So I just had my carboy/krausen explode in my face. I went down to it this morning to rotate my frozen water bottles in it's little water bath, and I noticed that the airlock had gotten all gunky. Now, this was a bit of a surprise since it was a 5.5 gal. batch in a 6.5 gal carboy, there was plenty of headroom, or so I thought. This was also my third day in ferm with Wyeast 1007 in my kolsch, and I hadn't noticed a large krausen, there was one, it was just subtle compared to my 3056 hefe I did last week. So, as I said, I was surprised at it being gunky, and I went to remove it to clean it, smartly leaning directly over it because I'm an idiot, and BOOM! As I removed the stopper, krausen sprayed me from waist to head, and left a "shadow" of me on the ceiling. You can clearly see where I was standing with the outline in the krausen on the ceiling, that was kinda cool. The downer was I wasn't prepared for it at all, and took a good bit of it in the eyes. The last thing I saw as I removed the stopper was an epic explosion up to my face, and all it went in a flash. Anyone else been covered in their krausen like me, or am I the lone ranger on this one? Now that I got it all cleaned up, I think it's hilarious, but at the time I damn near crapped myself.

Have heard of many stories and guess thats why I always use a blow-off tube about an 1 inch in dia.,which I know doesnt fix what happened to you earlier....wow.

I can see where that would surprise you a bit. It never happened to me, but I will be REALLY careful next time I try to remove a gunky airlock.

How much of a the batch got ejected? Are you continuing to ferment all that was left over?

Be thankful it was krausen. I once had the same experience changing my daughter's diaper!!

They used to addvertise 1007 saying it ''Produces an extremely rocky head''. I learned the
hard way what that meant. I alway make sure I have 2 gals of head space or use a blow
off( which I hate 'cause it's one more thing to clean).
I had some blackberry wine blow up in my face once just as you discribe. I and the room were
purple, good times
Matt

Yeah, I'm planing on finishing off the ferm, there's no reason not to. After I had 'recovered' from the shock of being shot in the kisser, the carboy was just oozing over like a bottle of beer that had been shaken. After I installed a blowoff tube, I just kept an eye on it as it cleared itself out. Now it seems to be under control, which is good. I'm just glad the stopper was jammed in there gutentite, otherwise I feel like I could have either come down to a dent in the ceiling, or worse: my face! the shirt the carboy has on is all covered in gunk, but overall everything looks fine. Just a small burp in the process that was easily remedied.
Andyl- My brother in law had that exact situation with my niece, I laughed and laughed and laughed, to the point where I couldn't breathe and was crying. Karma must hate me for that, eh?
Matthew- Now I have as well, I thought rocky head was just a visual explanation. Like the krausen was like a bunch of mountains or something. I'm not too sure why I thought of that, but it's what popped into my head at the time. I, too, absolutely loathe cleaning blowoff tubes and the bucket/cup/bowl that it goes into. The tubes never seem to get their clarity back after it, I don't know why.

Edit: I forgot to mention, because it really didn't occur to me just now, but I think karma likes to screw with me. I just remembered that last night as I rotated my bottles in, one of them cracked at the cap and sprayed me directly into the eye. At the time, I just though, "oh well, a cap is broken, I guess I'll throw it out after I rotate again." Now I am starting to think karma was thinking, "see that? see what just happened? get ready for the uber-plosion tomorrow...." Then again, it could just be one large coincidence.

I think because the wort and kreuesen are somewhat acidic the tubing becomes discolored.

Another reason to primary in plastic and secondary in glass... no dangerous explosions.

Use plastic sandwitch baggies insted of stoppers and airlocks, you will only have a mess to
clean up.

I had something similar happen to me one time years ago.

Ever since then I've used a 1" blow off tube and have had zero problems.

Hey, let's stop advising the newbies on this topic so these stories keep coming . . . hilarious . . . I thought it was funny when the Party Pig pressure pouch nearly blew my face off, but the silhouette of Matovichi's body on the ceiling almost made me pee myself. That's cartoon funny!!

I liked AndyI's comment. Having had 2 boys, my wife and I have been showered a few too many times.

I had some tense moments with a gunky airlock on my bucket full of my recently bottled dubbel. That airlock fouled numerous times and like a fool I kept replacing it only to find it filled with yeast again a short time later. Fortunately, despite the multiple encounters with a bulging bucket lid I was able to avoid everything but a little blast of krausen on the wall, which was easily cleaned up. I can imagine how bad it might with a carboy though. I'll use a blowoff tube the next time I brew with Belgian yeast.