7Enigma
Well-Known Member
Well this was my first really heavy beer I've made (done about 6-7 batches before, none over ~6-7% alcohol content. The Ruination by Stone (clone kit from Austin Home Brew) is 8%, and has a tremendous amount of hops (4.5oz in boil, 2 oz in secondary) which may or may not contribute to the massive loss.
It was recommended due to the high level of fermentables to double pitch, and so I used 2 packets of the dry yeast recommended. I've always had a nice krausen layer, but since I use a 6.5gallon primary, only one time for a short bit did I enter the airlock with the foam. Well this batch was a different beast. In about 12 hours the krausen layer had risen to the neck (3-4 inches above the liquid level), and by morning it had gone into the airlock (thank god there was no blockage or I would have been reporting a 6.5gallon glass beer bomb in my basement). As it was I took off the airlock and proceeded to watch all of yesterday gallons upon gallons of foam streaming out of the mouth of the carboy. There was so much CO2 production you could actually put your cheek up to the hole and feel a constant cool breeze that if you took a quick snort was pure CO2.
So I'm thinking that the double pitching of dry yeast is an obvious cause as there was twice the yeast amount fermenting, but I'd really like to avoid this in the future. That 1/2 gallon of waste is expensive! Not to mention tasty. I would like to avoid this, and I've heard there are some drops or something to prevent the krausen layer from getting extremely high correct? (or was that just during boiling of the wort?) Is it something that will affect the taste/headiness of the beer?
I would hate to imagine what would have happened if I didn't see check on it and remove the airlock, and in this situation a simple blow off tube in a bucket of bleach water would have still caused me to lose a large amount of beer.
The layer has now fallen back overnight and I reconnected the airlock (had put a plastic baggie loosely over the mouth to prevent contamination. From my starting volume of about 5 1/4 gallons, I'm down to 4 1/2 - 4 3/4. I don't think I should add water when I transfer to secondary because the foam that was coming out probably contained fermentables (tasted like beer, but obviously very acidic from the CO2), and so I don't want to water it down to get back to my 5 gallon level.
Any thoughts for this non-beginner who in this instance feels like one?
It was recommended due to the high level of fermentables to double pitch, and so I used 2 packets of the dry yeast recommended. I've always had a nice krausen layer, but since I use a 6.5gallon primary, only one time for a short bit did I enter the airlock with the foam. Well this batch was a different beast. In about 12 hours the krausen layer had risen to the neck (3-4 inches above the liquid level), and by morning it had gone into the airlock (thank god there was no blockage or I would have been reporting a 6.5gallon glass beer bomb in my basement). As it was I took off the airlock and proceeded to watch all of yesterday gallons upon gallons of foam streaming out of the mouth of the carboy. There was so much CO2 production you could actually put your cheek up to the hole and feel a constant cool breeze that if you took a quick snort was pure CO2.
So I'm thinking that the double pitching of dry yeast is an obvious cause as there was twice the yeast amount fermenting, but I'd really like to avoid this in the future. That 1/2 gallon of waste is expensive! Not to mention tasty. I would like to avoid this, and I've heard there are some drops or something to prevent the krausen layer from getting extremely high correct? (or was that just during boiling of the wort?) Is it something that will affect the taste/headiness of the beer?
I would hate to imagine what would have happened if I didn't see check on it and remove the airlock, and in this situation a simple blow off tube in a bucket of bleach water would have still caused me to lose a large amount of beer.
The layer has now fallen back overnight and I reconnected the airlock (had put a plastic baggie loosely over the mouth to prevent contamination. From my starting volume of about 5 1/4 gallons, I'm down to 4 1/2 - 4 3/4. I don't think I should add water when I transfer to secondary because the foam that was coming out probably contained fermentables (tasted like beer, but obviously very acidic from the CO2), and so I don't want to water it down to get back to my 5 gallon level.
Any thoughts for this non-beginner who in this instance feels like one?