Foam from airlock

[JuanBeerOrTwo]

Brewed my first batch yesterday, a German hefe, and today I have foam coming out of the 3 piece airlock. Will this be a problem for my hefe?

 

[geim32]

You need a blow off tube before it gets messy.

 

[JuanBeerOrTwo]

Besides being messy, is it bad for the beer? Maybe cause contamination?

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Yeah you want to use a blowoff hose. You could potentially block the airlock and wind up blowing the lid/stopper off your bucket/out of carboy which will be a real PITA as you will most likely spray your brew all over.

 

[Whut]

Besides being messy, is it bad for the beer? Maybe cause contamination?

Your brew is fine - you just have a very active fermentation. As the others have said rig yourself a blowoff so you don't end up with a very big mess. Also, put the hose in to a bottle of whatever you use to sanitize your equipement with.

 

[kylevester]

Don't worry about infection at this point. Take the airlock off and either replace it as normal or replace it with a blowoff tube. I've had two batches where I didn't realize the airlock got clogged inside the bucket and a couple days later the lid blew off on both. You'd think the weak point would be the airlock/rubber interface, but apparently not. Neither of them got infected.

Just keep an eye on it and replace the airlock as needed if you don't do a blow off tube.

 

[Pie_Man]

Besides being messy, is it bad for the beer? Maybe cause contamination?

Nothing to worry about. Your beer is producing so much CO2 that it will help to keep any infections out of the carboy. It's similar to an open fermenter when the airlock is not place.

As others mentioned, a blow off tube is in order. I use one on almost every brew just to be on the safe side. The blow off tube can either be inserted into the carboy opening directly, or into the airlock with the other end going into a container of sanitizer.

 

[Safa]

Agree with everyone above, but did you use starsan in your airlock? If so, is the foam on top of the beer right up near the airlock? If it isn't, then the solution in the airlock might be a little too heavy on the starsan, the foam might just be that (happened to me), instead of the krausen coming out of the airlock.

 

[JuanBeerOrTwo]

Thanks for the help, the feedback is appreciated. I will get right on that blow off tube