First Yeast Starter with Stir Plate!

[BSBrewer83]

I got a stir plate for Christmas and used it on my last brew. I started a day and a half before I was going to pitch. It didnt get to Krausen but I pitched anyways.

Well the stir plate worked great because now I have such a vigorous ferment that it blew my airlock up to the ceiling of the closet that I was fermenting in!!!!

So now I have yeast and stuff all over the place. I put the airlock back on but its only been 3 days of fermentation. Should I be worried I lost a lot of healthy yeast? I'm using WLP001 and the beer is about 68F. Anything I need to be worried about or is this just a great ferment?

 

[MalFet]

You're fine.

In the future, you might want to consider a blow-off tube instead of an airlock or using an anti-foam agent like Fermcap S.

 

[Bentpirate]

Naw, no need to worry. Put the lid back on and let it roll - next time however - consider a blow-off tube. No mess (minimal at worse) to clean up; sit back and watch the fermentation roll.....

 

[BSBrewer83]

Thanks for the quick responses. I'm glad no harm. Yeah I think I will start using blow off tubes now that my yeast are going to be working overtime.

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

What size fermenter, what size batch???

 

[BSBrewer83]

It was a 6.5 gallon glass carboy and the batch size was about 5.5 gallons.

 

[JohnnyO]

Also, if your room temperature is 68F, you can assume your beer temp is at least 70-71F as the fermemtation process creates heat of its own.

As a rule of thumb, I usually start my ales in an ambient temperature of 61-62F then bring it up to 66-68F after 5-7 days.