I know, I know RDWHAHB... But

[rambler]

I was laying in bed led night listening to my Steam Beer bubbling away peacefully when all of the sudden i heard it realease a massive amount of gas all at once. I thought his was weird because it started 3 days ago and should be just about finished up. I was planning on taking a reading this morning and i woke up to a huge white sticky mess inside the carboy.

I pitched it on wednesday with some harvested Wlp001 from a barleywine that had just finished, and it took of like normal. Three days in it was perfectly normal, but now it's covered in big thick white kreusen thats slowly oozing through the airlock.

I've been making beer for a long time and it doesnt look right to me. I see a white ring around the beer at the top, Is this the dreaded "white ring of death"? I have never had a bacterial infection so dont know if i would recognize one. Here are the pics.

The carboy on the left was pitched with Wlp862 and looks normal to me.

 

[Bradinator]

Krausen, totally. I have had that happen to me once before and it is exactly why I never use glass carboys for primary. RDWHAHB until its cleaning time. I don't envy you because that carboy is going to be a real pain to clean.

 

[SwampassJ]

Happened to me almost 2 weeks ago with Wyeast American Ale II. I pitched Sunday night and it had 2-3inches of krausen that started to diminish on Wednesday afternoon. By Friday it had clogged my airlock a full 6 inches above the beer and started to ooze into my fermentation freezer.

I just opened the fermenter today (2 weeks since active fermantation started) and it looks good, just a few yeast rafts left.

 

[headfullahops]

Krausen, totally. I have had that happen to me once before and it is exactly why I never use glass carboys for primary. RDWHAHB until its cleaning time. I don't envy you because that carboy is going to be a real pain to clean.

I wouldn't be so quick to poo-poo the glass carboys. This happened to me every time I brewed a Bavarian Hefe with 3068. Why did it take me so long to get a big blow-off tube and a bucket?!?! A couple of 3-piece airlocks for primaries will make your life a bit easier, too.

 

[Bradinator]

Well I am not against the glass carboys really, just the fact that when your krausen comes up like that and covers the top of the inside of the carboy its a real PITA to clean. Even with a blow off tube if you let it sit for a few days (usually weeks if your not doing a secondary) that krausen gets caked on and can be very difficult to scrub off.

 

[headfullahops]

Well I am not against the glass carboys really, just the fact that when your krausen comes up like that and covers the top of the inside of the carboy its a real PITA to clean. Even with a blow off tube if you let it sit for a few days (usually weeks if your not doing a secondary) that krausen gets caked on and can be very difficult to scrub off.

Maybe, maybe not. I fill mine with hot water and let em soak for a few hours (or overnight if I'm feeling lazy) and all the crud easily comes off; very minimal scrubbing.

 

[rambler]

I'm finishing up a 12 gal. stainless fermenter now. So this ought to be the last time i have to deal with this crap!!!

 

[Gwitz]

All this talk of scrubing makes me think some of you guys have never used oxiclean or any sodium percarbonate based cleaner. 30 minutes upside down half full equals a very clean carboy. I left a dirty carboy outside for 6 months and thats all it took to clean it haha.

But ya that looks like a healthy fermentation to me. Im jealous, infact, i havnt had a crazy fermentation like that since last summer.

 

[VanHorneDog]

had this happen on a witbier the other day... dunno about being a pan in the ass to clean. took me all of 10 minutes. most of the pain was the krausen on the outside after the airlock when blowing off.

oxyclean and hot water works every time.

 

[sendkyleanemail]

Look at that thing go!! Haha awesome!!

 

[sendkyleanemail]

BTW what is the temp there? A touch on the high side?

 

[BigBadMikey]

Fermcap S will reduce your overflow.

 

[rambler]

No its not hot. If you look really closely at the thermal strip you can see it right at 63-64. It must just be some happy yeast. I picked some of the overflow off of the towel underneath the carboy this morning and it's like clay. It rolls up into a little ball like silly putty...weird

 

[sendkyleanemail]

Happy yeast is good!

 

[PGHBrew]

A scoop of oxy clean free and hot water. Let it sit for a couple days then rinse good. I think this is the easiest way to clean even the dirtiest carboys. The cleaner does all the work for you!

That yeast does look pretty happy.