Airlock Disaster

[babar79]

Noob question:

So I brewed my raspberry beer this weekend. On Sunday I put my brew (basic wheat -extract) in the primary bucket with a 3 piece airlock. Along with this I added 2.5 lbs of pureed raspberries.

I checked my bucket yesterday and all was well. Bubbling along as expected. Then I checked it this morning and the airlock was filled with brew and the lid was bulging. I slowly pulled the airlock and rinsed it and replaced it with fresh water in it. Once I get home I ran to the brew bathtub and the same has happened.

Do I have an issue? Should I be concerned?

Thanks for all the help in advance.

-Adam

 

[Altbier bitte]

Nothing to worry about - it's way short of a disaster. If it's still chugging set up a blow-off. You do need to put sanitizer in your airlock, and in the blow-off bucket, but active krausen gives the beer protection. Just make sure it's safe no-rinse sanitizer, like starsan solution or iodophor. Once it's settled down some, put the clean, sanitizer filled airlock back in place. You probably should have put the fruit in the secondary.
RDWHAHB.

 

[Altbier bitte]

Btw, if you don't know how to set up a blow-off, google it. I'm sure you'll find plenty of examples. The truth is that if you just let it blow-off in the open air (since it's in the tub) it would likely be okay (google open ferm. while you're at it), but a sanitizer filled blow off is simple to set up. You'll need some food grade (preferably) hose of the appropriate diameter.

 

[babar79]

Thanks Altbier. I've read a number of articles and how to's (including this site) on blow offs. But you know while reading them I always wondered when one would need it. Well I know now.

It seems that I overreacted a little bit. It's now a little more than 12 hours since and all is well. No krausen in the airlock and it's happily bubbling away.

-Adam

 

[Altbier bitte]

Whether or not you need a blowoff depends on the yeast variety, the gravity of the beer and the amount of headspace in your primary container. Unless you're doing a relatively small beer, say under 1.050, it's best to at least have one ready. If your beer is much bigger than that, you may as well go ahead and set one up from the get-go. If nothing else, it saves you cleaning out gunked up airlocks. Good luck.