Exploded Carboy Stopper

agreed to other responses. My personal experience, I have generally tried to ferment on low end of recommended range. Do you have a room that you don’t use? Shut any heat vents to it, crack a window and put a towel under the door - whatever you have to do. A cool spot in the basement? get a thermometer and do some experimenting around the house to see if you can find that magic 60-65 degree spot. I have the window to a room in my basement right now so I can keep the room in the steady high 40’s/low 50’s - lager season:)

Thanks again for the advise. Its kind of frustrating because not only did the recipe say 65-75 but it also specified a warm, dark place. This led me to believe that the higher side of the range was the proper temperature to shoot for, when, in fact, it was the opposite. BTW, the recipe i used was the Chocolate Milk Stout, the starter version.

Or find a used fridge on Craig’s list and install a temp control unit. Then you can set the temp to the exact temp you want. That’s my plan at least, i get the fridge Saturday but have to wait for the control unit to arrive on Tuesday. Which will be nice, then I’ll be able to get my third bedroom back and the wife will be happy.

MBROOKLYN, the other thing I’d suggest is picking up Charlie Papazian’s Complete Joy of Homebrewing or some other similar book. The instructions in a beer kit are only going to get you so far. The book will really break it all down for you in a simple way and give you the confidence to brew over and over again. And don’t get frustrated. Right now you’re drinking from the fire hose – so much information. We’ve all been there – hell, we’re all still there! Read up, have fun, and enjoy yourself.

this is a book, that is made available online for free. good information. i started a month ago, at the end of november. got my starter kit, and extract kits, and just followed the recipe on the first batch. it was the irish red…hasnt turned out as good as i hoped but really it needs 2-4 more weeks…i then brewed the american rye, but threw some other things in…a grain steep and some molasses, etc. that beer is almost gone, i have 8 bottles left lol. i have another brew a week into primary but im not gona go there. anyway my point is stick with this, you may feel overwhelmed at the moment, or frustrated, as did i, but read information on forums, and that site i listed and i guarantee you are going to pick this up quick. good luck man, happy holidays.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter1-1.html

This past October, I bought one of my brothers a starter kit and shot him a text every few days to see how things were going. When he told me that he had his bucket fermenting in his closet, I asked him if this was a closet that contained clothing and if he had every heard of anyone mopping their ceiling. He did a quick video search on google for “beer fermentation explosion” and promptly moved it to his porch.

I tend to ferment on the cooler end of the recommended range, always use a 6.5-gallon bucket for a 5-gallon batch, and get really nervous if I’m running low on Fermcap-S (I love that stuff). I have had some pretty active fermentation, especially with large starters, but have yet to blow a simple airlock.

Definitely don’t get frustrated. Eventually, every dumb thing I’ve done while homebrewing has been something I could look back at and laugh about. If things like that didn’t happen, you wouldn’t have the funny stories to share while drinking.