Teacher
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I made my Northland IIPA recipe for the first time. Blender was kind enough to chime in with some very welcomed feedback (thanks, Blender!). One thing he mentioned was yeast: since I had such a dense brew, he suggested I use two packets of yeast. Well, I used s-04, and I only had one packet on hand, so I decided to make a starter. I know this isn't usually done with dry yeast, but it only sat for about 2.5 hours (while I was brewing the beer), and there wasn't much activity in it...I just thought I'd get it going. By 11:00 last night, it was bubbling, but it wasn't bubbling as quickly as my last batch, so I thought things were good.
This morning I got up and the lid had blown. I have one of the "Ale Pails" with an airlock (not a blow-off tube), and so naturally the lock got clogged and KABOOM. I quickly washed and resanitized the lid and lock, plus sanitized a spoon, scooped off the extra foam (but not all of it), and replaced the lid. It's bubbling again.
By the way, it's in my basement directly on the cool concrete floor. The basement's air temperature is 65F. Despite this, the bucket's LCD thermometer reads 77F. I pitched when it was 72F. Wow.
So I guess I have two questions: (1.) Should I remove all -- or almost all -- of the foam? (2.) Should I take further steps to cool the bucket?
This morning I got up and the lid had blown. I have one of the "Ale Pails" with an airlock (not a blow-off tube), and so naturally the lock got clogged and KABOOM. I quickly washed and resanitized the lid and lock, plus sanitized a spoon, scooped off the extra foam (but not all of it), and replaced the lid. It's bubbling again.
By the way, it's in my basement directly on the cool concrete floor. The basement's air temperature is 65F. Despite this, the bucket's LCD thermometer reads 77F. I pitched when it was 72F. Wow.
So I guess I have two questions: (1.) Should I remove all -- or almost all -- of the foam? (2.) Should I take further steps to cool the bucket?