Saturday, I brewed a Belgian Blond (OG 1.066) with a 1.5 L starter of Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes pitched 20hrs after making up starter. Batch size was 5.25g.
Fermented at 64* in a 6g Better Bottle. Did not use a blowoff, although typically I would have, because I was using Fermcap (1st batch using the stuff). Fermentation was noticeable (quarter inch krausen of small, delicate bubbles) after 6 hrs. At that time I added 10 drops of Fermcap-s. After 8 hours the krausen was about an inch high. I added an additional 6 drops of Fermcap as I was worried about a blowoff.
Sunday morning I woke to krausen in the airlock. I quickly rigged up a blow-off tube and added an additional 10 drops of Fermcap, which knocked down the krausen pretty well. Sunday afternoon, the krausen had risen again and the beer was blowing off foam. At that point I added about 20 drops of Fermcap, which again knocked down the krausen. Sunday night, yep you guessed it, the beer was blowing off again. At this point I said "F*ck it" and let it blow off foam.
By Monday night, the krausen had finally fallen some on its own. In total I lost about a quart of beer.
My question is am I just expecting too much from Fermcap? I bought it to prevent losing beer (and the other goodies that effect bitterness and head retention) from blow-off when fermenting in my BB. Have others experienced similiar results when using Fermcap in a 6g BB?
I noticed that this yeast doesn't churn as much as other yeasts I've used. Could it be possible that the Fermcap just settled into the trub and was therefore ineffective?
FYI, yes I shook the Fermcap before I added it and yes, it was refrigerated.
Fermented at 64* in a 6g Better Bottle. Did not use a blowoff, although typically I would have, because I was using Fermcap (1st batch using the stuff). Fermentation was noticeable (quarter inch krausen of small, delicate bubbles) after 6 hrs. At that time I added 10 drops of Fermcap-s. After 8 hours the krausen was about an inch high. I added an additional 6 drops of Fermcap as I was worried about a blowoff.
Sunday morning I woke to krausen in the airlock. I quickly rigged up a blow-off tube and added an additional 10 drops of Fermcap, which knocked down the krausen pretty well. Sunday afternoon, the krausen had risen again and the beer was blowing off foam. At that point I added about 20 drops of Fermcap, which again knocked down the krausen. Sunday night, yep you guessed it, the beer was blowing off again. At this point I said "F*ck it" and let it blow off foam.
By Monday night, the krausen had finally fallen some on its own. In total I lost about a quart of beer.
My question is am I just expecting too much from Fermcap? I bought it to prevent losing beer (and the other goodies that effect bitterness and head retention) from blow-off when fermenting in my BB. Have others experienced similiar results when using Fermcap in a 6g BB?
I noticed that this yeast doesn't churn as much as other yeasts I've used. Could it be possible that the Fermcap just settled into the trub and was therefore ineffective?
FYI, yes I shook the Fermcap before I added it and yes, it was refrigerated.