I've got a problem...where is the yeast?

[J3conn]

I brewed a batch of IPA from a kit on Sunday evening. I let it sit in the carboy with affixed airlock so it wouldn't overflow, then I woke up Monday morning and it had exploded anyway releasing about a gallon and a half out of a total of 5 gallons. I cleaned it up and it kept bubbling along until now Tuesday evening it is no longer bubbling. I shook it a bit to see if there was any more bubbling to occur and there was a little that could have just been mixed anyway. Did most of my yeast get ejected? Should I put more in? It was only fermenting for less than two days. I don't want to lose the batch. I never had this happen before. What do I do?

 

[TTB-J]

If your fermentation was that violent, it wouldn't be shocking that it's done fermenting in such a short period of time. I'd just let it sit and mellow for a few days and then take a hydrometer reading to figure out where it's at.

 

[BendBrewer]

Did most of my yeast get ejected? Should I put more in?

No and No.

I bet it got pretty warm too.

 

[J3conn]

Perhaps it was warmer than I liked it to be in the house, and I have never had a batch do that to me. Thanks for the help

 

[Revvy]

Don't shake it or anything...If you had fermentaion, you now have beer in there, Oxygen + Fermented Beer = Liquid Cardboard.

Take a gravity reading instead to know what's going on, don't do something that could ruin your beer in the guise of trying to fix it, when there might not be anything wrong.

 

[J3conn]

The beer turned out okay. It wasn't an IPA by far, but was light and a bit malty but not much to brag about haha. It fermented in a short time im guessing due to the high temp. I use an overflow tube now when in my primary just in case, because that batch caused the fire department to come!

 

[unionrdr]

Unless it was something like a Cooper's IPA. That's the English one with more bittering rather than hop flavor or aroma like an American style IPA.

 

[TopherM]

There are something on the order of 600,000,000 yeast cells in a single small dry packet, and they reproduce once they are eating sugar during active fermentation. So there's over a billion yeast in your 5 gallon fermentation. They didn't mostly get ejected in your blowoff. Like someone else said, you don't need to put more in, the fermentation is practically over at this point, and there are PLENTY of yeast left in the solution.

 

[fishsniffer]

What type of airlocks are folks using to have this beer explosion?

I made a dry stout last month and while my 3 piece airlock did overflow with krausen and cause a little puddle on the lid of my fermenting bucket, no explosion occured.

I have since taken precautionary measures to prevent a beer explosion. I cut the little X thingy off the bottom of the airlock, and got a piece of tube to attach to the airlock if I need to vent it, but isn't the 3 piece airlock pretty much a vent anyway?

 

[HawksBrewer]

It usually depends on the yeast/temperature/head space equation.

As in: true top cropping yeast + mid 70s fermentation + less than 20% head space = Have fun cleaning the ceiling and explaining to SWMBO why you insist on continuing this frivolous hobby.