3rd All Grain. Whoa!

I didn't fully understand the advice to use a 10 cooler for an MLT until my 69.5% efficiency mash last night. I brewed a Trappist Style Dubbel which I'm really excited about, but I found my limitations with my equipment. Hopefully I can score a 10 gallon cooler somewhere and transfer my manifold.

But here's the good news: I used some no-foam stuff in my boil, and let me tell you, it's amazing!! I know a bunch of you use it, but seeing is believing! One drop, and the raging boil had no chance of boil over. I think that stuff is helping out in my primary too because I counted 178 bubbles per minute in the airlock, and no foam coming out! It's fermenting like crazy, and I'm not at all worried about cleaning up after an angry fermenter.

I used a starter for the first time yesterday, and I am very pleased with the results. I added some O2 just before pitching, and it fired right up after about an hour. Once I pitched the starter into the wort after proper cooling, I saw airlock action in 2 hours!

More good news... I'm so pleased with my 10 gallon Blichmann Boilermaker. What a great brew pot! I know a 15 gallon pot is probably better in the long run, but SWMBO had a hard enough time with the 10, and I like brewing so it's fun to do it often.

One more thing.... I'd just like to piggyback on another thread really quickly. I'd like to thank/blame each and every one of you for getting me so addicted to A.G.

Trappist Style Dubbel ..drooooooooollll

that's my next brew. Tried one for the first time last Sunday and I was like wow... this is awesome. I'm glad I got a brand new keggle to brew with...... tomarrow... I hope.

wedge421 said:

Trappist Style Dubbel ..drooooooooollll

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Ok, here's an update....

I was just out at a bar, where they had Chimay on tap, and I changed my airlock due to clogging right before I left. When I came home, the primary bucket lid was blown off and krausen was all over my closet.

I'm a little worried about contamination due to the lid being somewhat off for a couple hours. The closet is small, and the door is always shut.

Any opinions?

The same thing that blasted your lid off is protecting your beer. You have a nice blanket of CO2 escaping through the breach and asphyxiating anything that gets too close. You'll be fine. Just clean and sanitize everything and wait for the goodness.

Fingers said:

The same thing that blasted your lid off is protecting your beer. You have a nice blanket of CO2 escaping through the breach and asphyxiating anything that gets too close. You'll be fine. Just clean and sanitize everything and wait for the goodness.

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This is the most aggressive fermentation that I have ever seen! I'm changing the airlock quite often because it keeps getting clogged with a peanut buttery yeasty substance. That Wyyeast trappist is some serious stuff!!

You had better use a blow off tube or you might find the air lock bloan out on the floor.

I have a drafty front door and left my fermentor by it. It cooled down to a manageable 64F. The fermenting slowed down considerably, and my airlock has been clean all day! Would you guys recommend a 6.5 gallon carboy for big beers like this? Or is there a way to affix a blow off tube to my Ale Pale?

You could jury rig something up to your bucket, but for future batches a large carboy would be advisable.

slyngshot said:

I have a drafty front door and left my fermentor by it. It cooled down to a manageable 64F. The fermenting slowed down considerably, and my airlock has been clean all day! Would you guys recommend a 6.5 gallon carboy for big beers like this? Or is there a way to affix a blow off tube to my Ale Pale?

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I would always suggest a blowoff tube for anything you suspect will do that. Even with a 6.5 gallon carboy it'll be pretty necessary. The abbey ale yeasts and the like are very active and will almost always make a mess.

Just measure the hole in your carboy and go get a few feet of tubing from Home Depot. Make sure it is long enough to go into a bucket of sanitizer and you'll be fine.

carnevoodoo said:

I would always suggest a blowoff tube for anything you suspect will do that. Even with a 6.5 gallon carboy it'll be pretty necessary. The abbey ale yeasts and the like are very active and will almost always make a mess.

Just measure the hole in your carboy and go get a few feet of tubing from Home Depot. Make sure it is long enough to go into a bucket of sanitizer and you'll be fine.

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So, I just jam a tube that will fit snugly into the carboy top? Does that seal well enough?

Use a stopper that will accept some stainless or hard plastic tubing at least 1/2 ID and buy food grade tubing to fit it. If you look to the left you see a carboy with a stopper and an airlock that has tubing pushed onto the airlock (inside the top of the airlock). This is 1/2 DIA. I also took an exacto knife and cut out the bottom of the air lock (strainer) to allow unobstructed flow of CO2 from the fermenter.

WBC said:

Use a stopper that will accept some stainless or hard plastic tubing at least 1/2 ID and buy food grade tubing to fit it. If you look to the left you see a carboy with a stopper and an airlock that has tubing pushed onto the airlock (inside the top of the airlock). This is 1/2 DIA. I also took an exacto knife and cut out the bottom of the air lock (strainer) to allow unobstructed flow of CO2 from the fermenter.

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So, an update. I went to my LHBS and I asked about buying a 6.5 G carboy. The dude at the store basically asked "why?" because I have 3 perfectly good "ale pales". I explained that I wanted a way to blow off, for high gravity beers with aggressive yeast, and he told me to use foam control. I already have some at home so I gave it a try. It worked like a charm. My airlock didn't even get dirty. I just put a few drops right on the krausen, and the foam subsided leaving me with an under control fermentation! That was easy!

If you have a LHBS around, just go there and get that standard sized nylon tubing. I believe it's like, what, 3/8 inch in diameter or something? Anyway, run one end under some warm/hot water for a while until it's pliable, then take it to your Ale Pail and squeeze the end so it goes into the rubber liner and hole on the pail lid. It'll fit just fine and create a great seal. How do I know? Well, I've actually done 6 gallon batches in my own Ale Pail with the same method and I can safely say it works fine.

Not to say I'm not looking forward to my 8 gallon minibrew fermenter... : D