Interesting Brewnight.

[iahebert]

So!

Last night I brewed AHS's Belgian White, and the whole thing went well, except my gravity was over by about 5 points... not super concerned though as I followed the instructions, and sanitation was, as always, key.

After I temped my wort before pitching the yeast, I dropped my thermometer back into the sanitizer (I use iodophor) and it was surrounded by black, which I thought was indicative of starches not being fully converted.

It was a bit confusing, since my gravity was actually higher (I took temp into account), but has anyone had this problem?

Also! I pitched the yeast around 830pm, and woke up to a "psh-squeak-gurglegurgle" that could only mean one thing--my airlock was getting ready to pop off. I jumped out of bed, and sure enough, the airlock was full of krausen, and there was quite a bit of pressure built up. Since I used the last of my sanitizer brewing, I pulled the airlock out to let some of the pressue release, and then put a plastic grocery bag on top, with a towel over it, just to weigh it down a bit in the event of a blowoff.

Needless to say, it was a bit stressful, but hopefully everything will be fine.
I guess I have 2 main questions:

1. Is the black in my sanitizer an issue with conversion, or would wheat beers typically have some starch residual?
2. Is the krausen going into my airlock, and my not being able to get more sanitizer to put on a clean airlock until 5pm going to be an issue?

thanks a lot, and happy brewing y'all!

 

[Walker]

The black is indeed an indicator that there is starch in the wort. Keep in mind that a hydroemter doesn't tell you necessarily how much SUGAR is in the wort, it just tells you how THICK the stuff is. (If you stick your hydrometer into some motor oil it will show a high gravity, but there is no sugar in it for sure.)

I don't usually do starch conversion tests with iodine, but I have done it before a few times. The only time I have seen the iodine turn black is when I tested a mash that was only going for about 30 minutes. After 45 minutes, the black no longer appeared.

Oh... and I wouldn't worry about the airlock at this point. You've clearly got a lot of momemtum for stuff coming OUT of the carboy, so I wouldn't be worried about some he-man bacteria forcing it's way INTO the thing.

 

[samc]

Stress is landing in an airplane with an engine blown out. Beer blowing out of your fermenter is just fun. Relax.

 

[iahebert]

Thanks for the input guys. It's been a long time since I did anything more than extract-this was PM, and I mashed as instructed. Hydro sample tasted good though, so I'll sit tight, and RDWHAB.

 

[Biscostew]

Had a similar experience recently brewed a Christmas Ale, woke up the next morning to the Pshhh sound of an airlock ready to blow. I freaked out a bit and pulled off the air lock and put on my blow off tube unsanitized in the heat of the moment. Not ideal but the brew is fine, I wouldn't worry about your situation either.