Hop Bags and Yeast Reuse

[fatboy1271]

I made three batches of the same recipe and batches 2 and 3 were yeast reuses. The yeast was alive and well for batch 3; however, it blew the top off the burper and made a nice mess. I believe that this happened because of the amount of hop sediment sitting on top of the yeast cake. I just don't think there was enough room for expansion in the carboy. These have been 75 min boil times with 6 hop additions.

1. Should I use a muslin bag for hop additions?
2. I've just read about the whirlpool method but will that still work well with 6 oz of hops?

Another question: the batch that popped its top, will it still be good? The burper was out and the mouth of the carboy was exposed, but it was still fermenting like crazy. I cleaned/sanitized the burper and put it back in...

Thanks,
fat

 

[RM-MN]

Hop debris settles out before the yeast so it will be on the bottom, not top. Your fermentation was vigorous because.....well, because it was vigorous. You had good yeast and they really got going. You may have had more yeast than necessary too if you used the whole yeast cake. Read a bit on yeast washing as this will get rid of the hop debris and you can use the proper amount of yeast for your batch.

Your batch should be fine. When it blew the top off it was still fermenting vigorously and would have pushed out any bacteria. As long as your airlock was sanitized when you replaced it the batch should turn out.

You should also read about "blow off tubes" to keep from loosing the carboy stopper again.

 

[Calder]

Your batch should be OK. Lots of CO2 being produced, and lots of alcohol to protect it. Stick on another airlock and let it go.

When reusing a cake, you don't need to use it all. In fact it is preferable not to. My general rule of thumb is to use a quarter of the cake for a subsequent batch.

Yeast washing is good, but not absolutely necessary. Read up on it and learn how to do it. But if it seems like too much work, just pour some of the cake into a sanitized mason jar for re-use.

Search blow-off tubes. I use one every time, just in case. It is not much more effort than using an airlock, and a lot less messy if the beer gets too active.

 

[fatboy1271]

Thanks RM-MN and Calder!!! I figured the beer would be ok since it was still fermenting. I am definitely going to look up the blow-off tubes and get one. I will also check out yeast washing: didn't know you don't need to use the whole cake left over from the first batch. Thanks to both of you for great info.

fat

 

[badhabit]

No matter what the cause this time, you need to use a blow off tube.