Not sure what i did wrong

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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?

image-2576669943.jpg
 
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.
 
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.
 
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!
 
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.

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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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.

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.

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.

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?

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.
 
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.

This works great for a blow off, but I do put some iodophor in my water to sanitize it.. just a precaution I guess.
 
I use carboys for wine and mead. For beer I use the biggest fermenter bucket I can find. My current favorite is 7 gallons, but the 6.5G works pretty good also. The bucket gives the beer plenty of room to form a proper krausen and minimizes the risk of blowoff. I've only had one blowoff. If I think a batch is going to blow I rig a blowoff tube using a 3 piece airlock with a hose to a small StarSan filled jug until the vigorous ferment is over, usually 3-4 days. Then I pull the blowoff and fit the original airlock pieces back in place for the balance of the ferment time. After 3-4 weeks I bottle, wait for carbonation and enjoy.
 
Is the "three piece airlock" really two pieces plus a rubber stopper? Haven't seen three pieces before.
 
Oh. I think I tossed the lid thinking it was more or less just packaging. Whoops. Still does the job though.
 
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.

I control krausen by not letting it get out of control. My beers start with pitching the yeast into cool wort. I try to get my wort down to about 60 degrees before adding yeast as this first part of the ferment is where most off flavors are created according to White Labs. Then I keep the fermenter in a 62 to 64 degree room for about a week. This temperature works for most yeasts but read the label to make sure your does. With the low temperature, the yeast work slowly and doesn't make that big of a krausen. My airlock usually bubbles once per second or less (when I have a good seal). At the end of the week I bring the fermenter to a warmer location to let the yeast cleanup and the beer begin to mature.
 
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