homebrewdad
Well-Known Member
Yesterday evening, I finished up an imperial nut brown ale. I was a little worried about how well my yeast would do; I had made a 1L starter (Wyest 1728 Scottish Ale) and added a second smack pack to the batch itself, but dummy me didn't properly puncture both of the internal nutrient chambersof the smack pack, and the pack only inflated about halfway. After discovering ths when I opened the smack pack, I went ahead and pitched the yeast, then cut the nutrient chamber open and dumped it in, as well.
My OG was high - 1.100, when the target was 1.081. Both of my batches have been high... don't know if that's due to me getting concentrated samples in my thief, or due to me getting too many sugars in my beer. Higher gravity (if correct) meant that I had underpitched the yeast, even with the extra pack... I had probably only pitched 270-300 billion cells, and it would need more at the SG. Right?
It looks like my worries were unfounded (at least, at this point) - this morning, I was already getting a good three bubbles per second from the airlock. Note that my total volume for the batch was 5.25 gallons, and I have it in a 6.5 gallon glass carboy.
I have all of one batch under my belt, and had assumed from reading that the head space would give me plenty of room.
I just checked on the carboy (newbie wants to see, you know), and the fermentation has picked up noticeably - to the rate of several bubbles per second, and my airlock itself is starting to blow bubbles. I uncovered the carboy, and you guessed it - the krausen has already filled up all of the available space. I'm getting a very small bit of foam out of the top of my airlock now.
I am getting concerned... should I be? I don't have the setup for a blowoff tube. What are my options at this point?
Thanks for helping out a newbie.
My OG was high - 1.100, when the target was 1.081. Both of my batches have been high... don't know if that's due to me getting concentrated samples in my thief, or due to me getting too many sugars in my beer. Higher gravity (if correct) meant that I had underpitched the yeast, even with the extra pack... I had probably only pitched 270-300 billion cells, and it would need more at the SG. Right?
It looks like my worries were unfounded (at least, at this point) - this morning, I was already getting a good three bubbles per second from the airlock. Note that my total volume for the batch was 5.25 gallons, and I have it in a 6.5 gallon glass carboy.
I have all of one batch under my belt, and had assumed from reading that the head space would give me plenty of room.
I just checked on the carboy (newbie wants to see, you know), and the fermentation has picked up noticeably - to the rate of several bubbles per second, and my airlock itself is starting to blow bubbles. I uncovered the carboy, and you guessed it - the krausen has already filled up all of the available space. I'm getting a very small bit of foam out of the top of my airlock now.
I am getting concerned... should I be? I don't have the setup for a blowoff tube. What are my options at this point?
Thanks for helping out a newbie.