Double IPA just started fermenting but seems pretty violently

[matthej]

Hi,

I just brewed a double ipa last night and notice in the am everything seemed fine. I could hear it gurgle every couple of seconds.
Fast forward to tonight and I see wort (or looks like sugar) coming out of the airlock. Please see picture.

What should I do about this? Nothing, fill it up with water again?

Thanks!

 

[friarsmith]

Meet Mr H. Krausen. Friends call him “High”

Clean out the airlock and reinsert.

 

[matthej]

Meet Mr H. Krausen. Friends call him “High”

Clean out the airlock and reinsert.

So just sanitize airlock and reinsert with water into airlock?

 

[friarsmith]

Yeah. Just clean it up and refill with fluid. Then put it back.

 

[matthej]

Yeah. Just clean it up and refill with fluid. Then put it back.

Thanks! Just did. I am guessing for a couple of days I should pay close attention to it to make sure it doesn't happen again?

 

[friarsmith]

Yes. After the 3rd or 4th day you should be in the clear.

 

[Jag75]

Blow off tubes are your friend.

 

[Beerstein]

After a while you get an instinctive feel for when you should use a blow off tube versus an airlock.

 

[Nagorg]

My last ferment WITH blow-off... I had to keep switching from jug to pitcher to jug to pitcher...

 

[tripelthelightfantastic]

jeepers....... which yeast did that?

 

[hotbeer]

Consider leaving more headspace in your fermenter next time.

Larger diameter blow off tubes going straight up for a few inches seem to let the crap that does make it that far roll back down the insides of the tubing and back to the fermenter with no mess in the bubbler bottle.

 

[Deadalus]

I use one of these on my carboys. They make another shape for buckets. On the bucket ones, your airlock grommet needs to be close to the sides of the bucket as the distance from the curve near the top to the next bend is shorter. The angle is slightly different between the two types also as is the overall length.

I always use them as I don't leave a lot of headspace in the carboy and I pretty much always have vigorous starts. I almost always get some blow off on my ales and even my lagers pretty frequently need them.

@matthej I recommend the three piece airlocks they are easier to clean when this happens.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

I find low-temperature fermentation to be the best way of preventing overly aggressive fermentations and their related clean-up messes.

 

[Nagorg]

jeepers....... which yeast did that?

That was WLP007 in a 1.094 OG RIS.

 

[hout17]

I find low-temperature fermentation to be the best way of preventing overly aggressive fermentations and their related clean-up messes.

I totally agree with this. Also with that much fermentable sugar even at low temps you have to keep an eye on it. I had a come to Jesus experience with Nottingham even at low temps ended up having to put a blow off hose on it was a beast.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

That was WLP007 in a 1.094 OG RIS.

Every time I've brewed a RIS, they always make a mess as well.

 

[Nagorg]

Consider leaving more headspace in your fermenter next time.

Larger diameter blow off tubes going straight up for a few inches seem to let the crap that does make it that far roll back down the insides of the tubing and back to the fermenter with no mess in the bubbler bottle.

Ya think? lol That was 16G in a half barrel chronical. (16G to allow for yeast/trub dump and minimal loss) I've fermented that big of a batch before without issue, just not a 1.094 OG batch. If/when I do this again, I'll be adding fermcap.

 

[Nagorg]

Hi,

I just brewed a double ipa last night and notice in the am everything seemed fine. I could hear it gurgle every couple of seconds.
Fast forward to tonight and I see wort (or looks like sugar) coming out of the airlock. Please see picture.

What should I do about this? Nothing, fill it up with water again?

Thanks!

Sorry, didnt mean to hijack your thread. Just couldn't help but post my last bout with a crazy ferment. Hopefully it lets you see how this is to be expected but you can typically deal with it "better" if you expect its coming.

Blow-off tubes are the goto solution, especially when headspace is an issue.

For your situation; as others have suggested you can just clean it up and put it back in. You may not be setup for blow-off from the looks of things but if it hasn't slowed down by now, you might need to do an emergency mod.

Tips:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/blowoff-tube-for-bucket.154531/