Extremely Volatile & Foamy Omega Gulo Starter (w/ photo). Any worries?

[GoodTruble]

I made a yeast starter with Omega Gulo late last night, which smelled amazing right out of the pouch.

This morning, it had a small, normal amount of bubbles centered on top. Then when I went to give it a vigorous swirl, it erupted like a volcano.

In less than 1 second the 1000 ml starter shot through the top of the flask and pushed the (loose) stopper out of place.

It was actually kind of impressive. It still smells awesome, and I'm looking forward to using it, but should I be concerned at all? (Planning to leave extra head space by fermenting 5 gallon batch in a 7 gallon fermonster).

Oh, and I used a can of Propper Starter. But I've used that several times before without anything like this happening.

 

[Gusso]

Don't think there's anything to worry about. I'm using some Gulo slurry from a batch I brewed a couple of months ago. That batch was insane. Iirc, gravity dropped about 50 points in less than48 hours. Today's brew is a Biere de Garde.

 

[GoodTruble]

Don't think there's anything to worry about. I'm using some Gulo slurry from a batch I brewed a couple of months ago. That batch was insane. Iirc, gravity dropped about 50 points in less than48 hours. Today's brew is a Biere de Garde.

Yeah, I think it's just a really active yeast that my "starter" may be close to a small beer after 7 hours. I plan harvest some of the yeast to use in a later batch as well. (Today is just a strong blonde, but I have some bigger beers planned for the yeast harvest).

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Consider adding a drop of fermcap to your starters to help keep that down.

 

[GoodTruble]

Consider adding a drop of fermcap to your starters to help keep that down.

Thank you!

I have it but have never had to use it yet (-and would have forgotten but for that post).

 

[day_trippr]

Hahaha! Super-saturated with CO2, all it took was something to give it an initial nucleation site to start the chain reaction.
That's something a stir-bar will prevent as it continuously knocks CO2 out of solution - and I once had a bar fly off the magnet overnight and the next morning when I did exactly the same "give it a shake" thing I got the exact same eruption.

Never too old to learn "Don't do that!"

Cheers!

 

[GoodTruble]

Hahaha! Super-saturated with CO2, all it took was something to give it an initial nucleation site to start the chain reaction.
That's something a stir-bar will prevent as it continuously knocks CO2 out of solution - and I once had a bar fly off the magnet overnight and the next morning when I did exactly the same "give it a shake" thing I got the exact same eruption.

Never too old to learn "Don't do that!"

Cheers!

Ah, stir-bar makes much more sense now. Thanks.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Hahaha! Super-saturated with CO2, all it took was something to give it an initial nucleation site to start the chain reaction.
That's something a stir-bar will prevent as it continuously knocks CO2 out of solution - and I once had a bar fly off the magnet overnight and the next morning when I did exactly the same "give it a shake" thing I got the exact same eruption.

Never too old to learn "Don't do that!"

Cheers!

I had the same thing happen, it just went nuts and started overflowing, what a mess.
WLP-400 Belgian Wit yeast

 

[GoodTruble]

Quick update, pitched the Gulo starter into 5-gallon batch last night. Added several drops of fermcap, and it is quit the vigorous fermentation but still only about 1 inch of krausen. Thanks for the advice!

 

[CornKing]

Very interesting, looks like you made a really cool 4th grade science project. I have only used Gulo once but it seemed like a pretty normal fermentation... not a huge krausen, I also pitched a 1L starter which didn't do this, but like day tripper said it could be because I use a stir bar. In retrospect I was fermenting on the lowest end of the temperature range, maybe the krausen is impressive when you ramp the temperature up. To anyone who has used this yeast, what is the lowest FG you have reached?

 

[GoodTruble]

Quick Update: Not quite done fermenting, but getting close. Will take first sample tonight or tomorrow.

Here is clip showing bubble rate at it's most active (2-3 days ago). I suspect the fermcap really helped out here.

 

[GoodTruble]

Another quick update: About two weeks in, and still slowly fermenting, but I did add fruit and dry hopping, which I think has extended the fermentation time. Hoping to bottle on Monday.

Tastes good, clean, but perhaps a bit more alcohol taste than I expected. I think the fruit and dry hop cut into the overall body more than intended. -Closer to a Saison than what I was aiming for. But the taste may adjust after it ages a bit. And the description of Gulo as high attenuation without phenolics appears to be exactly correct.

 

[GoodTruble]

Bottled this weekend. Final sample before bottling tasted good and more in line with expectations. Will update again after I try one.