Ok, I know; that’s one of the things a unitank is for, but I didn’t actually set out to carbonate yet – need to learn about it and get a spunding valve first, haven’t done that yet. Problem is, I swapped out the ball valve and blow-off hose on my 7-Gallon SSB unitank for a CO2 hookup to put a little pressure in the fermenter before pulling a sample for a gravity measurement – didn’t want to suck O2 into the fermenter while drawing a sample.
I errantly left that setup in-place, and the next day I came in to check gravity on my sample and noticed close to 10 psi on my unitank gauge. Thinking nothing of it, I burped it off by loosening the TC on my CO2 hookup and foam started blowing out – YIKES!! Quickly switched it back and got the ball valve on and closed, hooked up the blow-off hose and placed it back in the bucket of Starsan and opened the ball valve. More foam spewed out and then bubbles. Lots of bubbles.
This IPA was at the end of fermentation, and now I have bubbles again! It has registered the same SG three days in a row, so I know it is finished. I normally give it a couple more days to finish cleaning up, then I crash it for a couple of days and keg it off so if I keep to my regular schedule, I should start crashing tomorrow. But it is still spitting out bubbles from the accidental CO2. I suspect I probably lost some aroma and a little beer, but it should still be a fine IPA. Just don’t want to do any more damage if I can help it.
Question is, can I just start the crash on schedule, or should I let it completely deflate before lowering the temperature?
I errantly left that setup in-place, and the next day I came in to check gravity on my sample and noticed close to 10 psi on my unitank gauge. Thinking nothing of it, I burped it off by loosening the TC on my CO2 hookup and foam started blowing out – YIKES!! Quickly switched it back and got the ball valve on and closed, hooked up the blow-off hose and placed it back in the bucket of Starsan and opened the ball valve. More foam spewed out and then bubbles. Lots of bubbles.
This IPA was at the end of fermentation, and now I have bubbles again! It has registered the same SG three days in a row, so I know it is finished. I normally give it a couple more days to finish cleaning up, then I crash it for a couple of days and keg it off so if I keep to my regular schedule, I should start crashing tomorrow. But it is still spitting out bubbles from the accidental CO2. I suspect I probably lost some aroma and a little beer, but it should still be a fine IPA. Just don’t want to do any more damage if I can help it.
Question is, can I just start the crash on schedule, or should I let it completely deflate before lowering the temperature?