Had a batch of IPA fermenting. During the late stage of the process(about 6 days) the top blew off the primary fermentor. As I was about to begin transferring the wirt to a secondary the following day (Sun) I was not monitoring closely. When I went to transfer, I found that the out gassing had blown the top off the sealed primary fermentor. I was using evaportive cooling with a damp towel to maintain temp and didnt see it till the towel was removed. Figure it was like this for 20-24 hours in an open state. I transferred and resealed it with a new clean lock. 6 hours later and no activity. Is the batch ruined? Anything I can do to help restart the process?
overblown wirt
Feb 14, 2005
7 Replies
On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 19:37:46 -0700, Gremlin said in alt.beer.home-brewing:
1) It could be fully fermented out. Check the SG against what you expected. 2) Give it about 24 hours. Don;t only check for bubbles - check the SG again. 3) If it still doesn't restart, swirl it, then give it another 24 hours. Check the SG again.If it doesn't restart then, keg or bottle it. If you bottle it, make sure that the SG hasn't changed. If it's dropping, let it ferment out, even if you don't notice bubbles, or you might make bottle bombs.
The very worst that can happen is that it got contaminated and it'll taste like bubble gum. Chances are, though, that it's fine. (Fermenting with no top doesn't stop beer from fermenting. That's how it was made for thousands of years.)
On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 07:42:13 -0700, Gremlin said in alt.beer.home-brewing:
If it was fermenting and the top was just unsealed, not in another part of the room, the outflow of CO2 through the crack would probably have kept anything out. And anything that got in is usually killed by the yeast if it's vigorously fermenting. It's really only between cooling the wort and the start of vigorous fermentation that we have to worry if we keep everything clean.
Still done that way. See
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Large open stone squares are used for fermentation.
If you haven't had any of their beer it is well worth the $2-3 a bottle US they get for it.
Why don't you do what has been suggested to you, measure the specific gravity of the fermented beer. Depending on your starting gravity, if its down to 1.010 or therabouts its done. Steve W.
"Gremlin" a écrit dans le message de news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...
Don't shake it unless you are realy sure (by mesuring SG) that fermetation is not complete, you may itroduce ozigen and at this time it can produce oxidation (off flavors). After 6 days fermentation is probably done. As for the open fermentor, don't worry, i still make my primary in an open bucket (i just put the lid over without sealing it and put a clean dishcloth on top, it's not airtight so CO2 can escape but no solid will get into it because of the towel. The production of CO2 + the raising alcohol level will kill any nasties getting inside.
The important thing is not putting your wort in contact with contaminent before getting a good fermentation or after when it slowed down but while you have strong fermentation it's not to dangerous.
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