And Now, What Not To Do.... Kinda

Every once in a while, things don't go as planned. Every once in a while equipment fails you. If you are a home brewer or a major distributor, something, sometime, will go wrong. It is your fundamental understanding of the process of brewing that will save a batch or wash one down the drain. I say all of this because such a problem with equipment did indeed happen last night.


For those that don't know the reason why you use a bucket style container as your primary fermenter and a carboy as your secondary is all simply about headroom and air. A primary fermentation is very active and produces a lot of Co2 and a lot of foam in the process. Up to 3 or 4 inches of foam on top of the brew and even more than that in some situations. You need room for this and you aren't as concerned about the air that could be in the bucket, since the Co2 is going to continue to keep positive pressure on the "Primary". WELL.... when your Primary doesn't keep a good seal and you have a young brew in it, you worry about any contaminates possibly getting into the batch, so I made the executive decision to move it to a secondary "Better Brew" container. So like I explained earlier, not nearly as much room in the top of a carboy which means not as much room for your brew head. so it can come out the trap, as long as you keep the trap clear of debris, not really a problem, Makes a little mess but the gas still escapes and you still keep everything good.

Here's the FYI... IF you are making a Chocolate Bock and you have roasted Chocolate Nibs that are floating in the top of the brew, those nibs MAY float on the foam and into the tiny neck of the of the fermentation trap and clog the escape route for all the gas produced. If and when this happens, duck, you have two possible outcomes. One. the nib is forced into the first chamber of the trap and the brew goes on. Two the Co2 pressurizes the carboy and you have a possible fermentation trap missile on your hands. The second of the two happened. It missed me but it popped had enough that it dug a grove in the ceiling. The picture above is actually what you hope for if you ever have to make this call. As long as it's still bubbling and foaming, it may not be ideal but its better than the alternative. Just make sure you keep the trap clean and it should be just fine in this stage. Right now that's about every 6 hours. Make sure you put a towel underneath it because it will make a mess!