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schweaty

Doe Re Mi Beer
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Hello everyone! This is my first brew evar and it seems to be going great thus far. In Primary fermentation right now and I had activity 7 hours in. Temps are 68-70 degrees and this is an IPA. Woke up this morning and I have MAJOR bubbles!!! Unfortunately when I bought the better bottles I didn't get the Blow Off cap that goes in it. So now I have no way of making a blowoff of any kind. I have the dry tap which this morning wasn't so dry. Foam was coming out of it and still is. I have another dry tap that I can sanatize and put on there if need be. Need some advice here though cuz I don't want to have any accidents. Things seem to be going well and I don't want to ruin it. Also, what causes such violent foaming actions? Thanks!

 
If i remember correctly, a 1/2" OD Vinyl tube will fit in the cap where your dry lock goes.

Put the other end in a vessel with water and you're all set.

As to the fermentation blow-off, that's fairly normal. At that range of temp the yeast will be working pretty fast to ferment the sugars out. I usually ferment cooler just to slow the yeast down a bit. Around 65 - 68 is where I do most of my fermenting.
 
Inside diameter. You could measure the top of the bottle (or take the extra airlock with you for size), and get something like this:

7451-RIS_992.jpg


(This is from Biermuncher's gallery- I couldn't find a picture of it with a Better Bottle, but you get the idea).
 
I made a typo. That should be 1/2" OD. Outside diameter of the tube.

I'd measure the opening of the Better Bottle Closure and get a tube fits snuggly into that. I believe it's a 1/2" hole. The ID of the closure is 1/2", so you need an OD of 1/2" to fill it. Got my acronyms switched. :(
 
No problem, I got the right tubing. Just did what Yoops said and took the cap with me. I'm sanatizing the cap and tubing as we speak. Should I put plain ole' water in the bucket or sanatizer?
 
No problem, I got the right tubing. Just did what Yoops said and took the cap with me. I'm sanatizing as we speak the cap and tubing as we speak. Should I put plain ole' water in the bucket or sanatizer?

Water and sanitizer mixed, just in case of some suckback. Star san will foam like heck, though, so use a tall pitcher or bucket. If you have Iodophor, that would be great. You could even use cheap vodka if you have some.
 
Ok so everything is in place. I have the foaming under control thankfully. It seems to be VERY active as the bubbles in the bucket are once every couple of seconds. What causes such massive foaming?
 
Ok so everything is in place. I have the foaming under control thankfully. It seems to be VERY active as the bubbles in the bucket are once every couple of seconds. What causes such massive foaming?

You've got yourself a very active fermentation. I often do primary in a 7.5 gallon bucket, and have occasionally still had some blow offs. Just a few, but it does happen. In your case, you've got 5 gallons (or a bit more) in a 6 gallon carboy, and an active fermentation.

Now, the only thing left to do is to try to keep the temperature of the wort under 70 or so. Since it's so active, and fermentation is exothermic, it can actually get pretty hot inside that carboy.
 
From what I've seen, it's usually caused by carbon dioxide grabbing onto particles in the must. When the particles reach the top, they don't let the bubbles pop, so they just keep piling up from below.
 
Its sitting at 68 right now. I took a new oil pan and cut the top off of it, filled it with water and put a t-shirt over the carboy. I am now putting bottles of frozen water into the water to try and keep it cool. I have to go to work shortly so I guess my wife is going to have to keep an eye on it for me :)
 
Wow, you had about 5 responses in 15-20 minutes. All the members really sprung to life when it came to saving a batch of beer. Nicely done!!
 
Ha, I love the fermenter sitting in the oil catch pan. Priceless! :eek:

Another option is to get a "better bottle" that has more headroom. I recommend the Cooper's brand fermenter:

coopers-3.jpg


They cost about $25 and are worth every penny.
 
It sounds like you're all set. For the future, you might want to check out THIS THREAD about Fermcap-S, a great foam control product.
+1, fermcap is incredible. No more boilovers, no more krausen explosions during fermentation - it's nice to be able to relax while you wait for your wort to come to a boil, and never need to clean a blowoff tube, airlock, floor, walls, or ceiling ;)

I have fermented about 5.75 to 6 gallons in a 6.5g better bottle (same size you appear to be using) with only an airlock (no blowoff tube), and the krausen never made it up to the airlock even once.
 
It sounds like you're all set. For the future, you might want to check out THIS THREAD about Fermcap-S, a great foam control product.


TL

Yeah I think I'm gonna try this out next time for sure. I'm a bit worried about removing the airlock and putting on the blowoff hose. I hope I didn't get any bacteria or anything in there when changing from the airlock to the hose. It was all sanatized before I put it on so hopefully the sanatizer does its job. Its still actively foaming and I put a fan in there so the temp has gone down about 2 degrees. Its gonna be cooler here (mid 60's) for the next week or so and temps shouldn't be a problem. It's just trying to get the lower and stablizing them to a consistant temp. Hopefully only another day and I can put the airlock back on but bubbling still seems pretty active in the blowoff bucket. :mug:
 
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