Hey all,
Just brewed by first California Common yesterday afternoon and pitched a 2L starter of WLP810 into a 6.5 gallon carboy with my 5 gallon batch. I used one of those orange carboy hoods for the first time, with a blowoff tube into a container of sanitizer. Wow. I've never had an active fermentation like this. By the next morning, the krausen had completely filled the headspace, the blowoff tube was full of stuff, the sanitizer was bubbling away, and there was plenty of blowoff that had worked it's way underneath the orange hood and dripped down the outside of the carboy. My first inclination was to just spray sanitizer all around the orange hood (which I did) and clean up the outside of the carboy (which I didn't). But I'm still nervous about all that dried wort/krausen around the rim of the carboy and hood. I'm tempted to clean it off...
Should I bother? After a couple days more of fermentation, I think I'll pull the blowoff tube in favor of an airlock. At that time, it seems ideal to clean around the rim of the carboy to ensure a tight seal with the bung or hood, and to remove as much of the bacteria-harboring residue as possible. Does this seem like a good idea and, if so, how should I clean an active fermenter? I thought I'd soak a lint-free cloth in Star-San and just wipe and clean. Any advice?
Thanks so much for your time and attention!
Just brewed by first California Common yesterday afternoon and pitched a 2L starter of WLP810 into a 6.5 gallon carboy with my 5 gallon batch. I used one of those orange carboy hoods for the first time, with a blowoff tube into a container of sanitizer. Wow. I've never had an active fermentation like this. By the next morning, the krausen had completely filled the headspace, the blowoff tube was full of stuff, the sanitizer was bubbling away, and there was plenty of blowoff that had worked it's way underneath the orange hood and dripped down the outside of the carboy. My first inclination was to just spray sanitizer all around the orange hood (which I did) and clean up the outside of the carboy (which I didn't). But I'm still nervous about all that dried wort/krausen around the rim of the carboy and hood. I'm tempted to clean it off...
Should I bother? After a couple days more of fermentation, I think I'll pull the blowoff tube in favor of an airlock. At that time, it seems ideal to clean around the rim of the carboy to ensure a tight seal with the bung or hood, and to remove as much of the bacteria-harboring residue as possible. Does this seem like a good idea and, if so, how should I clean an active fermenter? I thought I'd soak a lint-free cloth in Star-San and just wipe and clean. Any advice?
Thanks so much for your time and attention!
