Brewed my first all-grain batch this weekend. When I woke up there was beer all over the floor, and the lid had blown off of the fermenter. The airlock was full of wort. Does anybody have any idea what I might have done wrong. It had only been sitting for about 24 hours, inside at around 75 degrees, in the closet. I was using a 5 gallon, Culligan water bottle as a fermenting vessel, and the airlock & plug were both brand new from the brew store. I did use a yeast catalyst pill, but it came with the yeast pack. Any help would be appriciated.

You have a platic water bottle, but it has a lid?

Sounds like you had a vigorous ferment, especialy at those temps. I'm guessing the airlock clogged, pressure built up inside, and blam-o.

my first guess would be, airlock plugged and the pressure blew it up. Those culligan water bottles aren't designed to handle pressure. This totally sucks. Now go drop the $25 on a carboy, it sucks losing beer like this, not really the ideal introduction to AG. better luck on the next brew eh.

Nah, get a bucket with spigot. Much easier to clean, rack, and move. Plus if you drop it, you won't risk losing your life.

I assumed that is what it was (airlock clogging up). Can you put too much water in the airlock? Can it be shoved into the plug too much? Anything like that? Did I fill the bottle too full? How can I avoid a clog in the future?

Is the whole batch ruined. Or is some of it salvagable?

Gotta go with blow of tubes

You definitely need enough head space. Anti-foam would work. Blow off tube is the best bet.

I never really had a problem with an airlock being too full.

i would seal your batch with a clean air lock and ferment it out. I highly doubt this beer would age well but you have a chance of an enjoybable beer if you drink it quickly.

Like that'll be a challenge

"Can you put too much water in the airlock? Can it be shoved into the plug too much? Anything like that? Did I fill the bottle too full? How can I avoid a clog in the future?"


Water level in airlock, inserted too deep not gonna cause a problem. Bottle too full, certainly it is good to have some headspace. (I like a fermenter 20% larger than the brew). Don't worry about the oxygen in there it'll get pushed out by the Co2 produced during primary fermentation.

Also I wouldn't secure the lid to the vessel. Leaving it so it can pop out is a make shift relief valve and the back pressure from the water in the airlock isn't enough to pop the bung.

BLOW OFF TUBE!!!! especially when fermenting at 75+ thats really high and is bound to bring on a violent fermentation... even @ 65+ I have some run out into my blow off tube...

Depending on if your doing 5 gal batches, your fermenter is too small in my opinion. I use a 6.5 gal carboy and still have to use a blow off tube on some batches. Just my 2 cents

And this is why I keep my carboy in a big rubbermaid storage bin. Sometimes (when doing stouts) I put another rubbermaid
bin over the top to collect flying beer.

"I put another rubbermaid bin over the top to collect flying beer. "

I would love to catch some flying beer does it come from flying pigs?? LOL might be better than the fried beer at the fair...

Ahhh love getting toasted...

I use a blowoff tube for the entire ferment. instead of the big 1 inch hose that costs a lot, I use a section of 3/8" vinyl tube jammed into the appropriate sized bung for the carboy. That way when the hose gets nasty, you just replace it with another 35 cent piece of hose. I used to switch to the vodka filled airlock after the fermentation begins to wind down because that's what other people told me to do. Then realized there was no reason to get rid of the blowoff. I may change the sanitizer in the jug if it gets cruddy from blowoff. But other than that just leave it alone till it's done.

It looks to me like your fermentor is too small. how much head space was there when you filled it up? in a 5 gallon water bottle the most would put in would be about 4 gallons give or take a 1/4 gal. This is a good reason to use 7.5 gallon buckets.

I've been leaving my buckets with lids LOOSE for 7 or 8 years now, only 1 blow off. Alas, I miss the bubbles in the air locks.

Always go with a large blow-off tube and you never have to worry,no problems here after 5 years with this method. And remember the Golden Rule.

>rulmyr: Have you not gotten infections like this? I ask because i accidentally used the wrong lid for my current batch that does not seal completely and I was a tad worried about infection.

OlliG - I think the risk is minimal, especially if the fermentation takes off quickly. There's a CO2 layer that builds up on top of the wort that acts as a barrier. Remember people were brewing a couple thousand years before the invention of the blow off tube and plastic airlock.