Holy Smokes! Set off a fermentation bomb!

[Hammer]

I brewed a wit last week. Wanted to do another batch, and didn't have another yeast pack, so I boiled the kettle, cooled it, sent batch 1 to secondary, and threw the 2nd batch in the primary with the trub from the 1st.
90 min later it is running over the 6 gal better bottle, and the air lock can't really keep up with the krausen. Yikes! I've had a vigorous start to fermentation before, but never like this! It may be done in primary in 24 hrs at this rate....
It'll all work out in the end. Batch 1 in secondary is really ready to bottle anyway. I just put it in secondary to clarify further and bottle at a convenient time.
Anyone else had ferm bombs? any notable side effects?

 

[bdupree]

how much trub was left in it? May not have been enough headspace.

 

[Hammer]

how much trub was left in it? May not have been enough headspace.

Maybe an inch or 1.5"
I thought about pouring 1/2 of it off, as 1/2 the trub would have been plenty, but I'd have just thrown the rest away, so I let'er rip.
Might have to adjust a bit if I use the technique in the future, and I think I will.
What I probably should be doing is rigging up to make 10 gallon batches, but I already have all the 5 gallon stuff and it's a weekly routine to make beer once a week in a 5 gallon batch.

 

[Yooper]

You overpitched a bit, and you have a pretty small fermenter. If I use a ton of yeast, I always use a bigger fermenter (7.5-8 gallons). Fermentation can be explosive- so you may want a blow off tube!

One thing to keep in mind- a very vigorous fermentation can get pretty hot inside. You may want to take steps now to ensure that the beer can stay at 70 degrees or less. I'd put it in a water bath, and keep it in the mid-60s if possible.

 

[Hammer]

You overpitched a bit, and you have a pretty small fermenter. If I use a ton of yeast, I always use a bigger fermenter (7.5-8 gallons). Fermentation can be explosive- so you may want a blow off tube!

One thing to keep in mind- a very vigorous fermentation can get pretty hot inside. You may want to take steps now to ensure that the beer can stay at 70 degrees or less. I'd put it in a water bath, and keep it in the mid-60s if possible.

I wish I had a bigger fermenter....
I'll check temp
It has a gutted airlock hooked to 1/2" hose as a ghetto blowoff tube now.
It's in my fermenting fridge, set to 65F
That carries off a fair bit of exo-therm. I don't know as I have a way to measure the middle of the bottle temp, but the way it's turning over, it shouldn't be stratified. I'll keep a close eye on it tonight.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

Always use a blowoff tube when racking onto a yeast cake! Last week I racked 5 gallons of a 1.038 OG Blonde Ale onto the yeast cake of the previous batch (in a 6.5 gal carboy) and i had blowoff spraying out the top of my airlock within 12 hours.

 

[Germelli1]

Plus wheat ale yeasts are notorious for vigorous fermentation!

 

[Starderup]

Yeah, you overpitched. Basically, you did a 5 gallon starter. It might now hurt anything, but you might want to keep that in mind when you compare the two batches.