Newbie Brewer. Few basic questions.

I do primary fermentation in a 6.5 gal bucket so I may not be one to judge, but damn that is some vigorous fermentation!

 

Yea that's crazy fermentation! I've never used that yeast, only the Nottingham. Just put foil around it until the activity slows, then reinstall the airlock.

Nevertheless, relax, don't worry, have a homebrew... as everything will turn out OK in the end.

 

The good news is since it is blowing out pretty hard, it is less likely that the beer underneath the krausen is being exposed to any contamination. Get it re-covered with a blow-off tube like Vikeman described, or just cover it until fermentation subsides and install a new airlock, and you should still have good beer when all is said and done. The beauty of your yeast doing its work is that a strong fermentation like that one will tend to keep anything you don't want in the beer out at this point in time.

 

By the way, see how the hop particles clogged the top of the airlock? That's why it developed pressure. That exact same thing happened to me on a Belgian golden ale. When I discovered it, it hadn't broken or blown out, but the airlock was under so much pressure that the bucket lid was domed (6.5 gallon bucket on a 5 gallon batch). The kausen had filled 1 1/2 gallons of headspace and blew so much hop debris into the airlock that it would no longer vent.

You might consider using a new airlock, but keep the top from this broken one and give this modification a try: drill out a couple of the holes so that particulate matter cannot clog them. Then, even with a vigorous primary fermentation, the worst that would happen is the foam would blow out the top of the airlock (via the larger holes). You could then switch back to the unmodified top with the smaller holes during a longer, more relaxed secondary.

 

Something I'm noticing - the cap on the airlock. Take that thing off next time. It'll give more room for the bobber (don't know what else to call it) room to move, and let more pressure out. Plus those teeny little holes get clogged way to easily. I only use that cap to keep things together between brews.

 

The cap isn't really holding any pressure in. The pressure in the headspace of the airlock equalizes with the outside very quickly. As long as the bubble can escape the liquid, it's fine. The bobber (bell) can be pegging the bejeesus out of the lid. Besides, it's fun to watch. I saw a normal looking airlock connected to a brewery secondary/bright tank once. The bell was moving so fast that you could hear it whizzing, but couldn't see it.

 

I think you will find that unless the water/sanitizer level is very low, the cap is necessary to prevent the inner piece (bobber, bell) from bouncing out entirely. That's why I was thinking that enlarging the holes in the cap was the way to go to keep it working when there's blow-off entering the airlock.

Vikeman's story is an example of what I am talking about, taken to an extreme.

 

Fair enough. I've never had anything like that happen, even with some pretty vigorous fermentations.My thought on the cap was if you have krausen coming through, those teeny tiny holes could get clogged far easier, causing the whole thing to blow out and off. With the cap off, there's more room for the bell to move, and let the gunk out, worst case leaving krahsen all over the lid.

 

It doesn't hurt to just dip it in starsan first, before it touches the beer. It's not necessary during the boil, but certainly is necessary after. I just keep a bucket of starsan with everything that's going to touch the beer in the starsan. Removes doubt.