My second brew, decided to re-hydrate yeast and this happens :0

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BansheeRider

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I am at work and won't be home until tomorrow around noonish. My wife smelled beer and decided to take a look in the closet and found this surprise. I rehydrated the yeast in this batch, my first batch I did not. This batch is an Octane IPA (OG 1.069). The airlock has stopped bubbling mostly as of now. This happened over night on day 2 of fermentation, today is day 3. I guess next time I should rig a blowoff tube for high gravity beers and rehydrating yeast right? Will this be ok until i get home? My wife cleaned the airlock lid with a warm wash cloth because the foam was crusted over and the airlock was not venting anymore. She won't take it off and replace the starsan inside it because she's afraid of messing something up. Will this be ok for another 18 hours or so? Thanks!
 
I think it'll be ok for a day. The liquid in the airlock should not contain anything that wasn't either already in the beer or growing in the star-san (hopefully nothing!). It'll still keep air from drawing back in (at least, it looks like it's deep enough). I'd just try not to get any suckback when removing it for cleaning.

FWIW, I think it's prudent to use a blowoff tube every time, regardless of the gravity.
 
My second brew resulted in a HUGE beersplosion, so this isn't too bad. Yet. It may last till you get home, it may not. My opinion, and I'm pretty new so the experts probably have better advice- have your wife take the airlock off, clean and sanitize it, and put it back on. When she takes it off, she should cover the hole with a paper towel sprayed with Star-San until she gets the airlock cleaned, sanitized, and put back in. Again - just my opinion. As for me, I have never brewed any beer without a blow-off tube since. Good yeast procedures should make vigorous fermentation-why chance it?
 
My second brew resulted in a HUGE beersplosion, so this isn't too bad. Yet. It may last till you get home, it may not. My opinion, and I'm pretty new so the experts probably have better advice- have your wife take the airlock off, clean and sanitize it, and put it back on. When she takes it off, she should cover the hole with a paper towel sprayed with Star-San until she gets the airlock cleaned, sanitized, and put back in. Again - just my opinion. As for me, I have never brewed any beer without a blow-off tube since. Good yeast procedures should make vigorous fermentation-why chance it?

I hope it is ok until i get home. Again, my wife refuses to touch it :confused: For some reason she doesn't want to. When i get home I will have to teach her how to do this because often times I am away from home working.
 
You'll be fine. Judging by the level of liquid still in the airlock, nothing is getting in, and as zeg said, nothing that is in there now wasn't already in the beer. Clean it as soon as you can, I wouldn't worry about a blow off at this point, but honestly, it will be fine. :tank:
 
You'll be fine. Judging by the level of liquid still in the airlock, nothing is getting in, and as zeg said, nothing that is in there now wasn't already in the beer. Clean it as soon as you can, I wouldn't worry about a blow off at this point, but honestly, it will be fine. :tank:

Thanks! I had the airlock soaking in starsan through the whole boil and wort chilling. The inside of the airlock was filled with starsan too, so there's no doubt that the inside of the airlock is sanitary.
 
BansheeRider said:
I hope it is ok until i get home. Again, my wife refuses to touch it :confused: For some reason she doesn't want to. When i get home I will have to teach her how to do this because often times I am away from home working.

Why won't she touch it? She does understand its just beer, right? :). Get a couple blow off tubes and use one every time and you won't have to worry when you're out of town for work. It IS just beer, right? (Snicker)
 
As MicheleE63 said rig a blow off tube every time. You might not need it but will surely be glad if you had one installed and really needed it.
 
Just for the record, the high krausen is most likely due to the gravity, and not because you rehydrated the yeast. It likely would have happened without he rehydration, just delayed by 12-24 hours.

In any case, there are a number of solutions. A most on here have noted, you can simply rig up a bow-off tube for every beer. You can ferment in a larger vessel (7 gallon bucket, 6.5 gallon glass carboy, etc.). Or use a Foam Control (FermCapS). Obviously the blow off tube is cheapest. But if your wife is hesitant to help, a larger vessel or foam control (or both!!) might be best.
 
Just for the record, the high krausen is most likely due to the gravity, and not because you rehydrated the yeast. It likely would have happened without he rehydration, just delayed by 12-24 hours.

In any case, there are a number of solutions. A most on here have noted, you can simply rig up a bow-off tube for every beer. You can ferment in a larger vessel (7 gallon bucket, 6.5 gallon glass carboy, etc.). Or use a Foam Control (FermCapS). Obviously the blow off tube is cheapest. But if your wife is hesitant to help, a larger vessel or foam control (or both!!) might be best.

The rehydration of yeast will maintain more yeast viability, therefore causing a more active fermentation early on, correct? I will diffinately use a blowoff tube for now on during the first few days of fermentation.
 
For anything over 1.06 I use a wet wash cloth and let it go for the first day. There's a lot of pressure going through that 3/8 airlock.
 
I got home and cleaned up the mess. The airlock is not bubbling anymore. I definitely released some pressure when I opened the airlock cap. The airlock was crusted onto the lid. The lid was crusted onto the bucket, had a hard time taking it off. There is definitely evidence of a fierce fermentation that took place.

I took a sample of the beer. It has been 5 days in primary thus far. The OG was 1.069, now its at 1.021. The recipe states that the FG should be around 1.012-1.018. Even though the airlock is not bubbling anymore is the yeast still fermenting? I still have at least another week before racking to secondary. Do you think the FG will be reached? I can see a lot of hop sediment and other crap at the surface of the beer. The beer does taste good however. I don't think there is any sign of contamination.
 
Yes,the yeast are fine & still fermenting. The airlock slows down or stops at this point because initial fermentation is over. But it'll slowly,uneventfully creep down to FG from here. After FG is reached,give it 3-7 days to clean up by products & settle out clear or slightly misty. Skip the secondary. No need for it.
 
Yes,the yeast are fine & still fermenting. The airlock slows down or stops at this point because initial fermentation is over. But it'll slowly,uneventfully creep down to FG from here. After FG is reached,give it 3-7 days to clean up by products & settle out clear or slightly misty. Skip the secondary. No need for it.

I will be using a secondary for oak chips. Thanks for the reply.
 
just tell your wife to clean it up or the entire lid might blow off and you'll have beer all over the dam place. Scare her into fixing it.

I already fixed it. I'll have to include her in the brewing process next time.
 
Good point. About the only time I secondary is oaking. Still got 4oz of french medium toast oak chips layin around myself.

How do you prep your oak chips for secondary? I can't decide whether to boil them in water for 5 min then strain and pitch, or soak them in liquor over night and pitch the whole damn thing into secondary.
 
Either way,pour the chips & liquid through a hop sock into secondary,tie it off,& drop it in. Rack the beer onto that. The liquid soaks resins out of the wood that help make flavor.
 
Either way,pour the chips & liquid through a hop sock into secondary,tie it off,& drop it in. Rack the beer onto that. The liquid soaks resins out of the wood that help make flavor.

Sounds good, thanks!
 
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