My beer woke me up..

[cvoytek]

I'm about two months into this hobby and have been enjoying it thus far. I started with a German Ale (drinkable), then a Celis White clone (carbonating still) and just this past Sunday brewed a Watermelon Ale. The gravity I took just prior to pitching yeast was around 1.056 which seems a good amount higher than the 1.040 expected. this particular Ale ferments between 60-65F and the perfect spot in my house is my bedroom in a corner which hovers between 60.5 and 62. I have it in a brew pale with a gasket and rubber stopped and 3 piece air lock. It started bubbling slow by Sunday night and has been bubbling actively since then.

That leads me to early this morning - 4AM to be exact. The air lock must have started to clog and it woke my wife an I up by hissing at us. I assured her it's no big deal and took out the air lock cleaned it then rinsed with Star San and put it back in. About 10 minutes later I checked it again (couldn't go right back to sleep) and it was filling back up with crud. Luckily (because I've been religiously studying this forum for the past 2 months) I knew how to do a "blow off tube". I set that up by 4:15 and attempted to go back to sleep. About 15 minutes later a loud "Glub, glub glub" make us jump up again. It was just a lot of air coming through. That continued (and still does).

The biggest surprise was when I got out of the shower I saw that the bucket top had blown off and the tube wasn't even clogged in any way. It was still on top of the bucket but the red gasket was in the beer and the cover was teetering on top. I took the top off carefully, cleaned everything and sanitized then put it all back together. Then I took the whole set up to my 59.5 degree basement. The wife is happy now and I just hope it continues in that just under 60 degree environment.

If any one has guidance, ideas or knows if I did anything wrong please let me know.

 

[flars]

Did you cut off the tapered base of the three piece air lock? The taper is a constriction point. The air lock may have plugged at this point. The 59° basement should be ideal during active fermentation. Active fermentation will produce at least a 3° rise in wort temperature, for the OG of your beer, May rise as much as 5°.

 

[PGEduardo]

I have an untested theory that the slight increase in pressure due to air locks actually promotes vigorous initial fermentation (some info here about pressurized fermentation). I normally just place sanitized tin foil over the carboy mouth for the first few days of active fermentation and never get blowoff mess.

I generally brew IPA's (1.050-1.070 OG) with US-05 or Nottingham, pitching properly rehydrated amounts (1 or 2 fresh packs) at ~65F (as indicated by temp probe taped to carboy and insulated from ferm. chamber ambient). I also aerate with an aquarium pump and O2 stone + a splashy transfer. FG's are usually spot on for me as well.

What yeast are you using?

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

Sounds like you did the right thing... Some of the new airlocks don't even have the tapered base any more... I used to cut mine off, but most of my beers now don't require blow-off tubes as I like to put into a 6.5G Carboy for 5G batches.


I know you said a few different temperatures, but what was your pitching temperature? I try to pitch at 63-65 for most of my standard ales. And I ferment at that temperature and hold there via fermentation fridge.

 

[cvoytek]

Hi - I pitched at around 65-70. The instructions had me chill to under 85 and I had to top off by a gallon or so.

The air lock doesn't get too narrow at the end and fits pretty well in the stopper. Maybe I have a newer one? It seems as if I cup off the piece it might not fit in the stopper.

My wife commented that the thing is like a baby waking us up and making all sorts of noises...

Thanks for the advice and the wort temperature comment as those make me feel a lot better. I was thinking of getting a temp controller but more to be able to do a lager which would require cooling as I have a spare freezer. In my basement I'd actually have to warm it up a bit to do ales and would need to buy dual temp and rig something... I wanted to make really good beer before springing those purchases on my wife.

The only weird thing is that the gravity was so high. Maybe I'll call the place I got that from just to see if they have reports of higher gravity than expected for this kit.

 

[masonsjax]

Active fermentation can raise the temp by up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. I'd recommend using a swamp cooler if you dont have a fridge (yet) that you can use to control the temps at least during the first couple days of vigorous fermentation. This is one of the biggest contributing factors to making great beer.

Also, use a big blowoff tube from the start of every batch, even if you don't think you'll need it. It's not as hard as the cleanup from a beer volcano would be.

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

The only weird thing is that the gravity was so high. Maybe I'll call the place I got that from just to see if they have reports of higher gravity than expected for this kit.

You might have observed wort stratification where your test result was taken where the wort was more concentrated then the topped off area.

Also temperature of the wort when measuring. I think the adjusted temperature for a Hydrometer is 65*F (Someone correct me if I'm wrong) I would invest in a Refractometer in the future... Relatively cheap, don't break easily, easily calibrated and temperatures don't impact them as severely. And you only need a small sample. Only good though for pre-frementation measures, as once alcohol gets in the mix it won't read accurately.

Take these recommendations with a grain of salt, or just take them in principal:

1. Get your sanitation down pat. Be anal about everything and repeat and condition yourself to do these things all the time
2. Measure!!! Measure everything. Temperature, time, weight, volume.
3. Document everything. If you want to make good beer over and over, especially starting out, write it down. Make a brew day diary (or brew log as that is the more masculine terminology) This will help you in the future to repeat good practices and prevent negative ones.
4. Control your temperatures. Pitch at a specific pitching temperature not 65-70, but 65* or 66*f not a wide range. Ferment at specific temperature. Get one of those stick on thermometers for your fermenter. Document the temperature rise. This will help you understand more clearly the process.

Stick to those and you will start making beer better and more consistently.

 

[cvoytek]

Thanks all. Great advice. The more I try this, the more i realize where I need to focus. I have been fanatical about just about everything but my temperature and logging things (#'s 3, 4 above). I write down the date and all of my gravity reading but not organized. Will put more focus on both of those things. On temperature I figured within a range I'd be good but it seems that has a huge impact on final taste.

I just did my mid day check and the pale lid was swollen again and air was going through the tube slowly. I took my backup air lock and cut the bottom off of it so that it might give a little more room for air flow and less chance for any issues. Thanks for that tip and will let you know if it helps. When I took the stopper and old airlock out the pressure escaped which amazes me. Who knew there would be a good amount of resistance though the tube and blowout setup...

 

[Sailingeric]

I use an 8 gal/30l Brewcraft bucket for my 5 gallon batches and have had no issues. My last batch was very vigorous as the krausen line was almost to the 7 gal line. Next time I would use a bigger bucket.

 

[Toga]

I use an 8 gal/30l Brewcraft bucket for my 5 gallon batches and have had no issues. My last batch was very vigorous as the krausen line was almost to the 7 gal line. Next time I would use a bigger bucket.

I agree! More head space is a good thing. When I use buckets, I use the 7.9 gallon wine buckets. I only had a mess with the larger buckets once when fermenting 5 gallon batches. Just a little funk got to the air lock one time I made the switch after having a lid blow off of a batch in a 6.5 gallon bucket even with a blow off tube.