subzero829

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Made my second batch of beer Sunday and my roommate just got home from work and sent me this picture. We did have a mistake and watered our beer down too much and had a lower OG than anticipated but I'm sure that's not it.

What did I do wrong and is there any hope of savior?

remandsager

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Looks like happy beer in desperate need of a blow off tube!

Nothing 'wrong' but your airlock can't handle the large amount of kruesen.

subzero829

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So what do I do? I work from 7 to 7 so I can't make it to my local homebrew store to get a blow off tube and I don't want it to keep spilling...... How do I get the Kruessen out without risking infection.

BigFloyd

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WildGingerBrewing

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You dont get the krausen out. Its good stuff. I assume you have some sort of tube (auto siphon maybe?). Attach it to your bung or airlock and run it into a bucket of water. Let the beer do its thing. This looks like an awesome fermentation. Nothing wrong that i can see!

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BigFloyd

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If you can snag a 4 ft piece of 1/2" clear vinyl tubing somewhere (like Lowe's) this late in the evening (even if it's not food grade), get it, sanitize it, remove/clean/sanitize that airlock and then rig it up with the other end in a bucket of Star-San.

subzero829

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BigFloyd its an American Pale Ale and I am fermenting it at 66 degrees

WildGinger
Yes I have an autosyphon, but my airlock is a one piece airlock that has a lid on top wont opening that run the risk of infection in the beer?

Roadliner

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not to steal the thread on purpose... But is there a way to control Krausen? I just put a beer in the fermentor last night and it is blowing off like nothing I have ever seen.. I used a blowoff tube to start cause I always do, but I've already lost 3/4 gallons! and it hasn't even been 24 hrs. Doesn't look like it's slowing down either.. there is a steady flow of foam going through the tube.

GrogNerd

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our job as brewers is to make yeast happy and krausen is the magical little critters' way of letting you know that you're doing your job.

would suggest not doing anything, at least for this batch. let it run its course.

then, for next time, you'll probably need a bigger fermenter. or a smaller amount going into your current one.

a three-piece airlock works good for blow off. just use the bigger piece and, like Big Floyd says, stick that 1/2" tube inside on the part sticking up and krausen can escape that way.

only ways to avoid having to use a blow off tube is a bigger fermenter or smaller volumes.

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"It's all beer, it's all good." - Words of House Grog
"I'm only happy when I'm suffocating yeast" - Rob Grog
"Homer no function beer well without" - Homer Simpson

drinking: Sweetpea's Mock Maibock, BigHair Belgian Pale Ale, O'Rob's Irish Red, Rob's 50th SMaSH ESB, Feet & Ass Mild - bottle conditioning: CLB's Red Barley Wine - primary: DB 8 Point IPA Clone - on deck: Belgian Pale Ale

Roadliner

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This works great for a blow off, but I do put some iodophor in my water to sanitize it.. just a precaution I guess.