A few problems have arisen

poolteacher · May 23, 2007

First I want to say that I am new to this. One might say that I started off sprinting instead of crawling...
I started out about two months ago because a friend's father brews and I tried some of his. I was hooked. Since I have made four wines and seven beers. Also a mead caught my eye (fermenting as I speak.)
I have of course hit a couple of snags.
First, my beer always comes out darker than I wanted. Was told that it might be that I use a smaller pot to cook in. I have since started using a larger pot, but it doesn't seem to help. Have tried using a extra light malt extract with the same result.
Second, I brewed up a batch today and left to shoot pool. Just came home to find foam everywhere. It was shooting up through the airlock and all over the carboy. BIG mess. The seal on the bung is still good, but I'm wondering if the beer is compromised in any way.
Any ideas, other than I'm a *******?

Ryanh1801 · May 23, 2007

Are you using LME or DME, if using LME switch to DME your beer will be alot lighter in color. you can also search late addition which will also help with color. As far as the blow out goes, just re sanitize the lid and add a blow off tube and put the other end in a bucket of sanitizer. Im sure your beer will be fine.

and as they say RDWHAH :mug:

poolteacher · May 23, 2007

How does a blow off tube work? Dumb question I'm sure....

DeathBrewer · May 23, 2007

hook a sanitized tube up to your stopper, run the other end into a cup of water with sanitizing solution in it. bam! blow off tube. works the same as an airlock.

Ryanh1801 · May 23, 2007

Just for a picture ref. the other end goes into a bucket with sanitizer.

cubbies · May 23, 2007

Although DME will get you a lighter color than LME, your best bet is going to be with late addition. What that means is you only add 25-50% of your extract at the beginning of the boil, and then add the remaining 50-75% at the very end. I personally would throw it in with about 10 minutes remaining in the boil, so that everything is sanitary, but many people have reported adding it at flameout with no problems. The reason this makes a difference is that the longer the extract stays in the boil, the more caramalized it will get, and thus the darker it will get.

Also, make sure you are adding your extract off of the heat to avoid scorching and even darker colors.

A blowoff tube is better than an airlock in many cases as it will prevent your experience from happening again. However, you should be fine. The beer is putting off so much CO2 at that stage that it is unlikely any air was able to get to it. Just resanitize and you will probably be fine.