Fermentation and blowoff

[JNewbs]

I've brewed a few times, but I haven't done anything high gravity yet. I've always rigged a blowoff tube, but never had more than minimal liquid come out of the tube. I usually brew extract, and I've only done one partial in the past.

I'm looking at doing a partial mash Imperial Stout for my next beer. My brew kit has a 6.5 gallon bucket I intend to use for primary, and a 5 gallon glass carboy for secondary. I'm a little bit nervous that the 6.5 gallons won't be enough space and there will be a huge blowoff causing me to lose beer.

I'm not brewing this recipe, but reading things like this is making me nervous (toward the bottom of the post in the link, here's the relevant text: "Massive blow-off. After 36 hours I poured it into an 8 gallon bucket since it was still losing beer. Maybe 1.25 gallons blown off.").
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2011/04/portsmouth-kate-great-clone-recipe.html

I don't have anything bigger than 6.5 gallons, but I do have an extra carboy. Would it do any harm to pitch, mix, aerate, and split the wort into to two different containers for primary? I would then not lose any beer at all and I could recombine them in secondary.

One mitigating factor could be that I am using a packet of Wyeast 1056, not a big homemade starter or cake. I imagine the fermentation will ramp up more slowly because of that. Do you guys think this is even necessary, or should I not be worried?

Thanks!

 

[birvine]

I've never done it, but I suppose you could.

Brent

 

[PseudoChef]

Off topic, but, if you are planning on making an RIS, please, please, please make a starter.

Why spend (what I assume) a lot of money on ingredients and a lot of patience on a beer when you're going to skimp on fermentation?

 

[944play]

+1, big beers need lots of yeast.

Antifoam agents help keep the beer from crawling away and might help keep IBUs and foam-positive compounds in solution.

 

[JNewbs]

Yeah I would like to make a starter. I ordered some extra DME, and I have time before my buddy and I get together to brew it. I just don't want to invest in a stir plate. I've looked into making one with a cigar box and a computer fan, but I must be the only person in the universe without a spare computer fan laying around and I'm not sure where to get a used one locally (quicker/cheaper than online).

Would a starter be worth it if I made it in a gallon milk jug and just shook the crap out of it a few times a day then decanted off the liquid at the end? Also, any advice on DME/Water ratio, and how much I should mix up?

 

[PseudoChef]

Yeah I would like to make a starter. I ordered some extra DME, and I have time before my buddy and I get together to brew it. I just don't want to invest in a stir plate. I've looked into making one with a cigar box and a computer fan, but I must be the only person in the universe without a spare computer fan laying around and I'm not sure where to get a used one locally (quicker/cheaper than online).

Would a starter be worth it if I made it in a gallon milk jug and just shook the crap out of it a few times a day then decanted off the liquid at the end? Also, any advice on DME/Water ratio, and how much I should mix up?

Yes, starters don't require stir plates.

 

[944play]

mrmalty.com should answer most any questions you might have about starters.

 

[cjd3]

I had a geyser on a belgian ale I made. Looked awesome, but didn't have that much liquid loss. The best part of the blow off tube, is that that most that material is unwanted gunk:
http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2009/10/10/better-beer-with-the-burton-union-blow-off-method/
I wouldn't split the batch.

 

[unionrdr]

Interesting read of some old school thoughts. Seems to me with no head space,you could blow off more than krausen. They also talk about the krausen being lighter stuff to wanna get rid of,but then talks about the heavier undesirables blowing off too.?...
I'd rather have head space,& keep the yeast in the primary. The undesirable stuff settles & compacts on the bottom anyway. Interesting thought,though.
I've never lost much beer at all to blowing off krausen. Never enough to be concerned about. But my wife's second brew has,since last Thursday,been a wild ass on yellow jackets & acid with a butt full of burrs! Popped the lid,was just getting ready to launch the blow off tube when I caught it, Blowing krausen & co2 like a po'd banshee to the point where I had to put up a 2nd blow off jug,etc. The 1st one was full & overflowing,mostly from big bathtub bubbles.

 

[JNewbs]

Not to hijack my own thread to a different topic here, but I'd rather do that than start a new thread.

As I said before, I have brewed a few times, always extract, and it's time to move on to partial mash. The recipe has a number of grains, starting with a few pounds of 2 row. From there it gets in to smaller amounts of chocolate, debittered black, etc. When I used to brew extract and the recipe called for "specialty grains", I steeped them for 30 minutes. Now that I am planning to partial mash, I wanted to make sure that I should include all the grains in the mash, and there will be no steeping.

I do have a secondary question regarding the partial mash. How would you guys do it if you had these containers:
30 qt cooler
Multiple 1-1.5 gallon pots
Brew kettle (10 gallon)
Some 5 gallon buckets

I realize it's not ideal. I've got 9-10 pounds of grains going, and the recipe calls for 2 gallons of water (seems a little low to me).

 

[944play]

Yeah, you'll want more like 3-4 gallons of strike water.

All you will need is the kettle and a big paint strainer. Possibly put some hot liquor in the cooler to perform a dunk sparge at the end of the mash.

 

[daksin]

I wouldn't worry about the blowoff- even if it's extreme, you're only losing foam which is very little beer and mostly CO2. 6.5 gallons is plenty for fermentation. Hook up your blowoff and don't worry about it, just make sure the blowoff recipient container is big enough.