major bubbling starting to get out of control

I have a sugestion but it is just a guess others may have a better idea. pull the stopper and clean the airlock take a turkey baster and pull out a couple of inches of must restopper and check again in an hour or so might fix the problim might not but the best Idea I can think of and it has worked for me

A standard approach here is to attach a blow-off tube.

You take a plastic tube about 2 to 2 1/2 inches long, and the diameter of the hole in your drilled cork or stopper, push it through, and then attach a length of vinyl or poly tubing to this. Stick the other end into a bottle with water or sanitizer (preferred). The overflow during this initial vigorous part of the fermentation will run up the tube and into the bottle, yet nothing will go back into the fermenter. When things quiet down, you put the airlock back on.

You can saw a small piece off your racking cane for the initial piece of plastic tube, or take the bottom part of an airlock off the same way. Smooth out the rough edges with fine sandpaper, and sanitize like you would with any other piece of equipment.

Finally, hold on to this plastic tube piece, because you'll need it again. A blow-off situation doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, you'll be glad to have the right equipment.

-David

M.T. That's a perfectly reasonable suggestion.

It also sounds to me like your airlock is not seated completely and sealed if there is activity in the carboy but there is only minimal popping in the airlock.

Take the airlock off, cover the top of the bottle with a sanitized cloth and clean the airlock fanatically. Then when you reseat the airlock you can make sure it is sealed tightly. You may also want to just leave the top covered with the sanitized cloth for a couple of days, and then set the airlock once the radical activity has subsided.

Hope that helps,

Oskaar

Bubbles and foam inside the glass vessel, or even residue, are not a problem since they were created by hopefully sterilized ingredients and would be a natural part of the fermentation if they hadn't bubbled up. Even the crud inside the trap is not a problem if you could be certain it wouldn't backwash into the must. But on a practical note, you will want to clean out the trap while the gunk in it is still soft and will mostly rinse out with hot water in the sink. So I'd clean out the trap every time it blows even though it isn't absolutely necessary...