So I pitched a starter of Wyeast Trappist high gravity into a belgian tripel. It was in a bucket and I set up a blow off tube knowing that things would get messy. However, as most buckets are not air tight I came home to discover quite the mess! I tried using some tape to keep the lid closed but it didn't seem to work. It seems like I am losing a lot of yeast. Can this affect the fermenting long term? Any work around for this?
Fermenting bucket + Blow off= Mess!
- Thread starter Wiesty
- Start date
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Just set the lid loosely on top of the fermenter until fermentation dies down a bit. Also, put a towel underneath the fermenter because more than likely krausen is going to spill down the side of the bucket.
I should also add that the blow off has been rendered basically useless. The CO2 is just building in the bucket near the paths of least resistance (lid leaks), and so it doesn't seem to escape through the blow off. I don't get any bubbling in the blowoff water unless I press on the fermenter lid.
This could be because of hops being transferred to the fermenter. Hops can plug the blow-off - I know from experience. A larger blow-off could help, but I elected to just set the lid on the fermenter loose (with a 1 - 2 pound weight on it to keep fruit flies out). I keep temperature under control, and my normal gravity beers don't blow off, but if they do, the loose lid will prevent an explosion. My latest fix is using an 8 gallon fermenter bucket and watching it closely.
I just used this yeast (WLP530, same strain) and had the same thing happen. Second day of fermentation, the CO2 was building so fast that it just kept popping the lid off at the weakest point. This strain is pretty notorious for vigorous fermentation/high krausen so what you're experiencing is pretty normal. I lost 1/4 gallon of wort/beer to blowoff.
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