Teacher

Recipes 

Yesterday I made my Northland IIPA recipe for the first time. Blender was kind enough to chime in with some very welcomed feedback (thanks, Blender!). One thing he mentioned was yeast: since I had such a dense brew, he suggested I use two packets of yeast. Well, I used s-04, and I only had one packet on hand, so I decided to make a starter. I know this isn't usually done with dry yeast, but it only sat for about 2.5 hours (while I was brewing the beer), and there wasn't much activity in it...I just thought I'd get it going. By 11:00 last night, it was bubbling, but it wasn't bubbling as quickly as my last batch, so I thought things were good.

This morning I got up and the lid had blown. I have one of the "Ale Pails" with an airlock (not a blow-off tube), and so naturally the lock got clogged and KABOOM. I quickly washed and resanitized the lid and lock, plus sanitized a spoon, scooped off the extra foam (but not all of it), and replaced the lid. It's bubbling again.

By the way, it's in my basement directly on the cool concrete floor. The basement's air temperature is 65F. Despite this, the bucket's LCD thermometer reads 77F. I pitched when it was 72F. Wow.

So I guess I have two questions: (1.) Should I remove all -- or almost all -- of the foam? (2.) Should I take further steps to cool the bucket?

Blender

Recipes 

Teacher....you had quite a bit of fermentables in your recipe. You need a blow off tube setup.

You have a lot of heat from fermentation going on at the onset. I would try to cool it down a bit until it settles down.

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Gary

Teacher

Recipes 

You're right, but I don't have a blowoff tube (stupid oversight). It's still going hard, so I simply removed the air lock...I don't think too much oxygen is getting in there right now! I also put it in an ice bath to cool things down. We'll see how it goes from here on out.

Yooper

Recipes 

You can rig a blow off tube with your siphon tubing if you want. You can just jam it into the hole where the airlock goes- it fits. I'd recommend doing this if you possibly can.

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

Teacher

Recipes 

Actually, the temp has already fallen to 73 and the fierce activity has stopped. I replaced the air lock and watched it for about 30 seconds...nothing. I have to say, this is one unpredictable hobby. Anyway, I'm going to be working in my basement today, so I'll keep a close eye on it.

Teacher

Recipes 

It's all good. I got it down just below 70 degrees, and the brew isn't foaming any more, so the air lock is working away.