Foam in the air lock

[Pepperpots]

Help! Is this normal!

First all grain attempt. Made a Westvletern Blonde clone based purely on Candi Syrup recipe. Made starter right. 36 hours later smells super strongly of hops and the airlock looks like it has foam that has pushed up through it!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/154455783@N02/shares

I took the cap off because it was making a shadow on the picture. Is this normal? I have never had this happen. 5 gallon batch in a 6 gallon primary

 

[Newsman]

Yes. You put too much wort in your fermenter for the volume. It's normal. You can sub a blow-off tube submerged in water/star-san or cheap vodka, etc until the foam stops and then switch back to a freshly cleaned & sanitized airlock with water, water/star-san mix or cheap vodka in there.

 

[Newsman]

Note that it's not "too much wort" period, just too much to expect it not to blow off, especially with an aggressive ferment. FWIW, you might want to consider a 6 - 7 gallon fermenter for a 5 to 5.5 gallon volume of wort. Even then you may need a blowoff tube. Not a big deal.

 

[Mer-man]

You can use fermcap or simethicone