After reading clibits excellent post for simple AG brew i decided to give it a go a couple of days ago. Kept it simple (and cheap) 1kg Maris Otters, Target hop pellets (reduced), Wilkos yeast and off i went.
It all went well and managed to get a reasonably full, but not to full imo, demijohn with a reading of 1050 though not sure how accurate the hydrometer is. Pitched the yeast at 6pm Tues, left the hydrometer in the demijohn, rigged up a blow off tube into a bottle as i wasn't sure what fermentation i was going to get and left it near our small multi fuel stove, just on tick over, at the front of the boat to let it get on wi' it.
Gets up Wed morning and not much happening but by dinner time it is bubbling away nicely with a nice krausen forming. By bedtime its continuous bubbling and krausen going along the tube. Wraps it in a towel and goes to bed.
This morning my wife is out of bed first and goes through to the front of the boat and shouts through that i had "best come and have a look at my beer".
When i got there the bung had blown from the demijohn with the towel covered in krausen as well as splatter to the surrounding area. I thought i had heard something in the night but living on a boat you get use to strange noises like the boat contracting or birds landing on it and think nothing of it.
Anyway what had happened is that the hydrometer had some how been forced up into the bung and formed a seal in the blow off tube causing the nocturnal eruption. Is this a common occurrence? Was this a schoolboy error?
It all went well and managed to get a reasonably full, but not to full imo, demijohn with a reading of 1050 though not sure how accurate the hydrometer is. Pitched the yeast at 6pm Tues, left the hydrometer in the demijohn, rigged up a blow off tube into a bottle as i wasn't sure what fermentation i was going to get and left it near our small multi fuel stove, just on tick over, at the front of the boat to let it get on wi' it.
Gets up Wed morning and not much happening but by dinner time it is bubbling away nicely with a nice krausen forming. By bedtime its continuous bubbling and krausen going along the tube. Wraps it in a towel and goes to bed.
This morning my wife is out of bed first and goes through to the front of the boat and shouts through that i had "best come and have a look at my beer".
When i got there the bung had blown from the demijohn with the towel covered in krausen as well as splatter to the surrounding area. I thought i had heard something in the night but living on a boat you get use to strange noises like the boat contracting or birds landing on it and think nothing of it.
Anyway what had happened is that the hydrometer had some how been forced up into the bung and formed a seal in the blow off tube causing the nocturnal eruption. Is this a common occurrence? Was this a schoolboy error?
