Apricot uh oh

jknapp12105 · May 8, 2012

I transferred the beer into the secondary and filled it all the way to the top of the 5 gal carboy. A few minutes ago, it blew my top off and started foaming out! Should I drain some of the beer out and leave a gap in the neck of the carboy?

ArcticBear · May 8, 2012

Throw a blow off tube on there and the other end of the Hose in some sanitizer and you should be just fine

TwoBearsinaBathTubBrew · May 8, 2012

You should most definitely dump off a little, allowing for "head space" in your fermenter. Putting a blow off hose will help but it will fill up your sanitizing bucket with yeast which can be a dicey situation. So I recommend syphoning out a little and add a blow off hose for good measure.

jknapp12105 · May 8, 2012

TwoBearsinaBathTubBrew said:
You should most definitely dump off a little, allowing for "head space" in your fermenter. Putting a blow off hose will help but it will fill up your sanitizing bucket with yeast which can be a dicey situation. So I recommend syphoning out a little and add a blow off hose for good measure.

Thanks for the help!

fredtheseal · May 8, 2012

TwoBearsinaBathTubBrew said:
You should most definitely dump off a little, allowing for "head space" in your fermenter. Putting a blow off hose will help but it will fill up your sanitizing bucket with yeast which can be a dicey situation. So I recommend syphoning out a little and add a blow off hose for good measure.

Not sure I agree with this, but I'm not sure what is meant by "it will fill up your sanitizing bucket with yeast which can be a dicey situation".

You want to limit oxygen exposure after fermentation is done. This includes avoiding splashing and head space in secondary vessels.

I have a similar situation every time I make a blackberry wheat beer. I only leave enough room in the carboy to add the stopper and a blowoff. I always get some blowoff in the bucket but it calms down fairly quick.

I don't see how adding head space AND adding a blowoff tube is better than just adding a blowoff tube.

ArcticBear · May 8, 2012

You don't need a ton of headspace in the secondary. For apricot did you use fresh fruit, purée, extract? After the initial charge of sugar shock to the yeast subsides, you shouldn't have much activity. We're you at your final gravity when you racked over to the secondary?

jknapp12105 · May 9, 2012

I used canned. I think what happen is the yeast went crazy once the fruit was introduced. It calmed down and is back to normal. There is still a little foam on the top so hopefully that won't create mold or something.