Foaming up into airlock, loosing flavor?

[nickmpower]

I'm using Nottingham for the first time for some cran/rasberry cider, and its way more aggressive than montrachet. For a day or so there was a little foam going up into the airlock, so I wrapped a paper towel around it to make sure it didnt make a mess (its not much thats foaming over).

so 12 or so hours later I went to change the paper towels and it seems the foam dried to a sludge, similar to whats on the bottom of the carboy after a ferment. I tasted it and it tastes great, like spread on your toast great. Anyone ever experience this before? what exactly is the sludge that was created?

 

[Maylar]

It's referred to as krausen (tho that's actually a beer term). Dunno what it's made of, but it forms in the neck of a jug in the first day or so of primary. Usually it falls off the glass and becomes part of the lees sediment. I usually wash it down with a sanitized turkey baster.

Perfectly normal.

 

[Terek]

This happens all the time when you add stuff to ciders. All it is is yeast. It will not hurt anything or make you loose any flavors or affect the fermentation process. It just produces a mess. Just make sure you clean your air lock out now and then. It can build up rather quickly and clog the air lock. Soon it will build up enough pressure to blow and it can and will paint your walls with yeast