HELP...NEW HOME BREWER...SERIOUS QUESTION

General Homebrew Discussion
1

Hello all,

i want to start by stating i am sorry if this is in the wrong section or category

i recently purchased a home brew kit and have been reading about home brewing i.e How to Brew book and online articles.too

well yesterday my buddy and i had our first brew day, followed all the instructions, took d,own notes on everything we did and when we did it.

came home from work today and noticed that the fermenter cap had been forced off by the pressure created inside the fermenter, i am using the big mouth bubbler with a bubbler airlock. what would cause his to have happened? is my beer ruined? should there be constant foaming bubbles coming out of the airlock? i had to tape the living hell out of the lid on the bubbler to keep it from focing itself off

please any info is greatly helpful and appreciated

thanks
tom

2

First off, welcome! No, your beer isn’t ruined whatsoever. It sounds like you don’t have enough headspace to account for krausen (tall, thick, yeasty foam) that arises from fermentation and/or are using a very active yeast strain. Ideally a fermenter should have 25-30% of its volume as headspace, to account for this. For reference, I use 8 gallon buckets to ferment 5.5 gallons of beer. Just keep the outside of the fermenter and airlock cleaned out with sanitizer as needed and, in 2 or 3 days, the heavy part of fermentation should subside (for average strength beers). It’ll be fine. How big is your fermenter and batch of beer? What yeast strain did you use?

3

welp was just looking at all my equipment and the kit came with 2 bubblers, didnt notice til i just looked at it that they are different sizes and i used the smaller one, 5 gal, where the other one is 6.5 gal soooo yea, rookie mistake i guess. as far as yeast goes the kit came with danstar nottingham ale dry yeast

thanks for the input

definitely looking to make this more of an in depth hobby and not a one and done process just to say i did it

4

so youre saying to add a tablespoon or so of water to the air lock as needed?

5

Yeah, the bigger fermenter will help for a 5 gallon batch. Or brew a smaller batch in the 5 gallon fermenter. I’m saying that if the cap is blown off again, or if yeast krausen comes up into the airlock, just be sure to keep things cleaned up with sanitizer. And yeah, keep water in the airlock up to the max line (if it has one). Half full if not. Good luck.

6

I recently got 4 of the Big Mouth Bubblers and that is a major flaw. The lid has popped off twice now. Doubt you will have any problems since the co2 will push almost anything out of the way that is falling in. Bigs and flies can’t breath co2 so they usually don’t go near it during active fermentation.

7

thanks, and yea it seems like thats a pretty big design flaw, its like there should be some lever locks on it to hold it on

8

I love my Big Mouth bubblers. I have never had an issue. I have the 6.5 gallon with the spigot. I use a 3 piece airlock.

9

Wish they screwed on for sure.

10

That’s great. But I and other people have. The lid pops off under pressure too easily. I have seen it happen to myself twice. Just because you haven’t had an issue (yet) doesn’t mean it isn’t a flaw.

11

Theres the difference. My do screw on. Did they change the design recently?

12

Wow, yeah I guess they did! Mine just “pop” on. I don’t have them available right now to show a picture but will try to remember later this afternoon.

13

I have actually lifted mine out of the fermenter by the lid before. I know, not very bright but I have a couple times before I bought the harness.

14

I took a 1 Inc house and forced it over the airlock ran the house to a water bottle 1/2 full of water and use that as a Blow off. Just make sure the open end of house is completely submerged. In the water. Allows the excess pressure to bleed off without losing the top

15

Glass or plastic?  I wonder if they’re concerned about pressure build-up with glass.  It’s been a lot of years since it’s happened to me but I’ve blown a carboy cap off of a carboy when the airlock got clogged.  Yeast spooge all over the ceiling and floor.

16

Was the cap dry? I have silicone bungs that pop out under the slightest pressure if they are wet. I sanitize and allow them to dry under cover.

17

A brick on top alongside the airlock fixes that problem.

18

I think the glass Big Mouth Bubblers are the ones with the pop off problem - I specifically bought the new lids with the silicone, because the original screw on lid did not fully seal well on my plastic version.  The silicone collar on the press on lid holds the seal well.  YMMV it seems.  I like the easy cleaning access that the wide mouth opening allows.

19

I have both models of the glass Big Mouth fermenters.  I haven’t had any issues with the seal on the old screw-top model, and I’m still using the original foam gasket.  I guess maybe I got lucky there.

The newer fermenter is a better piece of equipment IMO - The glass is much thicker and there are volume gradations.  The cap is kind of weird though.  I think the key is to line it up really straight-on to be sure the silicone ribs go in straight and evenly.  If you cram it in there off-kilter, it will want to pop back out.

If you be sure to use a fermenter with plenty of extra headspace, and try to ferment at a cooler temperature (65-70 degrees) you should have no problems in the future.

Welcome to brewing!

20

I have the new BMB with the older lid. I use two gaskets in the lid and it seals easily.