Wyeast 1010 and beer loss

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Tonedef131

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I often have beers get a little worked up and need a bit of a blowoff tube, especially wheats. However, I used Wyeast 1010 straight out of the smack pack on an American wheat and it blew the lid off of the fermenter with a blowoff tube hooked up. It probably blew off for 12-24 hours and there was a great deal of beer lost because of such a long blow off period. I had never seen anything like this but since the beer turned out so good I didn't really think anything of it.

I saved this yeast for about 2 months and made a starter of it a couple of days ago, then brewed a raspberry wheat yesterday. When I woke up this morning it had blown right out of the top of my 1 gallon catch vessel. I had to empty this three more times before I went to work and then I stuck it in a 5 gallon bottle to keep it from running all over the floor. At lunch that was half full and it is still coming fast, I have probably lost a gallon of beer at this point.

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Too late to do anything for this batch, but has anyone else experienced anything like this using 1010? I know it is the yeast, because both times I have used it I have made ten gallon batches and the other 5 gal got either WLP380 or WLP300 and they stayed under control. I really like the way this yeast performs other than this one aspect of it, would the White Labs American Wheat (320?) give me the same flavor without all the beer loss?
 
I recently used 1010 for a couple brews and I added a few drops of Foam Control. The kreusen only got to be a few inches thick.
 
I thought someone might say that. Have you drank any of the beer yet? I have a hard time believing that doesn't effect the head retention somewhat, but I really hope I am wrong.
 
I thought someone might say that. Have you drank any of the beer yet? I have a hard time believing that doesn't effect the head retention somewhat, but I really hope I am wrong.

It doesn't, at all. I've used it on my last seven batches, four of which I've sampled and don't have any head retention issues. Many others have experienced the same.
 
So do you add it to the boil and the fermenter or is it enough just to add it to the boil and it transfers to the fermenter?
 
I see that you have stairs in your house...

But yeah Wyeast 1010 is a really strong fermenter. I had my first blowoff with about 5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon carboy. Next time I'll use foam control or a blowoff tube.
 
I see that you have stairs in your house...
Oh I'm safe alright, good to have friends around these parts.

I am going to look around for a yeast that will not be quite so violent, but if I do come back to this one I will certainly be using foam control. It's fast at least, I just talked to my wife and she said it stopped spitting foam out, so it only blew off for about 12 hours.
 
use a 7.5gallon bucket, that way you have more headspace. I have 1010 in the primary right now, and no problem blowing off with the 2.5gallon headspace.
 
I'll add a heads up on White Labs Burton Ale yeast... it is delicious smelling, and I've read rave reviews of its characteristics it imparts into any English ale... but DAYAMN is it vigorous! It climbed through the airlock and sprayed my cabinet, using a 7.5 gal Ale Pail with 5.0 gal of wort in it. (I finally collected the right amount that day.)

I was shocked, I'd never thought that a non-hefe non-wheat ale yeast would go THAT gonzo.

It's now my favorite. :)
 
I pitched some 1010 yesterday after using FermCap-S in the boil, none in the fermenter. I pitched the 1010 right from the smack pack into about 6 gallons of wort, 1.042, at about 80 degrees. I didn't intend to pitch at that temperature, but bla bla, it turned out that way.
Anyway, within 5 hours, I had to install a blow off tube, and it's been vigorous for 24 hours. It's stopped blowing out the top, but it's still rolling very fast. One thing I've noticed about the yeast is the sulfur smell. The only time I've really smelled this much sulfur is from a lager that cooped up in a fridge. Anyone noticed this?
 
Oh yeah I get tons of sulfur from 1010. It lasts about 2 days usually beginning on the second day on fermentation.
 
My first experience with 1010 is the same as everyone else here. I pitched a starter (200-300 billion cells) into 23 L wort in 30 L pail and needed to install a blow-off tube about 20 hrs into the fermentation. Next morning I put the regular bung back in. Strong sulfur smell too. It's good to know this is normal for this yeast.
 
Read your guys' posts about this active yeast and got a little nervous with my hef. Based on the collective experience I went ahead and set the fermentation up at 65 degrees in my 6gal fermenter (5gal wort). Only had about 12-16oz of blow off. Maybe this one just needs a little more temperature control to keep things at a good rate.

Cheers! :mug:

8/30 update: Haven't noticed any sulfur smell yet (today is day 3). I would notice because the beer is contained in a version of the "Son of Fermentation".
 
I've used it once, and it was a vigorous one. I didn't notice any sulfur, but I got really high attenuation..final gravity was 1.004.
 
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