Why is it Always the Dark Beers?

First explosion in 2 years of brewing. Fermcap, you have failed me and I will never trust you again.

Thats one hell of a mess. Fermcap failed you.. that sucks.

Were you using a blow off hose or airlock?

Airlock, of course. Never needed a blow off before when using Fermcap. I'll always use a blow off from now on though.

If my freezer hadn't been full, at least the mess would've been contained to that. As of right now, there is still beer on the ceiling but everything else is cleaned up. Thank god SWMBO is out of town.

I had one blowout, never again will I not use a blowoff tube. at least for the first couple of days
have fun cleaning up that sticky mess

It blew off to the ceiling... now thats a blow off.

I had some bottle gushers that hit the ceiling once but never a bucket or carboy.

I hear ya! For whatever reason my dark beers always have the mos vigorous fermentation. I had a porter blow the lid off the bucket before, and it hit the ceiling.

Sucks on the mess -- I have had one carboy explosion, a stout. Have had 3 bottles explode. 1 porter and 2 stouts. Murphy's law, baby.

Do you add more fermcap at pitching, or rely on what was in your boil kettle? And if so, do you make sure to give the carboy a good shake/swirl to disperse it across the wort surface? Fermcap's efficacy really increased for me when I tried those things.

I noticed that beers with flaked grains really push the limit of what fermcap can control.

How do you store your fermcap, it needs to be refrigerated. Maybe it's too old?

COLObrewer said:

How do you store your fermcap, it needs to be refrigerated. Maybe it's too old?

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I had no idea it needed to be refrigerated, thanks for the tip!

how do you guys rig a blowoff tube into a bucket lid? The hole in the lid of my bucket is not nearly large enough for the 1" diameter of the blowoff tube that came with my starter kit

twd000 said:

how do you guys rig a blowoff tube into a bucket lid? The hole in the lid of my bucket is not nearly large enough for the 1" diameter of the blowoff tube that came with my starter kit

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Bigger hole. Use another lid?

Actually, I usually slip a smaller tube in the airlock hole, but it depends on the brew. If there are a lot of large chunks with little head space you may need 1". "That's what she said"? Ewwww

I just checked on it and it was about to explode again even with the blow off tube in place. Looks like this one is going to ferment open until it calms down. Risky, I know, but I really don't want another mess to clean up.

BrookdaleBrew said:

I just checked on it and it was about to explode again even with the blow off tube in place. Looks like this one is going to ferment open until it calms down. Risky, I know, but I really don't want another mess to clean up.

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Jesus. What the hell are you making, and what yeast?

heywolfie1015 said:

Jesus. What the hell are you making, and what yeast?

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This:
19.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)
2.00 oz Magnum [14.40 %] (60 min)
1.00 oz Williamette [4.90 %] (15 min)
1.00 oz Williamette [4.90 %] (5 min)

And I'm fermenting with 3 packs of re-hydrated US-04.

Ah, now I get it. There is a loooot of sugar to ferment there.

crash1292 said:

I had one blowout, never again will I not use a blowoff tube. at least for the first couple of days
have fun cleaning up that sticky mess

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That is correct sir! I never ferment without a blow off for the first week. As far as a blow off on a bucket, you'll need to get a smaller hose. Many just stick it on the airlock (assuming you don't have a s-type) by taking off the cap and bubbler piece..

BrookdaleBrew said:

This:
19.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)
2.00 oz Magnum [14.40 %] (60 min)
1.00 oz Williamette [4.90 %] (15 min)
1.00 oz Williamette [4.90 %] (5 min)

And I'm fermenting with 3 packs of re-hydrated US-04.

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Thats a bigger recipe than most of my 10g batches

rmullins said:

Thats a bigger recipe than most of my 10g batches

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It's bigger than most of my 10 gallon batches as well. This is a very special beer... If it survives fermentation then I plan to bottle in 750ml corked bottles and age it for a year before popping the first one next New Year's Eve. Then I'll pull out a few bottles every NYE for the next 4 or 5 years.

I avoid this by just placing the ale pail lid on the fermentor, but not snapping it down. This allows me to peak at the fermentation process, and if it does rise to the level of the lid, it will just leak over but no explosion. When I am sure that there is no danger, and while active fermentation is going on, I snap the lid down - usually the third day post pitch.

My god,

SWMBO would have killed me if this were in my house.

Fortunately I use a blow-off with a carboy and it is in a fermentation chamber.

BrookdaleBrew said:

This:
19.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM)
2.00 oz Magnum [14.40 %] (60 min)
1.00 oz Williamette [4.90 %] (15 min)
1.00 oz Williamette [4.90 %] (5 min)

And I'm fermenting with 3 packs of re-hydrated US-04.

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25 lbs of grain. What was your OG? I thought S-04 was a medium attenuative yeast (about 10%). If you started around 1.140, it might stall out around 1.060. Just wondering what you were going for.

calder said:

i thought s-04 was a medium attenuative yeast (about 10%). If you started around 1.140, it might stall out around 1.060.

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+1

However, I think you meant something like 70% - 80% attenuation and not 10%

My efficiency drops a pretty good deal when mashing that much grain. OG was right around 1.100. I'm hoping it'll finish between 1.020 and 1.026. I don't think US-04 will have trouble doing that. I intentionally over pitched in an attempt to get the best attenuation possible.

If you go above S-04's alcohol tolerance level, overpitching will not help.

Not sure of S-04's alcohol tolerance though.

Haputanlas said:

If you go above S-04's alcohol tolerance level, overpitching will not help.

Not sure of S-04's alcohol tolerance though.

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The problem is there are no solid numbers for S-04. Fermentis really doesn't give any stats on it (although some believe it is the equivalent of WLP007.) I've heard of people using it is 10+ percent ABV beers without a problem. If you go much above that you'll probably have issues.

Also, obviously overpitching will not help the yeast magically become more alcohol tolerant, but it can help reach full attenuation in higher ABV beers. The more cells you pitch, the more strong yeast there are to survive until the end.

Haputanlas said:

+1

However, I think you meant something like 70% - 80% attenuation and not 10%

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I meant 10% alcohol. An 80 point drop is about 10%. Thanks for pointing out my confusion.

BrookdaleBrew said:

My efficiency drops a pretty good deal when mashing that much grain. OG was right around 1.100. I'm hoping it'll finish between 1.020 and 1.026. I don't think US-04 will have trouble doing that. I intentionally over pitched in an attempt to get the best attenuation possible.

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25 lbs. Assuming 5 gallons, that's 20 points/lb. You left a lot of sugar in those grains. The yeast should get you down to 1.025, but I think S-04 does have a lower attenuation than other strains.

I wish I would have seen this post before I brewed my first stout, it was a pretty big beer and of course I was using an air lock, it blew the lid off the primary and all over the inside of the closet, I had to repaint before SWMBO saw...

Calder said:

25 lbs. Assuming 5 gallons, that's 20 points/lb. You left a lot of sugar in those grains. The yeast should get you down to 1.025, but I think S-04 does have a lower attenuation than other strains.

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Ah yes, that is where the partigyle comes into play, which is fermenting nicely (i.e. no explosion) in a 5 gallon carboy as we speak.

But yeah, I checked the gravity on the big beer today and it's just below 1.030, so I think I'll be within my target gravity by the end of the week.