Brewed up an IPA last night. Woke up this morning to a blown airlock and krausen coming out. Is it safe to use a sanitized spoon to scoop some of the foam out of the primary fermenter, or just let it go? Wasn't sure if this would go in the beginners section or not. Just starting out brewing. Any help would be appreciated. Brewing a 5 gal batch in a 6.5 gal bucket.
Over fermenting
- Thread starter Reepo
- Start date
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I wouldn't scoop out any of the krausen. You could:
1) clean and sanitize your airlock and put it back on
2) lay the lid loosely on the bucket, so that CO2 and krausen can escape if necessary
3) put the fermenter inside some other waterproof container, like a rubbermaid bin, so you don't have to worry about the clean up if the krausen comes pouring out of the bucket
4) when the danger passes, push the lid back down tight
You might do a quick search for 'blow off tube' - basically you replace your airlock with a long piece of tubing that goes from the fermenter to a large container full of water, it works as an airlock, but if you get overflowing krausen, it just goes out the tube into the container, rather than stopping up your airlock and exploding your bucket lid. I didn't think blow off tubes were usually needed on buckets (with lots of headroom), but those of us who use carboys use them often (I use it on every brew).
1) clean and sanitize your airlock and put it back on
2) lay the lid loosely on the bucket, so that CO2 and krausen can escape if necessary
3) put the fermenter inside some other waterproof container, like a rubbermaid bin, so you don't have to worry about the clean up if the krausen comes pouring out of the bucket
4) when the danger passes, push the lid back down tight
You might do a quick search for 'blow off tube' - basically you replace your airlock with a long piece of tubing that goes from the fermenter to a large container full of water, it works as an airlock, but if you get overflowing krausen, it just goes out the tube into the container, rather than stopping up your airlock and exploding your bucket lid. I didn't think blow off tubes were usually needed on buckets (with lots of headroom), but those of us who use carboys use them often (I use it on every brew).
Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to look into the blowoff tube today. I definitely don't want to ruin a batch of beer, let alone an IPA. My last batch didn't ferment this violently, so I didn't know what direction to take. Thanks again.
Unlikely it'll be infected, just clean it up and put a clean sanitized airlock or blowoff on it. I only use blowoffs for primary now.
ChshreCat
Well-Known Member
One thing to look at is temperature control. If things get too warm then fermentation can get even more vigorous than usual.
I brewed a Belgian beer recently that did the same thing. Just clean your airlock and put a blow off tube on it.A piece of tubing attached to your airlock in a jug/jar of sanitized solution will remedy the problem. The krausen is a protective blanket for your beer. Many brewers ferment their beer with a open/semi open container for the first 3 to 4 days of fermenting.You should be ok.......
