how much blowoff loss is normal?

Hi, first post here. I've been brewing mead for about a year now and am starting into beer via making a braggot first. Anyway, I made up a 3 gallon batch, started off in a bucket and the next morning I noticed a good 1/2" of sediment on the bottom (trub?). So after about 18 hours, when the yeast seemed fully active, I racked it into a 3 gal carboy and rigged up a blowoff tube.

That was about 12 hours ago and it's already blown off about a quart of liquid. Had to swap out the first jar (pint sized) because it overflowed within 2 hours. Is this normal? Coming from a mead background this is just some crazy fermentation.

Doing a search comes up with Fermcap, how much would this help?


This seems like a nice forum, hope to do an actual beer sometime in the near future (accidentally prepaid for 50 pounds of grain last time I went to the brew shop, that'll teach me to pay attention).

The stuff at the bottom is hops, break material and yeast.

It's not a good Idea to rack before it's done fermenting.

I generally don't have any blow off. It's about having enough head space for a particular brew. Higher OG and higher pitching rates have a lot to do with it.

I'm thinking your carboy or whatever is too small? I have a blow off every 6 or 7 batches and the amount is too small to worry about.

Also - once I pitch the yeast I would never touch the wort until finished.

I make 5 gallon batches in a 6.5 gallon carboy and I typically have 2-4 inches of krausen.

Welcome to HBT, coax!

I've made lots of batches in a 5-gallon carboy - (don't have a 6.5) and I usually lose beer. It's okay. I drink what I get and make more.

Yes, in a smaller fermentation chamber you will probably get a good bit of blow-off - I use an old 8-qt pot filled with water for my blow-off tube, because I never know how much will go. After 3-4 days, I switch over to an airlock. But don't rack in the middle of fermentation, leave it be for a few weeks. While many don't rack to a secondary at all, you can, but should wait at least two weeks before doing so.

Hotter temps make for faster, more vigorous ferments, too. keep your temps under control to reduce blow-off.

Fermcap is awesome during the boil, but I've never used it in the fermenter.

Yeah, I know racking that early isn't the best thing, but the amount of sediment freaked me out. When I checked it this morning, the carboy seems to have finally settled down, only a little foam left; though there's quite a mess around the blowoff container. I left more head space than I normally do, but then again as I said I'm used to making mead, which is rather inactive.

Anyway, live and learn, have ingredients to make an identical second batch, just need to refine my technique.