Well I did my first batch a couple nights ago and it went pretty well. I have a few questions about my batch fermenting though. The kit I bought said it made 6 us gallons but the guy at the store said it makes a 5 gallon batch. I do have a 6 gallon carboy so I decided to use that. After I chilled everything and siphoned it into the carboy I added water to bring the total volume to about 5.5 gallons (I decided to go in the middle) so my question is, is it alright to have a gap at the top of the fermentor? I just checked it tonight and about 2 inches of the top of the beer is a much lighter color. Did I do everything correct and is everything working properly??
1st batch questions
- Thread starter bklebel
- Start date
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Engelramm
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you're makin' beer. The extra space is needed to allow the krausen to rise. You're in for a show. Search around on here for some pictures of what the process looks like.bklebel said:
vanz72
Member
You do need to have some space in your fermenter to allow for the foam that the fermentation process creates. I made a batch of Weisenbier about a month ago, and I was a bit careless to where there wasn't enough room for the copious amount of gas produced. Long story short, my airlock was launched like Sputnik and I had quite a mess to clean up. Best to have at least a gallon of free space in your fermenter to act as a buffer to allow your airlock to dispose of the gas created during fermentation slower than if your fermentor was filled up to or near the top.
