foam coming from airlock 24hrs after pitching

[malevinson]

I extracted brewed the dogfishhead 90minute recipe from austin homebrew. 12 hrs after pitching I noticed some CO2 starting to come out and it looked okay. Just now I saw a bunch of foam/beer in the airlock and a whole bunch of pressure built up. The foam had sealed the 8 or so holes on the cap of the airlock. It seems like the entire bucket is filled with foam in what should be empty space.


I have no idea why this is. This is my 4th batch ever, and my first time doing a yeast starter. I followed the starter directions on these forums and added two vials of liquid yeast. I dont think this is too much as it is what came in the kit from austinhomebrew and they recommended a yeast starter too.

Im tempted to open the lid and clear out the foam so i can put the airlock back on. Any better ideas?

Thanks!

 

[malevinson]

nvm now that i posted this i see similar threads on the bottom of the page.

so is this a common problem with high gravity beers? I was all worried about not getting enough yeast activity because of the high gravity but maybe the starter and two vials happened to be overkill? I hope this turns out good id hate to ruin a DFH90min

 

[chaydaw]

Blowoff tube!!!

 

[jonmohno]

Sounds like a nice healthy ferment, get a tube on it and a half gallon jug with some sanitized water for the end of the tube,its going nuts. I had my first blowoff tube experience and its pretty fun to watch,to me its a good sign of a very good beer. I also started hydrating dry yeast and my gravity was at 1.06 using 04 yeast.Im a converted yeast hydrater from now on.

 

[BryanJ]

It depends on the yeast and how active it gets with the size of the krasuen. But your beer will be more than fine, dont worry about it. It happens occasionally to me and I haven't had a problem with an infected batch.

 

[malevinson]

thanks for all the replies.

it seemed like everything was going fine after setting up a blowoff tube but now i think i have a clog. the pressure keeps building up in the fermentor and i have to tap hard with the end of the blow off tube for it all to release. the clear tube looks debris free so im wondering if somehow its getting clogged from all the sticky foam inside of the fermentor. there is a ton of foam in this thing. so now im tapping this tube every 15 mins to release the pressure but im afraid to go to bed and wake up with a mess. should i take the lid off or what?

 

[hotbrew]

it's possible that krausen is getting in the tube and clogging it but I honestly wouldn't worry about it. If you have your airlock on there tightly, the krausen in the tube will be dislogged before the airlock will be blown off. If you really want peace of mind, change out the tube with a clean one and then clean out the old tube and swap between the two if it keeps clogging up.

If all hell breaks loose, and the airlock blows off in the middle of the night; you will have nothing to worry about. The krausen should be thick enough and the fermentation should be vigorous enough to prevent any kind of infection. Sleep well!

 

[maltbarleyhops]

i had my house stout blow off the first time i hydrated the yeast for it. unfortunately it was while i was sleeping........the airlock was 10 feet from the fermenter and i had krausen in the kitchen (ceiling) dining room (floor, table and chairs, wall) and living room (leather sofa, floor, walls.

IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!