I have brewed a few higher gravity beers now. I only have a 2,000L flask. So, I sometimes have to step them up another time. On the second starter they foam over and blow off the sponge. It looks like I'm losing a decent amount of yeast here. Now I don't know if I really grew my intended amount of yeast. I usually do starters of about 1500L for this flask each time. Am I doing something wrong or do I just need to invest in a bigger flask?
Yeast starter blow off
- Thread starter jimhall01
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badhabit
Well-Known Member
The Erlenmeyer will do this a lot if fluid level is anywhere close to the top. If I need to step up 2x I decant the spent wort, retaining the yeast and add new wort so that my fluid level stays below 1200ml, but even then you have to watch it.
Seven
Well-Known Member
Are you using a stir plate? The the vortex created by the stir plate will usually keep the krausen in check. If you are using a stir plate then I'd say to invest in a larger flask and/or try using fermcap to control the foaming.
Sulli
Well-Known Member
xdfireguy
Active Member
Had my first blow off... maybe I should start using fermcap in my starters. Left this morning with a little trickle coming out from under the foil. 4 hours later:
It took the foil cap right off the top! That's 1600ml of 001 ~20 hours in.
It took the foil cap right off the top! That's 1600ml of 001 ~20 hours in.
LandoLincoln
Well-Known Member
I usually get a significant blowoff with all of my starters. I really don't worry about it. I put a piece of wax paper on top of the stir plate and put the stir plate in a plastic tray to catch everything.
genius. woke up today with blowoff crud all over my stir plate. fermcap next time and wax paper. noted
(resurrect a zombie)
I made a 2L starter last night, and this morning (8 hours later) I noticed the stir bar got thrown (I had it on high).
I recentered the stir bar and started up the stir plate.
WHOOOOSH
I lost almost a third of my starter as an insane amount of foam came out. After I cleaned it up, it calmed down and was fine.
Lesson learned - there can be A LOT of dissolved CO2, so next time you have a thrown stir bar, swish it around a little, make sure the dissolved CO2 is out before restarting the stir plate.
I made a 2L starter last night, and this morning (8 hours later) I noticed the stir bar got thrown (I had it on high).
I recentered the stir bar and started up the stir plate.
WHOOOOSH
I lost almost a third of my starter as an insane amount of foam came out. After I cleaned it up, it calmed down and was fine.
Lesson learned - there can be A LOT of dissolved CO2, so next time you have a thrown stir bar, swish it around a little, make sure the dissolved CO2 is out before restarting the stir plate.
Teewinot
Active Member
(re-resurrect a head shot zombie)
I thought I had read and watched all the videos there were for yeast starters, and I swear, I hadn't been clued in to blow off! I did a 1400ml starter in a 2000ml flask with a stirplate last night. This morning at 5:00am, I come down to check on my baby, and Doh! the foam stopper was off and foam was very slowing rising up an out. Not a really big mess, so maybe it had only recently happened?
I used sanitizer from a spray bottle to knock off the exposed foam on top, and rinse the outside of the flask. Then I rinsed the foam stopper in clean water, squeezed it out, and re-sanitized it in a sanitizer bath for a couple of minutes. Then I simply put the stopper back in.
After re-starting the stir plate, the foam immediately began to climb again, so I backed off on the speed until the rising stopped. It is being stirred, but there is no vortex, which brings me to my real question. Does it really need to have a vortex, or is a healthy stirring enough?
One more question. Since I don't really know how long the stopper was out, but the foam was still climbing out, indicating a decent outflow, do I need to be overly concerned that it was uncovered?
Thanks for any insight, and thanks for this great forum!
I thought I had read and watched all the videos there were for yeast starters, and I swear, I hadn't been clued in to blow off! I did a 1400ml starter in a 2000ml flask with a stirplate last night. This morning at 5:00am, I come down to check on my baby, and Doh! the foam stopper was off and foam was very slowing rising up an out. Not a really big mess, so maybe it had only recently happened?
I used sanitizer from a spray bottle to knock off the exposed foam on top, and rinse the outside of the flask. Then I rinsed the foam stopper in clean water, squeezed it out, and re-sanitized it in a sanitizer bath for a couple of minutes. Then I simply put the stopper back in.
After re-starting the stir plate, the foam immediately began to climb again, so I backed off on the speed until the rising stopped. It is being stirred, but there is no vortex, which brings me to my real question. Does it really need to have a vortex, or is a healthy stirring enough?
One more question. Since I don't really know how long the stopper was out, but the foam was still climbing out, indicating a decent outflow, do I need to be overly concerned that it was uncovered?
Thanks for any insight, and thanks for this great forum!
