Exploding fermentation! Have I ruined my brew?

Hi All,

Just on my first brew (making a stout from a kit) and after 20 hours fermentation with only brewing sugar I decided to add some spray malt. It seemed ok at first but then *whoosh* suddenly it all goes up. My kitchen is now covered in yeasty sugary foam and I'm wondering whether I've wrecked my first batch of home brew?

For extra info I seem to have lost around 2l out of a starting volume of 23l. The ferment had started with around 3cm brownish foam on top of the brew. I am also pretty confident that nothing untoward should have entered the brew as there was so much coming out!

So, er...what did I do wrong and what can I do now?

Thanks in advance!

lol, no you didn't ruin it. and you did nothing wrong. that was just a vigorous, healthy fermentation. you might consider running a blow-off tube out of your bucket/carboy instead of an airlock. that brown foam is krausen and is natural part of making beer.

How did you add it?

Was it like the Mentos in a bottle of soda, where all the CO2 is released at once?

bosco

neosapien said:

lol, no you didn't ruin it. and you did nothing wrong. that was just a vigorous, healthy fermentation. you might consider running a blow-off tube out of your bucket/carboy instead of an airlock. that brown foam is krausen and is natural part of making beer.

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Phew! It seems to have settled down now, just have to wipe down the kitchen before the wife sees it and all will be back on track!

boscobeans said:

How did you add it?

Was it like the Mentos in a bottle of soda, where all the CO2 is released at once?

bosco

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I added around 400g of Muntons spray malt and gave it a stir. Yes, Mentos in coke would be about right!

Thanks man, you live and learn I guess!

And why exactly did you add the Mentos - er, I mean the DME. I'm a big believer in sticking to the recipe. Make your modifications BEFORE brewday, not after.

Cheers!

In fact they were on the recipe (or rather an acceptable variation thereof) I just forgot to add them initially. My rationale for adding them at +20hrs was to reduce the impact of any contaminant introduced. I figured the yeast would have multiplied and become the dominant organism by that time!

But yes, sticking to the recipe is usually a good idea!

This morning I heard my airlock whining. I opened up the cooler and it, and the lid, was full of krausen. I cleaned up everything with Starsan, relieved the pressure and put the cleaned airlock back on.

Did you boil the DME in some water to kill any nasties on it? You added what I would consider a metric ton of potential contamination if you didn't boil that material before adding it.

masskrug said:

This morning I heard my airlock whining. I opened up the cooler and it, and the lid, was full of krausen. I cleaned up everything with Starsan, relieved the pressure and put the cleaned airlock back on.

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You should rig up a blowoff tube. If the airlock becomes clogged with krausen it could build up pressed in your FV and blow the lid off it. Just stick a length if tubing over the center post of the airlock and submerge the other end in a container if sanitizer. It will act as a giant airlock allowing the krausen to push out instead of blowing the lid off your fermenter.