Fermcap-S...what did I do wrong?

Alright, this is my first time using fermcap-S and I still woke up this morning to a mess of krausen coming out of my airlock. The instructions on the bottle said to add at the beginning of fermentation. I know many of you add it for foam control during the boil, but I added it at the beginning of fermentation. 10 drops, 2 per gallon just like the instructions said. It just kind of sat there on the surface and I figured it would eventually get mixed around and do its job. Then the foam started creeping up the neck and I decided to add 10 more drops. It took down the foam that it was sitting on, but hasn't been heard from since. WTF?

It needs a good shake/stir after adding to mix it in. It doesn't totally kill the krausen, it just knocks it down pretty good. On beer styles prone to lots of foaming you still may need a blow off.

So I shouldn't have used it in my Hefe, airlocked it, then set the carboy on the dining room table covered in my wifes only cashmere sweater to block the sunlight?

Seriously though, I tried both fermcap s and the generic foam control drops, in the boil before and never really noticed a substantial difference in terms of reducing boil over (7 gallon boil in a 9 gallon pot). I think I either did it wrong, or since I know both had "use within x months" stickers on them they must have gone bad somehow...

I don't really measure mine out when I use it. I just put a blop in my boil, then watch. If I get some significant foaming I hit it again. Usually two blops is all I need.

I only used it once in a fermenter, I used around the prescribed amount and still got about an inch of krausen... Maybe just add some more???

Ignorant question here, but don't you want the krausen extant and oozing out of a blowoff tube? I would think this would be a good place to get some gunk and impurities out, unless it all comes out in the racking to secondary anyways.

tekhna said:

Ignorant question here, but don't you want the krausen extant and oozing out of a blowoff tube? I would think this would be a good place to get some gunk and impurities out, unless it all comes out in the racking to secondary anyways.

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You actually want to keep it in. First, that is the most active yeast that is doing the fermentation. If it is getting lost, it could lead to attenuation issues if your blow off is big enough and you lose too much. If you harvest yeast from a cake post-fermentation, this could also be selective mutation since all that highly active and attenuating yeast is lost. Second, all of that krausen is mostly protein coagulation, if lost to a blow off, it may reduce your head retention since it is not being reincorporated into the beer. It is not going to cause haze issues if given proper time to be solublized and such.

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

I don't really measure mine out when I use it. I just put a blop in my boil, then watch. If I get some significant foaming I hit it again. Usually two blops is all I need.

I only used it once in a fermenter, I used around the prescribed amount and still got about an inch of krausen... Maybe just add some more???

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An inch is about right. Maybe a bit more added would have made a difference for the OP. I can fill my 5 gal. carboys to within 2" of the neck and not get a blow off even with a vigorous fermentation. I actually have a batch going now that was filled to the neck after adding my starter and I only lost about 2 cups of beer.

I got some from one of the local breweries here. How much is the recommended amount? I read a few drops, but we adjusted what he uses on a 5bbl batch. Going with a 3:1 ratio and 1ml into the wort and maybe same into fermenter.