Pressurized fermentation question

[RickyBeers]

Hi all, new here. I had my first all grain brew yesterday on the grainfather and also decided to try pressurized fermentation, along with a Tilt. Big jump from extract brewing...

Recipe:

Relatively standard wheat beer, although I don't know a lot to be honest.

Pale Malt (2-row) 5.75lb
Wheat malt - white 5lb
Caramel malt - 20L .5lb

1oz Hersbrucker 60 min boil
1oz Czech Saaz 20 min boil
1oz Czech Saaz 10 min boil

Yeast - decided to try the Omega Lutra Kveik OYO-071 for a higher temp fermentation. I have heard this is a faux lager yeast, I have also heard that wheat and lager aren't a great combo...

Mash water 4.57 USG
Sparge water 3.18 USG
Mash at 154f 75 min
Mash out 170f 10 min

Transferred this to my sanitized corny keg after setting the spunding valve to 10 psi.
Pitched yeast, added Tilt. Also added 2 drops of five star defoamer, it suggested 1 drop per 5 gallon batch but everything I read online said to use more.
I had thought I could minimize head space, so I left maybe 2 inches. I also have a floating dip tube, if that matters to include that information.

Half way through a particularly horrible game of Warzone, I heard hissing and gurgling, and looked back to see a puddle on the floor.

Here is the thing, I thought it was odd the videos and instructions I read didn't suggest putting an 8mm tube on the spunding valve into an a vessel of water or something, but I just thought that the pressure would keep the activity in head space of the keg from over flowing through the spunding valve. Also, the yeast went nuts, so maybe it was just a incredibly active batch?

You can see below what my activity is showing in about 12 hours, a bit funky I'm guessing because of the pressure aspect with the Tilt.

I guess my question is, do I need to worry about my beer being ruined from having so much foam, liquid, and (Krausen? if that's the right word?) that came through the spunding valve and ultimately on my floor and a bucket? ALSO, for the future, how do I stop this?

 

[odie]

interesting. I'm planning to do my first "full" pressurized ferment. I was hoping that sealed, the krausen would stay "low" and contained below the dip tube. Just the excess pressure would slowly bleed as it reaches the set point.

As a comparison, I did about 4-5 kegs WITH a blow off tube for the first few days. Kegs were a full 5 gal batch, minimal head space. none blew anything other than CO2 out the tube into the water bucket. Did a Saison, 2 lagers and 2 ales. After a few days I capped the gas post and let the pressure build, oftern to well over 30 psi.

 

[RickyBeers]

interesting. I'm planning to do my first "full" pressurized ferment. I was hoping that sealed, the krausen would stay "low" and contained below the dip tube. Just the excess pressure would slowly bleed as it reaches the set point.

As a comparison, I did about 4-5 kegs WITH a blow off tube for the first few days. Kegs were a full 5 gal batch, minimal head space. none blew anything other than CO2 out the tube into the water bucket. Did a Saison, 2 lagers and 2 ales. After a few days I capped the gas post and let the pressure build, oftern to well over 30 psi.

I don't know a bunch about different types of yeast but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the yeast I used it what caused the krausen to stay high and to end up overflowing. In general, the PSI fluctuation was insane. Sometimes up to 25 psi (which at the time I was afraid that anything over 15 psi would kill my yeast so I freaked out...) and then down to 2,3,5... Everything I see online it just looks so simple, no blow off tube...

Right now mine is holding steady at 10 psi and seems to be calm.

I think you are safe to do the "full" pressurized ferment, just might be worth looking deeper into the type of yeast, head space requirement, etc.

Interesting about capping the gas post and letting pressure build, is the reason so that you can have naturally carbonated beer and that it will level out to serving pressure once you transfer to a serving keg or something like that?

 

[odie]

Interesting about capping the gas post and letting pressure build, is the reason so that you can have naturally carbonated beer and that it will level out to serving pressure once you transfer to a serving keg or something like that?

yes, at the fermentation temps I'm looking for 20-30 psi to carb the beer to desired volume of CO2 for serving. Once it's chilled the PSI will drop anyway to normal kegerator serving PSI.

I've seen some articles on yeast/pressure that indicate much higher PSI before the yeast are suppressed. Higher than most PRV valves. I think most of the "very low" pressurized ferments is perhaps more a factor of plastic fermenters not rated for more than a few PSI, not the yeast itself. By fermenting in the keg you can set your spunder well above a few PSI.

 

[North_of_60]

I’ve done two ales with 15 psi at room temperature (70 to 74 degrees) that turned out good. I used a floating dip tube and fermented and served in the same keg. I filled the kegs all the way and had only a slight amount of blow off. I kept the spunding valve closed and let it build up to 15 psi before I started releasing any pressure. I also added 18 inches of tubing between the T and the pressure gauge so the blow off didn’t get into the gauge. It only got about 1 inch in the tubing. I think if I let the pressure build up to about 30 there won’t be any blow off. Or, I might pressurize it to 15 psi with my co2 bottle right off.

I’m going to make my first lager like beer in about a week using WLP925 HP. So we’ll see how that turns out. If it turns out ok I plan to put a new batch on top of the yeast when the keg is empty.

 

[RickyBeers]

I’ve done two ales with 15 psi at room temperature (70 to 74 degrees) that turned out good. I used a floating dip tube and fermented and served in the same keg. I filled the kegs all the way and had only a slight amount of blow off. I kept the spunding valve closed and let it build up to 15 psi before I started releasing any pressure. I also added 18 inches of tubing between the T and the pressure gauge so the blow off didn’t get into the gauge. It only got about 1 inch in the tubing. I think if I let the pressure build up to about 30 there won’t be any blow off. Or, I might pressurize it to 15 psi with my co2 bottle right off.

I’m going to make my first lager like beer in about a week using WLP925 HP. So we’ll see how that turns out. If it turns out ok I plan to put a new batch on top of the yeast when the keg is empty.

interesting. Sounds very similar to mine, although I was at 10 psi not 15. So perhaps my blow out came from not enough pressure?

 

[odie]

Of all my ferments in the keg...the only one that blew krausen out was the hefe. and that was blowing out a 30 psi PRV.

 

[Garthmuss]

Did you pressurize your keg right after you pitched your yeast? If I ever do a true pressure ferment I transfer wort to keg, pitch yeast, pressurize from my CO2 tank to the desired pressure, set spunding valve and let it go.

If you transferred to the keg and pitched the yeast without pressurizing, the fermentation starts at atmospheric pressure and slowly build up to your spunding valve pressure. So there's a bit of time where the pressure is still relatively low and you may get a fair bit of krausen (this is the right word, this is the foam/froth that forms on top during fermentation).

To answer your question, your beer will most likely be fine. You should probably disassemble your spunding valve and clean it after this ferment though.

Good luck!