Being on the road while brewing sucks...especially when you come back to a mess

[atooraya]

So I brewed a kit IPA, but used Wyeast French Saison strain 3711. I used this because when I leave, I wanted a yeast that tolerated a higher temp during brewing, because I had set my AC at 74 for when I'd be gone.

I brewed my beer on Thursday night, and I left Friday morning with the beer all happy and bubbly. Nobody was home, and I came back to find my airlock half full of beer, instead of water, my airlock lid caked in krausen, and dried up beer all over the lid of the bucket

I sanitized/cleaned the lid of the bucket as best I could, and took the airlock out and washed and sanitized that, but I think this could be toast for the brew This would have been my 3rd batch, and the first two came out great

 

[grem135]

Should be fine, airlock was still in place and full of beer so nothing could get in. RDWHAHB

 

[SledgeH]

You had a full air lock and positive pressure out of the brew bucket. You've got nothing to worry about.

 

[atooraya]

Yea, but dried krausen on the lid, and my beer has been at 76 in the bucket from what I can tell. Also, the OG when I brewed the beer was at 1.04, and should have been at 1.06

This is destined to fail

 

[SkipperNC]

I think you might be surprised, it will probably turn out great with that yeast.

I travel for work and run in to similar issues: had a beer on primary yeast for nearly 4 1/2 months, had unattended blowoffs, and come back to more than one mess. You would be surprised how easily good beer comes out.

Good luck, enjoy a homebrew.

 

[cg2112]

You're fine. The higher temp isn't ideal, but not terribly hot, either.
You've got a barrier of CO2 protecting your beer from oxygen and anything else in the air, nothing else you say suggests that you might have wrecked your beer. Give it a taste, but as long as it looks/smells normal, I'm sure you'll have no problems.

 

[jbaysurfer]

Come on dude, turn that frown upside down!

You're fine, and your beer will be fine!

Also, I'm on vacation with two batches fermenting away when I left, so gotta believe it'll all be fine ;-)

 

[ChessRockwell]

Also, the OG when I brewed the beer was at 1.04, and should have been at 1.06

This is destined to fail

Was this an extract or all grain kit?

I bet it will be fine. I'm curious to know how an IPA with 3711 will taste, so be sure to let us know how it turns out!

 

[lowtones84]

Yeah, I wouldn't say it's destined to fail. It may not necessarily be your best batch if it got to 76, but then hey, maybe it will for some strange reason? The krausen coming through the airlock is no big deal, and either is being 1.004 instead of 1.006. That's just a touch drier and I doubt most people would be able to perceive that. Have a good time drinking once you get it packaged!

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I gotta go with the no worries crowd here. I wouldn't even sweat the temps, 76 isn't all that high for saison yeast. As far as the low OG, was this a partial boil using top up water? If it was, that's the reason for the low OG reading, it's hard to mix the wort and top up thoroughly and get a spot on reading. Stop trying to jinx this batch, you're just having beginner's worries because these are new things for you. RDWHAHB.

 

[ChessRockwell]

The krausen coming through the airlock is no big deal, and either is being 1.004 instead of 1.006. That's just a touch drier and I doubt most people would be able to perceive that.

I think the op was referring to the OG being 1.040 instead of 1.060 - that's why I was asking if it was an all grain kit, an extract kit couldn't really be that far off unless you didn't put all the ingredients or added way too much water.

 

[atooraya]

Sorry for the late responses guys, came in on a redeye last night and just woke up.

This was a kit set, because it was cheaper, and according to the guys at Brew & Grow in Chicago (Great place btw!) it's not a bad setup. So it was a partial boil, and added water.

It's stopped bubbling out of the airlock for now, which i'm assuming it's all bubbled out after spilling out everywhere.

I used the 3711 specifically, because I was told that it could get up to 78 if need be. So if my place was set at 74, the ferment would be at about 78

 

[lowtones84]

I gotta go with the no worries crowd here. I wouldn't even sweat the temps, 76 isn't all that high for saison yeast. As far as the low OG, was this a partial boil using top up water? If it was, that's the reason for the low OG reading, it's hard to mix the wort and top up thoroughly and get a spot on reading. Stop trying to jinx this batch, you're just having beginner's worries because these are new things for you. RDWHAHB.

Oh yeah, I missed the saison yeast part, wow. Pfff no worries at all. You're good to go.

 

[atooraya]

What about it being exposed to air while I cleaned out the airlock? There was some dry krausen around the ring that I tried to clean as best I could before I took it out, so I'm worried about some of it maybe falling in.

I'm definitely getting a glass carboy next time, so I can see wtf is going on in the bucket!

 

[gmcastil]

Nothing to worry about - the higher temp was probably a good thing, given that its a saison strain.

 

[jbaysurfer]

No worries on the airlock thing either. You could remove the entire bucket lid and leave it off for a while so long as you didn't move the bucket, or have moving air, like wind across the liquid surface.

Why? Because Co2 is heavier then O2 and it creates an invisible blanket of protective gas over your beer during fermenation. Only agitating the surface of this blanket can cause 02 to mix with it, and even then, so far as you're not sloshing it about when the airlock is out, there is little to no chance of getting enough o2 molecules to absorb into your beer to oxidize it.

Read the thread about things that went wrong and beer turned out ok. Beer can seem invincible sometimes. It's harder then you think to screw up a batch.

 

[atooraya]

Gotcha, thanks guys. I just had to move the bucket a bit from behind my couch where it's coolest in my apartment, just to clean off the bucket lid and airlock.

I'm out of homebrew, so I have to relax, and have a craft brew

 

[LeverTime]

I had my lid literally blow off of my bucket when I was away. I think the airlock filled up, dried, and the pressure somehow blew it off. Anyway, my beer turned out great! There's a good chance yours will be fine too.