crazy fermenting

Got a question for those in the know. Started an ale yesterday; this morning woke up to a volcano. Hooked up a blow off tube and cleaned up; my question is with all the gonk sticking to the top of my carboy when it settles down do I need to rack to a clean carboy. And should I be concerned that I have all this stuff moving around or will it all settle out properly. I was supposed to add 1 pound of brown sugar today; probably not a good idea right
Thanks in advance

That happens more often to me than I'd like.. You'll be fine. I would wait a couple days until calms down to add the extra sugar. Everything will settle out and IMO you don't really need to transfer to a clean carboy but that's depending on your sanitation practices. Do what makes you feel comfortable.

Those crazy yeast are doing their thing. No need to rack though, all that krausen will eventually fall down to the bottom or stick to the sides. Adding fuel to the fire right now sounds like a bad idea. I don't know what recipe you're using but I thought you were supposed to add sugar toward the end once fermentation has slowed down. I would think that would take a few days.

Thanks for the quick replies and advice. My recipe is an imperial pale ale and it calls for the brown sugar addition once fermentation is going on but that does sound like a real bad idea right now.

how big is your fermenter?

21l

kerant said:

21l

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Tell us you aren't doing a five gallon batch in a 21 liter vessel!

Cheers!

Sorry it's actually 23 l. And my batch is 4 and a half gal. This is only my second batch so whatever advice you have I'll take. Cheers back at ya.

I had a similar situation over the weekend. I'm fermenting in 7.5 gal plastic bucket. Pitched the yeast Saturday afternoon and noticed a little foam coming up the airlock last night. This morning I woke up to find the airlock blown off and a large mound of foam coming out the hole. I'm hoping it settles down today and it still turns out okay, on the plus side it is smelling very good. My question is, what causes this to happen and what can I do to avoid this in the future.

chadly114 said:

I had a similar situation over the weekend. I'm fermenting in 7.5 gal plastic bucket. Pitched the yeast Saturday afternoon and noticed a little foam coming up the airlock last night. This morning I woke up to find the airlock blown off and a large mound of foam coming out the hole. I'm hoping it settles down today and it still turns out okay, on the plus side it is smelling very good. My question is, what causes this to happen and what can I do to avoid this in the future.

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Was it a 5 Gal batch?

kerant said:

Sorry it's actually 23 l. And my batch is 4 and a half gal. This is only my second batch so whatever advice you have I'll take. Cheers back at ya.

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17 liters in a 23 liter vessel is fine, it's actually a lower utilization than 5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon vessel.

I'd still go with the previously mentioned common sense approach and wait until the vigorous fermentation phase has quieted down, then feed that brown sugar to your yeasties. No reason to throw gas on the fire right now

Cheers!

What yeast are people using when they get these explosive fermentations?!? I'd like to try them once, just to see the show.

In my limited number of batches so far, I've used Nottingham, 1084 Irish Ale, 1272 American Ale II, and 1028 London Ale. All have been fairly mellow fermentations, although gravity readings with the 1028 tell me that despite their calm demeanor, the bugs were chewing rabidly through the sugars.

What yeasts produce the real fireworks? Please share your experiences.

tonyolympia said:

What yeast are people using when they get these explosive fermentations?!? I'd like to try them once, just to see the show.

In my limited number of batches so far, I've used Nottingham, 1084 Irish Ale, 1272 American Ale II, and 1028 London Ale. All have been fairly mellow fermentations, although gravity readings with the 1028 tell me that despite their calm demeanor, the bugs were chewing rabidly through the sugars.

What yeasts produce the real fireworks? Please share your experiences.

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Burton Ale is a messy bugger - give that top cropper room or clean up it's wrath!

Yes it is a 5 gal batch, I used Nottingham Ale yeast

tonyolympia said:

What yeast are people using when they get these explosive fermentations?!? I'd like to try them once, just to see the show.

In my limited number of batches so far, I've used Nottingham, 1084 Irish Ale, 1272 American Ale II, and 1028 London Ale. All have been fairly mellow fermentations, although gravity readings with the 1028 tell me that despite their calm demeanor, the bugs were chewing rabidly through the sugars.

What yeasts produce the real fireworks? Please share your experiences.

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Gravity, hopping and pitching temperatures also play a role in this I'm sure. I've yet to have such an explosive fermentation. Even with top cropping strains, the most I ever get is two inches of krausen above the beer level. But all my beers are low-gravity, low-medium hopping affairs.

Imo, if hopping actually matters (I don't think it does at all) it's way down the list. It's gravity, running temperature, pitch rate and yeast strain that matter. And of those factors, I think gravity and running temperature dominate. Let a high gravity batch run wild (say, up around 75°F or more) and you should see some pretty cool fireworks pretty much regardless of the yeast strain at even modest pitching rates.

'Course, you may not be all that happy with the result, but if you're looking for some visual entertainment, that's the recipe

Cheers!

Hmm, sounds like it's a good thing that my fermentations are so boring.

I ferment between 65 and 70. Generally speaking. So imo its a good yeast starter that's usually the culprit. I'll second the high gravity thing too.

Fermentation is different every time.

I had a 1.053 brew just go crazy qnd have major blow off, and I have bigger brews that just had normal ferments.

So as a precaution I start every brew with a blow off tube.

kerant said:

Got a question for those in the know. Started an ale yesterday; this morning woke up to a volcano. Hooked up a blow off tube and cleaned up; my question is with all the gonk sticking to the top of my carboy when it settles down do I need to rack to a clean carboy. And should I be concerned that I have all this stuff moving around or will it all settle out properly. I was supposed to add 1 pound of brown sugar today; probably not a good idea right
Thanks in advance

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As a continuation to my bubbly batch; although it went crazy at the beginning now almost 3 weeks in the bottle I have only a little carbonation. Everything was clean, but I figured with the way it began I would have a nicely carbonated beer. Am I being to impatient (more time?) or do you have any thoughts why it's like this.

I had an awful mess recently. I made an Samuel Smiths oatmeal stout clone using Wyeast Irish Ale 1084. Well fermenation started kinda slow then after a couple of days it was bubbling nice. So i get up in the morning to go down to my basement and as soon as I open the door I can smell the fermentation thougth this was odd. So I open the bathroom door to find that my airlock didn't blow off the entire lid that was snapped on tighly on my Ale Pale blew completelly off. Did I mention this was a stout. Needless to say I will be using blowoff tubes regurally in the future.

I brewed a porter a few weeks ago that I directly pitched a pack of notty into that blew off like mad.

I fermented at 64 and the little rascals blew off my blowoff hose...twice. I guess I added too much yeast nutrient in the boil.

It's not necessary I now know. Next time I'll skip the nutrient and hope for a less violent kreausen.

kerant said:

As a continuation to my bubbly batch; although it went crazy at the beginning now almost 3 weeks in the bottle I have only a little carbonation. Everything was clean, but I figured with the way it began I would have a nicely carbonated beer. Am I being to impatient (more time?) or do you have any thoughts why it's like this.

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3 weeks at 70F is the baseline for bottle carbonating/conditioning your brew. It can take more, or less (not often less) time than that. A brew-buddy of mine had a batch he brewed take about 5 months before it was actually carbonated. He did store the bottles in his basement, which is about 64-65 most of the year (gets a little warmer in the dead of summer, but otherwise, it's that temperature range).

Best advise is to give it a few more weeks, then chill a bottle down for 5-7 days before pouring it into a glass for sampling/inspection... If you're not chilling the bottle long enough, it won't be properly carbonated either.

kerant said:

Got a question for those in the know. Started an ale yesterday; this morning woke up to a volcano. Hooked up a blow off tube and cleaned up; my question is with all the gonk sticking to the top of my carboy when it settles down do I need to rack to a clean carboy. And should I be concerned that I have all this stuff moving around or will it all settle out properly. I was supposed to add 1 pound of brown sugar today; probably not a good idea right
Thanks in advance

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Ok gents: This is my second explosion in 3 batches. Fermentation temps where right on so tell me please what's your opinion on causes for this. The first one was cute but now its getting annoying. I do know that because of where I live its a problem getting the exact ingredient I need and my supplier has to sub hops and yeast sometimes. Could this have anything to do with it?