lost a lot of foam and now fermentation has halted. little help?

[Jackattack]

Just started my first batch (extract) 2 days ago and I'm as excited as ever. I chose an Irish stout from the Midwest kit and I threw some extra DME in it for kicks. everything went smooth untill fermentation started. I used a glass 6 gallon carboy for my 5 gallon batch. Within 8 hours fermentation was going wild. So much so that I lost a ton of foam through my blow off. I would say roughly half a gallon worth of beer is gone now and my airlock has 0 activity what so ever. Is this all normal? I'm hoping I didn't lose too much yeast with the foam.

 

[Kaz]

What yeast did you use? 2 days is pretty average for me with most yeasts. If you fermented warm, it will go pretty quick as well. Have you taken any gravity readings? If the final gravity is in the ballpark for the recipe, and it doesn't go down over 2 or 3 days, then it is done. If that is the case, I would let it finish out for another week or two and then package.

 

[Jackattack]

Munton & fisons I believe. The temp was around 70 when it started.. I tried to keep a fan on it with a wet towel too. Couldn't seem to cool it down. And I didn't get a hydrometer reading unfortunately when it started.

 

[YeastHerder]

If the temp of the room was 70, the fermenter was probably another 5 above that, so that sounds about right in terms of getting the aggressive blow off. It will be basically fine - there are gobs of yeast still inside.

Do some swamp cooler searches for some simple ways to reduce the fermentation temp.

 

[Jackattack]

Will do. Thank you.

 

[inhousebrew]

It's no use to do the swamp cooler now but it definitely helps for future brews. Get a twelve pack of water bottles and freeze them to toss in.

You're probably done or close to it. I'd say wait two to three weeks, give the yeast some time to clean up after a warm fermentation and to fall out before bottling.

 

[unionrdr]

In this situation,being an average one,it's hardly done in 2 days. Usually mad bubbling slowing or stopping indicates that initial fermentation is done. It'll then slowly,uneventfully ferment down to FG. Give it a couple of weeks. When it reaches FG,give it another 3-7 days to clean up & settle out clear or slightly misty.