crazy foaming over

So this is my first beer ever, and everything seems to be going fine. My only concern is that it seems like i have lost almost a 1/4 gallon of wort out of my airlock. This morning (day 1 of fermentation) the airlock was bubbling fine, nothing odd. I went out and ran some errands and came back to see that my airlock was full of foam and the lid of my fermenter was covered in "beer foam"

I've been checking up on it throughout the day and wiping off the foam from time to time, and i looked at the measurements on the side and the wort is almost at the 4 3/4th mark.

I should also mention that this is a german hefe made from a kit from more beer! using wlp300 yeast.

I'm going to guess that this is probably normal and I am just freaking out because i've never made beer before, but if it isn't normal let me know so I can attempt to fix the problem.

Thanks a bunch,
Jon

Yes, you're going to be fine. In fact, extremely vigorous fermentation/foaming is to be expected from hefes especially. What you should do now (and, in the future, at the start of fermentation) is attach a blowoff tube instead of an airlock at the start of fermentation. This is simply a tube of as wide a diameter as possible running from the airlock bung to a jar of water+sanitizer on the floor. This will allow the extra foam to be easily transported from the fermenter without getting stuck in the airlock and all over your fermenter lid.

I just did a Hefe from Morebeer and my fermentation was so slow I barely even noticed that it happened.

The only way I knew it had was from periodtic gravity readings and the fact that there was alot of foam

Hefe is in the bottle and should be ready by Turkey Day.

Let me know how yours turns out Firepunk. I'm interested to see if we get different results seeing as how our yeast did the polar opposite of each other. Seeing as how we bought our kits from the same place.

Will

Did you use the kit with the 6 pounds of dry extract? I've never brewed before, but that stuff is a ***** to completely stir in. For my next batch I am definately going to use a LME.

As for the brew, I awoke this morning and cleaned the lid of the fermenter off, cleaned and sanatized the airlock but when I replaced it, I noticed it wasn't getting any activity. I'm wondering if it is just because it is getting a little colder at night now. Once it warms up I'll see how the little guys are doing.

firepunk said:

Did you use the kit with the 6 pounds of dry extract? I've never brewed before, but that stuff is a ***** to completely stir in. For my next batch I am definately going to use a LME.

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Pour it in 1 lb at a time and dissolve it before adding the next lb. It'll dissolve easier/better that way.

While LME may be easier to use it is usually too dark for the style, unless the style is dark, but if you are trying to produce light colored brews stick with the DME and read up on "late addition" brewing.

In my experience, DME ferments WAY harder than all grain.

Cheesefood said:

In my experience, DME ferments WAY harder than all grain.

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Cheese, what do you mean by way "harder"? I'm cornie-fused??

firepunk said:

Did you use the kit with the 6 pounds of dry extract? I've never brewed before, but that stuff is a ***** to completely stir in. For my next batch I am definately going to use a LME.

As for the brew, I awoke this morning and cleaned the lid of the fermenter off, cleaned and sanatized the airlock but when I replaced it, I noticed it wasn't getting any activity. I'm wondering if it is just because it is getting a little colder at night now. Once it warms up I'll see how the little guys are doing.

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Yeah it took awhile to stir all the lumps outta the brew for sure. I've only brewed 4batches in my brewing career but the this one had the most chance of a boil over...even with my 10gallon pot and a partial boil.

I can't imagine how 5-6 gallons would have foamed up during boil

Diablotastic said:

Yeah it took awhile to stir all the lumps outta the brew for sure. I've only brewed 4batches in my brewing career but the this one had the most chance of a boil over...even with my 10gallon pot and a partial boil.

I can't imagine how 5-6 gallons would have foamed up during boil

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Yeah, I have a small 5 gallon pot, and did a partial boil with 3 gals in the kettle. After I stirred it all in, and returned the heat for the first 15 minutes I was moving the pot off and on the heat keep it from boiling over. Then when I added the hops it foamed up again. fun times.

Also, my airlock has returned to bubbling, but no foam. So hopefully that part of the ferment is done. A good note however is that the foam that spewed forth smells really really good and beery.