Exploding fermenters!

Yesterday when i returned from work, i went straight to check on my 2 day old beer.  I had 25 gals of fresh homebrew in five, 5 gallon plastic water jugs when i left for work. Well to my suprise i only had 20gals when i got home. My 3068 HEFE had exploded!  I dont mean the bung blew off, no the whole jug had blown apart into 3 pieces! Ahhh… what a let down, i would have been kegging that Hefe and drinking it in 3 more days as i keg my Hefes on day 5 allmost allways. Well no Hefe for you, although i was very tempted to drink the Banana smelling bathtub water, but abstained. Anyway to my point, Boun Vino brand 3 peice airlocks be aware that you should cut the plastic filter tip off of the bottom of these airlocks. The filter fills with proteins and hop debris and stops the pressure from escaping. I have about 20 of these airlocks and 18 of them where cut before use but the one to blame was brand new and i forgot to cut the filter tip hence my accident. I believe the company makes them this way because they

…are a wine making company not beer making. Wine yeast does not have as active fermentations as beer does nor the hop debris. So if you are using this product for beer be aware. Most often the bung will just blow off but an exploding better bottle or worse glass fermemtor really sucks. Cheers and beers! jacob

What are the chances you had a webcam set up to watch your fermenters? ;D

I know i wish! That was the first thing i thought also. I did take a few photos, i will try to get them up here showing people what to cut off of them. you have to be careful cutting the tip off because the plastic is hard and will crack, i cracked the first one that i cut with scissors and  had to throw it out. So i switched to cutting/sawing them off with a bread knife. Cant believe i forgot to cut those two new ones, at least it was a cheap hefe not my tripple the other one is on.

Wow… I think this a first for the AHA forum. When I saw the thread title I thought that this must be a joke but I was wrong. I guess there’s a first time for just about anything.

I too, am quite impressed!

Photos of the aftermath would be cool.

I’ve never exploded anything, at least not with fermentation.

I suppose one bottle that cracked from too much carb, but no explosions.

Thanks for posting this. I just bought that brand of airlock. Sure enough, it has the filter end. You may have saved me from a similar fate.

Do you glue your bungs into the mouths of your fermenters?  The bung had to be stuck in place with a resistance greater than the bursting pressure of the fermenter!