fermenting blowoff...

[Keiff]

Long story short, I made a batch of smooth ale and ended up with about 5.75 gallons of higher grav wort (1.080) in a 6.5 gallon fermenter. I knew I'd probably have some blowoff pitching Wyeast 1084 at 70° so I installed a 1 1/4" blowoff tube right out of the gate which dumped into a 1 gallon jug containing about 22 oz of sanitizer solution.

By yesterday evening, about 2 quarts of wort had dumped into the jug. After I had things under control, I decided to bubble lock the contents of that jug, which seems to have formed a healthly krausen of its own this morning.

Should I leverage this blowoff to get my volume back up to 5.5 gallons or just accept the loss? I had sanitized foil wrapped around the opening of the blowoff jug and hose, so I doubt any nasties got in, especially with the rapid rate of CO2 expulsion. The only downside I see is the 25% dilution of the wort in the jug, but how much would that matter when spread across the 5.25 volume in the primary?

Appreciate any advice offered...

 

[lhommedieu]

I just had this conversation, in a slightly different context, with a mentor and friend, and his advice was this:

It's best to blow-off the brown goop and not allow it back into the fermenter. Your beer will be clearer and taste better as a result.

 

[Keiff]

Fortunately, most of the "goop" stuck to the interior of the tube or settled in the bottom of the blowoff vessel. I would be able to decant enough of the wort back into the primary without disturbing/adding blowoff solids back into the mix.

 

[day_trippr]

Fortunately, most of the "goop" stuck to the interior of the tube or settled in the bottom of the blowoff vessel. I would be able to decant enough of the wort back into the primary without disturbing/adding blowoff solids back into the mix.

There's still those 22 ounces of sanitizer in the catch bottle.
You think dumping all that back in is a good idea?

Cheers!

 

[lhommedieu]

You could try adding 2 quarts of distilled water or sterilized light DME wort @ 1.035 SG back to your fermenter if you wanted to top off what you've lost. Just follow basic rules for sanitation and you'll be fine. Adding wort may kick-start your yeast back up again - but that's fine, and the FG won't be effected much since it's spread out over 5.25 gallons. Adding 2 quarts of distilled water might dilute your SG, but I'm sure the effect will be very minimal.

 

[Schecter]

Fermcap.

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

Don't dump it back in. Don't do anything. Accept the loss.

Next time, get your pitching temp down in the range of 60-65. Blow off can happen, however i would rather have pitched at the correct temperature to prevent unwanted flavors. Ferment at those temps, as well. Naturally the fermentation will kick off heat and that will raise the temp 3-5*f and in some cases even more.

Proper pitching, proper fermentation control will result in better beer every time. Blowoff is a natural part of the game in certain circumstances. I used to use fermcap when I had limited fermentation headspace and would say its viable insurance to prevent loss due to blowoff.

 

[Keiff]

The sanitizer was minimal iodophor solution, but yes, I agree. I don't feel very good about dumping it in my beer.

I've got the blowoff under control. Made an emergency run to the drugstore last night and got some infant gas remedy. I now have that insurance for future issues. I also placed the primary in my bottling bucket with cold water and got the internal temp down to 70° (within the supposed operating temp for this yeast). It's still churning like crazy though, so maybe adding new wort is the way to go. The 86 oz. of blowoff in the 1 gallon jug is pretty active too. I suppose I'll just watch it play out like a science experiment.

When I have the room and resources, I'll secure/craft a fermentation chamber, it's just not in the cards at the moment. I'm aware that doing that is one of the single-most drastic improvements I can make with my brews. Just gotta get the wife onboard for a 7 cf freezer in the garage.

Thanks everyone for your valuable input!