboy shattered or just that it blew your stopper/airlock off? You probably didn't need to move the wort/beer to a bucket at that point. I would have just added a blowoff tube.

 

This. Actually, given the photos you provided, I would have considered just putting in a blowoff tube instead of an airlock in the first place. That's not a lot of headspace.

 

Always a blowoff tube for the first week. Last time I just got lazy and never switched over to the airlock.

 

I havent put an airlock on a primary since 2004. I dont see the point in switching over.

 

It's not likely that I ever will again.

 

two words of advice here

a piece of foil over the top, not crimped, just put on top, is all you need for now. an old bath towel under the carboy isn't a bad idea either.

one TBS bleach, 12 ounces water in a spray bottle. this is why you painted your kitchen with eggshell, right?

ok, that's three items. welcome to the club. it happens to everyone eventually.
Cheers.

 

My very first one nearly exploded. Airlock overflowed quite a bit, I'm surprised it didn't completely explode. That would have been interesting as it was sitting on the floor next to my bed, covered with a towel to keep out light. Soon after that the location was moved to the closet. Nowadays it's in a fermentation freezer anyway, so asplosions aren't as much of a hazard. Using an eight gallon fermentation bucket for 5-5.5 gallon batches also keeps some of my beers far from the splosion zone. In my 6.5 gallon bucket I use a blowoff tube if it's over the five gallon mark upon start of fermentation, and never do bigger beers in there.

 

There's no need at all for an airlock or even a blowoff tube. Some of the best beers available are brewed in open tanks.
Here's the Guinness Brewery with no airlock in sight;notice the open windows and the workers in ordinary clothes.

They've modernised a little since then but it does suggest that open fermentation is perfectly safe. In fact, when breweries have converted to conical fermenters the beer always seems to have suffered.

 

This statement is up for debate!

 

Just curious, do you personally ferment in open containers?

 

Some links;
http://www.undergroundartproject.com/blog/tag/pilsner-urquell/
and then let Michael Jackson's voice be heard
http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-000054.html

 

you know, these brewers that moved from open fermentation tanks to conicals, they did it for a reason. and the reason wasn't because they wanted to start making crappy beer.

for the guy making 5 gallons at a time, open fermentation in a shallow vat is just ridiculous. we use what we have, a carboy or a bucket, and we do need to try and keep the krausen under control.
cool pic though.
Cheers.

also
Fermcap S

 

They changed to conical fermenters for economic reasons such as reducing wage bills.Many breweries I know of have had major problems matching the quality of the beers from them compared to the open fermenters.
I managed to homebrew for over 30 years in an open bucket; believe me if this had caused problems I would have changed.

 

I have read posts in past threads where folks opined that fermenting on the homebrew scale (5 gallon batches in buckets/carboys with airlocks) are essentially equivalent to an open fermentation. In other words it is the geometry/volume of the homebrewing vessels which ‘mimic’ an open fermentation regardless of whether the vessel is closed (with an airlock) or open to the air.

I prefer to have my bucket closed with an airlock since that protects my fermenting beers from ‘outside things’; for example fruit flies, other insects, dust which has bacteria on it, wild yeast, etc.

Cheers!

P.S. My strategy to mitigate blow ups is that I ferment in 7.9 gallon buckets; that bucket provides plenty of headspace.

 

The opinion of whoever the underground blog is doesent carry around a lot of weight with me. Michael Jackson's opinion does. I can see how a wooden fermenter would carry over unique flavor in the beer that would not transpire with a conical with the same recipe.

In both articles there is reference to beer flavors being perged out of the conical because of CO2 rising through the beer. Does not the CO2 rise out of the open fermenter covering a larger surface area?

The only way this debate could be settled is with a side by side of different beers and different tasters. Take care.

 

“I can see how a wooden fermenter would carry over unique flavor in the beer…”

Michael Jackson wrote that article in 1995. It is my understanding that ‘modern’ (post WW I for example) wooden fermentation vessels were lined with brewer’s pitch. This would mean that the fermenting beer would not come in actual contact with wood and consequently there would be no flavor impacts via wood.

Now, there is no doubt that the geometry (and volumes) are different between a small, open wooden fermenter and a presumably lager conical stainless steel fermenter. Are the fermentation characteristics of the smaller open wooden fermenters ‘better’ than the larger stainless steel fermenters? Hmmm?

Cheers!

 

It's my understanding that the difference in flavor profile, between open and closed fermentation, comes from higher yeast activity. With open fermentation, oxygen is constantly available to the yeast (more so for top fermenting varieties), and c02 dissipation is faster. I'm not going to say, one way or another, that this increases or decreases the quality of the beer, but I would certainly see how it would affect the final flavor.