Krausen in airlock; switched to blow-off tube

RnQBrew · 03-02-2011, 01:31 PM

Last weekend I started 2 new batches, an IPA on friday night, and a wheat on saturday morning

Both are fermenting in better bottle carboys.
On Sunday when I checked on them, the IPA had krausen in the airlock- so I took the rubber stopper out, cleaned it and the airlock, sanitized them, and put them back on. 5 minutes later and the airlock was full of krausen AGAIN!

So this time I took the stopper out, cleaned and sanitized, and attached my siphoning tube (which I also cleaned and sanitized) to the airlock and submerged the other end in a bucket of water for a blow-off tube.

a day later, the IPA had slowed down, but now my wheat's airlock was full of krausen!!! So I switched them: took off both rubber stoppers, cleaned and sanitized EVERYTHING, put the airlock back on to the IPA, and the blow-off onto the wheat.

2 days later, the IPA's airlock is filled with krausen AGAIN. so I cleaned and sanitized the stopper and airlock, AGAIN, and cut the blow-off tube in half, sanitized it, and attached it to the IPA's airlock to create a blow-off for that one.

Now both of my carboys have blow-off tubes running into the same bucket of water.

Adventures in brewing I guess. I think from now on I'm just going to use a blow-off tube right from the start.

With all the removing of, cleaning of, and replacing of the stoppers, is there much chance that any nasties could've gotten into my carboys? I did all the procedures as quickly and efficiently as possible... didn't really know what else to do under the circumstances.

**MalFet** · 03-02-2011, 01:42 PM

It is relatively unlikely that any other organism would have been able to get hold during such active fermentation. It's a common thing to have happen; a blow-off to start or fermcap-s are both effective solutions.

**JLW** · 03-02-2011, 01:42 PM

I would agree, start with the blow-off tube. Then I usually switch to an airlock at transfer... if I transfer.

RnQBrew · 03-02-2011, 01:59 PM

Definitely will be starting with the blow-off from now on. It's good to be re-assured that nothing probably made it's way in there, tho!

I will tell you it was a pretty hectic process when I first put the airlock onto the IPA:
1) See that krausen is bubbling into airlock

2) Wash, sanitize, re-attach airlock.

3) Quickly inspect wheat beer, turn around and IPA airlock is full of krausen again

4) Wash, sanitize, and attach blow-off

5) Start filling up bucket of water for blow-off tube
6) Krausen starts heading down blow-off tube, and ultimately onto carpet

7) Mad dash to get bucket of water over to blow-off tube before it makes a huge mess on the carpet!

**Golddiggie** · 03-02-2011, 02:12 PM

I put sanitizer solution in the blow-off bucket... It's what I was advised to use early on, when I used them for my batches of mead. I've continued with the same solution when using blow-off tubes for my brews.

I used fermcap-s for the first time this past weekend... So far, it's working great to keep everything in primary. I bet that if I had not used it, I would have had to install a blow-off tube on the corny keg I'm fermenting in.

Instead, the airlock is burping happily, although it's already slowing down. Yesterday it was going about a couple of movements every second. Now, it's down to one every couple of seconds. Still, will let this ride for 2+ weeks before even checking on it. With an OG of 1.065, I suspect it will go for about 3 weeks on the yeast...

**JLW** · 03-02-2011, 05:00 PM

Back in january I brewed a black IIPA and for some reason didn't hook up a blow-off tube. I brewed on Sunday afternoon, went to work on Monday. I came home from work to find the lid to my primary bucket popped off. Fortunately I had wrapped a towel around the bucket and the lid to contain the mess. I popped it back on and flipped on the TV. About 5 minutes later I started hearing this hiss and then POW. It sounded like a gunshot outside. Turned out to be the lid blowing back off. That's when I knew it just made good sense to go with a blow off everytime!

**Golddiggie** · 03-02-2011, 05:13 PM

@JLW... WOW... I've not had anything that violent so far... I did have one make a foam sculpture in the airlock. At ~6 hours after pitching the yeast I heard hissing from the kitchen (doubles as the brewery)... Went in to find the airlock filled with foam. Pulled the bung and airlock out, and installed a blow-off tube. That was the first time I used a blow-off tube for a beer (had used them for my mead batches already)... The batches after that, if I wasn't sure how the yeast was going to behave, I installed blow-off tubes for the first 5-7 days of fermentation. Once things settled down, I would change over to an airlock. I do that so that I can use the blow-off tube in the next brew...

Last time I used a blow-off tube, it got really cruddy inside it... So, I finally tossed that section of tube out (it's so cheap there's no reason to save it if you can't get it clean). Just cut a new piece to use with the hard lemonade I have fermenting.

Not sure when that will have settled down enough to switch over to an airlock. Hopefully within another week or so...

It's going to be at least 12% ABV there...

**ASantiago** · 03-02-2011, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golddiggie

I used fermcap-s for the first time this past weekend...

I've never used fermcap-s. Does it affect head retention? How does it work?

Regarding blow-off tubes, I *always* use one and replace it with a regular airlock once fermentation dies down. It's better to be safe than sorry.

**Golddiggie** · 03-02-2011, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ASantiago

I've never used fermcap-s. Does it affect head retention? How does it work?

Regarding blow-off tubes, I *always* use one and replace it with a regular airlock once fermentation dies down. It's better to be safe than sorry.

I won't know until this batch has finished... Since it's only been a few days, it will be another 5-6 weeks before I sample one. I suspect that head retention, and formation, will be just fine. Otherwise, I don't think people would use it at all. We did use some carafoam in the brew, so that should help with head formation/retention...

**MalFet** · 03-02-2011, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ASantiago

I've never used fermcap-s. Does it affect head retention? How does it work?

it is a food grade silicon emulsion that prevents foam from latticing up your fermentor. When the CO2 agitation brought on by active fermentation cuts out, the silicon drops out of suspension and lands in your trub. It does not interfere with head formation (different mechanism completely), and I have even heard speculation that it might help (because it doesn't allow as much head forming protein to foam up in the first place). I have no real evidence to back that last bit, but generally it's good stuff in my experience. Cheap, easy, and no problems.