Minimizing the krausen?

[kiwipen]

I brew in plastic buckets and use a blow off hose. Sometimes the krausen gets big enough to start creeping out trough the blow of hose. Not really a problem, unless it gets to thick that it clogs the hose and pressure builds up.

The obvious solution is to brew a little less, but who wants to do that? Is there a way to minimize the formation of the krausen? More importantly, can it be done with no negative effects on the beer?

 

[RM-MN]

I ferment my beers at a temperature near the bottom of the yeast's preferred range. That seems to keep the krausen in check. YMMV

 

[kiwipen]

I ferment my beers at a temperature near the bottom of the yeast's preferred range. That seems to keep the krausen in check. YMMV

Doesn't that affect the flavor and aroma you get from the yeast?

 

[myndflyte]

Have you tried Fermcap? It's supposed to stop boil overs but may help with krausen too.

 

[kiwipen]

Have you tried Fermcap? It's supposed to stop boil overs but may help with krausen too.

I use it in my starters, but I haven't tried it in the bucket yet. Does anyone here use it during fermentation?

 

[Sadu]

Honestly it's easiest to brew to the limitations of your gear. But I think we've all been there before and can sympathise. One trick is to split the batch, put a couple of litres into a growler or demijohn so you have some headspace in the main fermentor. Then blend them back together in the main fermentor before fermentation is done. This has saved me making a huge mess a couple of times when I've ended up with more volume than intended.

 

[cactusgarrett]

Fermcap works both in the kettle AND in the fermenter.

 

[mongoose33]

You can also use a blowoff hose, though I'd try Fermcap first.

 

[kh54s10]

I use Better Bottles. They have less head space than a bucket. I just install the blow off tube and ferment just under the mid range of the yeast. Some blow and some don't. Never had my 1/2 inch tubing clog. I've used Fermcap S and still had boilovers, and blow offs so I stopped using it. I also decided I don't want that in my beer.

I would just ferment a little on the cool side and let it blow if it wants to.

 

[petemoss]

I use fermcap in my fermenter. Seems to work very well. The trick though, from what I've seen, is that you need to wait to add it until you have an active fermentation. If you add it at pitch time it will settle out before fermentation starts. If you add it during active fermentation the agitation in the fermenter will keep it in suspension.

 

[Hopalong]

For a while I used corney's for fermenters. The first time I used a keg for fermentation I removed the gas poppet and insert and slid a piece of tubing over the threads on the keg fastening the tube with a hose clamp for the blow off. I kept the lid, outlet poppet and dip tube in place.
Here's when the trouble began. When the blow off tube stopped bubbling I figured fermentation was over and since fermentation was over there shouldn't be pressure in the keg, especially when the end of the tube is open, very wrong. The blow off port was blocked and the keg was under pressure. When I replaced the gas insert whatever clogged the keg blew out. It was a beer geyser until pressure subsided. The relief valve was blocked with goop and didn't work. After that, I learned that by skimming off hot break as it rises and adding hops after hot break stops forming, skimming off second hot break and racking the wort off trub before adding yeast reduces the amount of goop that rises during high krausen.
As the other brewers mentioned reduce fermentation temperature. The fermentation temperature recommended to use is high because it causes yeast to rip through glucose during primary fermentation, cranking up ABV quickly, which reduces the risk of infection. Some of the off flavors associated with homebrew are connected to high fermentation temperature and chemical, sugar, nutrient, imbalanced wort.

 

[bkboiler]

I used to use fermcap when I was making bigger batches. If I remember correctly, I would add after shaking and pitching, but I didn’t wait for high krausen. Never had an issue....
Except with WLP90–that stuff exploded my beer on the ceiling....ain’t no Fermcap gonna stop SD Superyeast...

 

[ESBrewer]

Krausen = fermentation so you don't want to limit it too much. Fermenting at low temperature will slow it down a bit and it will produce a clean flavor profile which is usually preferred. But you don't want the temperature to fall below the suggested range of the yeast. Also, pay attention to the pitch rate, if there is a ton of yeast the fermentation (=krausen) tends to be rapid and more aggressive and the flavor could even suffer (although under pitching can be even more detrimental). Of course, it is always possible to use a larger fermenter or just clean the blowoff tube.