Cloudy Water in Airlock

So, I'm not a complete beginner, but fairly close. I'm brewing my 5th or 6th batch, but I'm brewing a Sweetwater IPA clone, a 5 gallon batch. Anyways, I pitched on Sunday afternoon and set the brew in the basement (about 60 degrees). I took a look at the airlock last night and it was bubbling about once every two to three seconds. When I checked on it tonight, I noticed that it was still bubbling at the same rate, but the water in the airlock had turned cloudy. I suspect that the krausen (sp?) has risen quite high in my primary fermenter and into the airlock, what should I do? Should I sterilize some serving spoons or a colander and removed as much of the krausen as possible? Is my batch screwed?

Thanks,

Matt

 

Not screwed at all Matt! That's good stuff in there! It may get even worse (the mess that is - but what is going on inside is great). You may want to consider a blowoff tube. Or you can just open her up, clean and sanitize, and be prepared to do it a few times. It is rigorous fermentation and makes for a good beer. What is in the recipe and what yeast did it call for? Dry or rehydrated?

 

No, your batch is not screwed. If you have another airlock, fill that with a sanitized solution and put it in place. If you don't, you can take it out quickly and wash it out, and put some more sanitized solution in it. Believe it or not, there is so much CO2 coming out of there, that it would be near impossible for anything to get in.

RDWHAHB

 

True - Leave it; add water to the lock if necessary or change out to a blow-off tube. The yeasties are busy and don't like to be disturbed ;o)

 

I was mainly worried about the water from the airlock being exposed, then getting into the fermenter. I'll swap out airlocks this evening.
As for the recipe, I found a recipe for Sweetwater IPA Clone on the web, and kinda modified it for the available hops, grain, and extract.

Recipe:
6 lb Amber DME (LBHS didn't have light available).
1 lb Light LME

2 lb German Light Munich
1 lb German Wheat Light Malt

WYeast 1056 American Ale (Pitched around 65-70 degrees)

2 oz. Falconer's (replacement for Simcoe) - 60 min
2 oz. Falconer's - 15 min
2 oz. Falconer's - 1 min

2 oz Falconer's Dry Hop after secondary fermentation.

Predicted OG was 1.068, I got 1.066.

 

Use some star san made up solution in your airlock, or go with cheap vodka.