ianhoopes
Active Member
Hey all,
My first IPA went apes*** this morning and clogged my airlock/bubbler. It's been percolating like crazy for the past day or so, but never seemed like it had any chance of reaching the top - it has almost 4 inches of headspace.
Anyway, I got out of the shower this morning and stepped into my office (I have an apartment and not a lot of places to stow a fermenter, so I put it under my desk which is dark and cool), and hear a whining noise. At first I was like, "Is my wife making tea? We don't have a whistling kettle. WHAT IS GOING ON?" and then I realized it was my ale pail getting angry!
I had about two inches of beer in the airlock and a bit of kraeusen stuck to the bottom of it. I took it out, washed it clean, sanitized it with plenty of StarSan, and also soaked a paper towel in StarSan to clean around the stopper. I made sure to clear the stopper of any kraeusen to prevent further clogging, and gave the entire area a good wipe down with StarSan. Lastly, I cracked the lid on the fermenter for a good couple of minutes to let the beer chill out. I then locked down the lid, replaced the airlock and let it be. It started bubbling again within a few minutes.
My question is this: I am relatively sure everything is OK, but did I do everything right? Do I have to fear contamination? I did not thing I had enough malt in this thing to cause such an insanely vigorous fermentation, but I suppose I got a live batch of WLP-051 that loves living in a hoppy environment.
Let me know what you all think! I am excited for this beer to be moving like this - it's a single hop Citra IPA with 4 oz in the boil. I'm planning to dry hop with 4 more oz and I can't wait to try this thing! Hope all will be well.
My first IPA went apes*** this morning and clogged my airlock/bubbler. It's been percolating like crazy for the past day or so, but never seemed like it had any chance of reaching the top - it has almost 4 inches of headspace.
Anyway, I got out of the shower this morning and stepped into my office (I have an apartment and not a lot of places to stow a fermenter, so I put it under my desk which is dark and cool), and hear a whining noise. At first I was like, "Is my wife making tea? We don't have a whistling kettle. WHAT IS GOING ON?" and then I realized it was my ale pail getting angry!
I had about two inches of beer in the airlock and a bit of kraeusen stuck to the bottom of it. I took it out, washed it clean, sanitized it with plenty of StarSan, and also soaked a paper towel in StarSan to clean around the stopper. I made sure to clear the stopper of any kraeusen to prevent further clogging, and gave the entire area a good wipe down with StarSan. Lastly, I cracked the lid on the fermenter for a good couple of minutes to let the beer chill out. I then locked down the lid, replaced the airlock and let it be. It started bubbling again within a few minutes.
My question is this: I am relatively sure everything is OK, but did I do everything right? Do I have to fear contamination? I did not thing I had enough malt in this thing to cause such an insanely vigorous fermentation, but I suppose I got a live batch of WLP-051 that loves living in a hoppy environment.
Let me know what you all think! I am excited for this beer to be moving like this - it's a single hop Citra IPA with 4 oz in the boil. I'm planning to dry hop with 4 more oz and I can't wait to try this thing! Hope all will be well.