Explosion!

Sorry for the sensational headline. Rumours of an explosion at Cheshire Peaks appear to have been exaggerated. But I did avert one this week. Bit of a long story.

I have been trying to work out how to serve our Bohemian Wrenbury – a Bohemian Pilsner (lager). I wanted to be sure that a King Keg (the barrels with the black tops in the photo below) would fit in the fridge. So I took the lager out (currently in a fermenting vessel) and briefly put the King Keg full of Liberty Lightning into the fridge (yes, it fitted fine, in case you were worried). I returned both vessels to their original positions and thought nothing more of it.

The following day I popped into the garage for something, and as I left the words “mmm, nice beer smell” went through my mind (probably in a Homer voice). Huh? I went back in to see beer gradually trickling across the garage floor. The Liberty Lightning was leaking! It was dripping off the bottom of the barrel, into a drip tray, which was now overflowing and the beer was running across the floor. On closer inspection I saw that the point where the black tap joins the barrel was fizzing (see photo).

I immediately opened the top of the barrel to release the pressure, then started the tedious process of mopping up.

I can only guess that in moving the barrel I stirred up the yeast and it started fermenting again. It’s summer, so the (reasonably) warm weather must have helped keep the little yeasties busy.

I just wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t caught it as soon as I did… Never mind the explosion, imagine all that wasted beer!

This was a few days ago, and it still smells rather nice in the garage.