Braggot Troubles

[Firehawk69]

Hey All,

I'm attempting a braggot style mead for the first time and am having some difficulties. The recipe that I am following is:

8 lbs Bavarian Wheat DME
10 lbs wildflower honey
2 oz tettnang hops
whirlfloc tablet in the boil at the 60 min mark
Lalvin ICV D-47 yeast


Now for the boil, I started with 1 lb of the DME in the water and got that to a boil. Then I added the hops and boiled for 45 min. At that point, I added the remaining DME, which developed a heavy amount of foam, and boiled for the last 15 min of a 60 min boil. Got that cooled down and pitched my yeast starter. This was done yesterday, 1-11-15, and today I am having problems with foam so thick in the primary fermenter that it blocks the airlock and blows the lid off. I have had this happen twice today and was wondering if that is normal or not. I currently have a clean towel tied over the top of my primary to prevent another blowout and hopefully not have foam over too. My question is: Is this normal for this style of mead? I have only done melomels, metheglyns, and hard ciders. Please help!!!!

 

[LexusChris]

I'm not sure if you have fermented a beer as well as the meads you have mentioned, but it sure sounds like you have a nice vigorous beer fermentation going on! Some yeasts really go crazy on malt sugars, and some are foamy on top. I've not tried D-47 on a malt based wort yet ... so, not sure how 'normal' that is for this yeast.

I assume you have a 5-gallon batch in a 6-gal carboy? and a 3-piece airlock?

A blowoff tube can make those first few days easier to get through, as it won't actually clog like that 3-piece airlock would. I modified one of my 3-piece airlocks by cutting the stem to get rid of the little cross over the intake tube, and then pushed some spare tubing over the top of the stem. You can then leave the other 2 pieces aside, and just put your blowoff tube into a bucket of sanitizer.

Just remember to switch back to a standard airlock after the vigor has subsided, and definitely before a cold crash. When that headspace cools down, it can suck up a lot of sanitizer into your beer/mead.

You should be fine. Good luck!
--LexusChris

 

[Firehawk69]

In all honesty, this is my first foray into beer making. I have never had as energetic a start to the fermentation as I have with this one. All of my meads and ciders have been slow to start and never foamed like this. I think I have rabid yeast! LOL I have it in a 6 gal fermenting bucket, so the blowouts were not as bad as they could have been in a carboy. Thanks for the idea of using a three piece air lock with tubing for a blowout preventer, that saved me a boat load of grief.