PatMac

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I've brewed a number of batches but have never had one that has gone through a fermentation process that is this vigorous...

I brewed a hefeweizen yesterday. When I woke up this morning the 3 piece airlock was bubbling like crazy. I left to help a friend move and when I returned home around 6:00 beer was up in the airlock and had spewed out of the top.

I understand this is a large krausen forming and was pushed up through the top. Luckily I had the airlock filled with water and Starsan. Should I replace the airlock water when fermentation settles down a bit more or just leave it? Any other steps that I should take to prevent infection?

demonrichie

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sanitize and refill your airlock if thats all you got but if you want some piece of mind a blow-off tube is probably more recommended

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thedude00

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+1 on sanitize and refill the airlock

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Conodor

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Don't some people use fermcaps (gas control) to ease the beer bubbling and filling the air lock?

I switched to ale pails for this reason. But have a blow tube if I have 3 batches in fermentation.

JOHN51277

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IF, the krausen has gone down, Id sanatize a airlock and put it back on. If it has not use a blow off tube and run it into a pitcher of sanatizer water. The wheat beers have a very active fermentation.

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smallbatch

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Above all, don't worry. At this stage of fermentation, things are going out and you don't have major worries about nasties coming in. If it was me, I'd just leave it be until the vigorous fermentation dies off and then clean, sanitize, and replace. Luckily you have a 3-piece so the cleaning shouldn't be too much of an issue.

GreenDog

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I've had a similar thing happen. I was brewing a wheat ale and the yeast foamed up into the airlock during fermentation and clogged it. This then blew the lid off of my fermentation bucket. I just sanitized everything again and put it back together it continued to foam up into the airlock till the end of the day. After that everything was normal and the beer tasted great.