Some problems...

So, brewed my first batch last night, put it in the fermentor at about 6pm. By midnight or so a nice head/krausen (I say this since it just looked like foam, I thought the krausen looked more puke-like, heh). I wake up this morning and the about 4-5 inches of room in the top of the carboy is completely full of foam/krausen, and has pushed up through the airlock, popped the lid off and has kindda spewed itself all over.

I was too excited to get the wort into the fermentor, I didn't think to take an OG reading. I do intend on taking SG readings toward the end to prevent the bottle bombs. My fermentor is sitting in a cooler full of water. The water's temperature was/is 70-75F. This is a little warmer than it should be, I know, but didn't think it was a problem. Is it?

I discovered this as I was about to leave for work this morning so I didn't have much time to do anything, and had to leave it there until I can maybe swing by at lunchtime. While looking at it I see that the yeast are certainly doing thier gig (as in it's still bubbling fairly consistantly). I was thinking at this point the best thing I can do is let the fermentation run it's course until it calms down some. At that point, remove the airlock, re-sanitize, refill and put it back on for the duration of the 4 weeks, and hope for no infection.

Also, what (if any) signs should I look out for to indicate infection?

What would have caused this? Is it indicative of something I did wrong, or is it just normal? What's the next step?

Edit: Oh, also, this is the Cinncinati Pale Ale recipe from John Palmer's online guide/book.

Your beer will be fine....Don't worry about infections...It is really hard to ruin beer...

People have had all matter of things fall into beer, including unsantitized body parts and their beer has turned out fine.

Blow offs are common. That happens to all of us on occasion... One thing to do is to add a blowoff tube.

If you are fermenting in the bucket, you can do this.

You do a modified 3 piece airlock blowoff tube with what you have already. If you are using a 3 piece airlock...Do this.



You have to find a piece of long hose that will fit in the center pipe of your airlock...I had to do it in a pinch and found the the hose I had for my bottling wand almost fit....I put a small slit in it, then I soaked it in hot water for a few minutes to Soften and slid it around the tube...

I also found it is a good idea to cut, saw or break off the little criss crossing piece of plastic at the bottom of the airlock. It works great!

Either way just clean up and sanitize the airlock and the area around it.

It's happened to all of us, no need to worry about infection. Your beer will be fine!

DuffmanAK said:

I wake up this morning and the about 4-5 inches of room in the top of the carboy is completely full of foam/krausen, and has pushed up through the airlock, popped the lid off and has kindda spewed itself all over.

Click to expand...

As an alternative to a blow-off tube (which can be annoying to clean if Kräusen dries inside of it), you can buy foam control agents like Fermcap-S or Five-Star Chemical's Kettle Defoamer that will prevent the Kräusen from building up more than an inch or so inside the fermenter.

Ok, so like I was planning on, would it be fine to leave it as it is all day (or half the day)?

I could probably go home at lunch (in about 4 hours) to do this if it's a big deal, if not, I'd prefer to wait til this evening.

Thoughts?

Nothing is going to happen to it. If it keeps going it will just make a mess, it won't hurt the beer at all right now.

Alrighty, good to know.

I'm not so concerned about a mess right now, the carboy is sitting in a cooler full of water, so that should catch all the mess.

Is there anything I can do righ tnow to reduce the amount of foam/krausen in the carboy, or just let it settle on it's own?

DuffmanAK said:

Alrighty, good to know.

I'm not so concerned about a mess right now, the carboy is sitting in a cooler full of water, so that should catch all the mess.

Is there anything I can do righ tnow to reduce the amount of foam/krausen in the carboy, or just let it settle on it's own?

Click to expand...

just let it settle...