VERY active fermentation

Hey all, I just brewed my third batch ever a few days ago. I woke up this morning to find the bubbler cap had blown off and the krausen had foamed over. Is this going to hurt my beer?






I cleaned up the mess with star San and replaced with the bubbler with a sanitized one.

The recipe I used is yooper's dogfish 60 clone. My OG was 1.059 (a little low; target was 1.070). I pitched two vials of wlp002. Can I fabricate a blowoff using spare tubing or do I need a particular stopper?

You should always have a blowoff tube available. Search this site for how to make one. I would install one now until it settles down, and then you can put the airlock back on. 1.25" OD vinyl tubing works well (usually 1" ID).

The good news is that with how active the fermentation is (CO2 outgassing), it would be unlikely that anything would be getting in.

I use Fermcap S on all of my batches to reduce foaming as well. 2 drops per gallon added just prior to the pitch. That said there are a couple of yeast strains that can't be tamed with this either, WY3787 is one of those.

You can make a blow-off tube out of whatever you find. I've stuck a large hose in the carboy opening, and I've also used much smaller hose on the stem of a 3-piece airlock (Remove the 2 extra pieces, and cut the X out of the bottom to help keep it from plugging up with hops debris.)

My favorite was the large hose because you could see the gunk crawling up the hose. It was curiously interesting. And it was less likely to get plugged with gunk and blow off again, which has happened with the airlock-based device.

You can make one with medium-sized tubing and a customized bung. I've cut a large opening in a bung and inserted the hose directly. Works fine. I keep forgetting I need to make more. Luckily I haven't had a problem with blow-off in a while. Been fermenting at lower temps and haven't brewed a really big beer in a while.

I don't see a thermostrip on your carboy. What was the wort temperature during the first two days of fermenting?

solbes said:

You should always have a blowoff tube available. Search this site for how to make one. I would install one now until it settles down, and then you can put the airlock back on. 1.25" OD vinyl tubing works well (usually 1" ID). The good news is that with how active the fermentation is (CO2 outgassing), it would be unlikely that anything would be getting in. I use Fermcap S on all of my batches to reduce foaming as well. 2 drops per gallon added just prior to the pitch. That said there are a couple of yeast strains that can't be tamed with this either, WY3787 is one of those.

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Awesome thanks. I made a blowoff tube so that I will have it on hand.

Do you think I pitched too much yeast? It's in a 6.5 gallon Carboy...

cherbhy said:

Awesome thanks. I made a blowoff tube so that I will have it on hand.

Do you think I pitched too much yeast? It's in a 6.5 gallon Carboy...

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Two vials is probably about right. If you haven't already checked out the yeast pitching calculator on mrmalty.com, it may be worth a look.

How did you oxygenate/aerate your wort?

flars said:

I don't see a thermostrip on your carboy. What was the wort temperature during the first two days of fermenting?

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It was hovering right around 70 degrees. I've gotten it down to 68 since this morning.

SEABrewer said:

Two vials is probably about right. If you haven't already checked out the yeast pitching calculator on mrmalty.com, it may be worth a look.

How did you oxygenate/aerate your wort?

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I just put the carboy on a blanket and rocked it / swirled it for about 10-15 minutes. Gave me some light foam on top.

Thanks for all the help guys.