Quadrupel Disaster? (sort of)

[KaseyNeheir]

Okay, so let me explain my issue - My friend and I are semi-new to home brewing, we have been brewing since July with a slew of successful recipes (say 8 or 9.) Despite this, my newest recipe, for a Trappist variation that sort of "doesn't exist," or often gets labeled a "Grand Cru," has gone into slight disarray...

We brewed yesterday late, say around 11:00pm, and left it overnight at his house. This morning, he went to his garage to check on it, and quickly established that not only was the lid covered in foamy beer (foamy is not such a bad thing I'd say?) the airlock had become a geyser, shooting a mess three inches into the air. I told him to sanitize a second five gallon fermentor, and pour half of the sticky solution and add an inch of water to each, to dilute it ever so slightly, so that we now have two half-filled fermentors of the same ale. Because of the disaster, he moved it outside here in western Michigan, where its about 40 degrees. Though it may not be so chilly in the garage.

The Recipe is here. As you can see, there're a lot of sugars

20 Min
Deutsch Ceracrystal (SG) 1 Lb(s)
Caramunich No. 20 (SG) 1 Lb(s)
Oats (SG) .2 Lb(s)
30 Min
Briess Two-Row Pilsen Liquid Malt Extract (LME) 6.6 Lb(s)
Sterling UK Hops 1 Oz
10 Min
Munton’s Light Malt Extract (DME) 2 Lb(s)
Belgian Candy Sugar Medium Brown .5 Lb(s)
French Strisselspalt Hops 1 Oz
Flameout (15 Min)
Saaz Sazaan Czech Hops .5 Oz
Wirflock
Irish Moss
Primary (10 Days)
Safale Belgian S-33 Yeast
Vanilla Extract 1 Tbs(s)
Secondary (2-3 weeks)
French Oak
UK East Kent Goldings Leaf Hops .5 Oz

Question is: from the time that the airlock was penetrated by the foam to the point where we noticed the problem was around eight hours, is there chance that this could get badly infected? or would the beer that got into the airlock prevent the rest of it from being harmed? Would putting moving this into two fermenters have any affect on the ABV/Gravity or ruin the fermentation process, since it is so early, making one fermenter taste a hell of a lot different than the other? I have never stumbled upon this issue before, so I'd like to be through in my next steps to the solution.

 

[doug293cz]

If foam was continuously flowing out of the airlock (once the foam started) then it is unlikely anything got back into the fermenter. As long as you practiced good sanitation for the transfer to a second fermenter, you should be ok. The added water will drop the ABV proportionately. 40°F sounds like it might be too low for fermentation to continue. You should warm it back up to the preferred temp range for the yeast used. As long as both fermenters are kept at the same temperature, the beer in each should be essentially the same. Good luck.

Brew on

 

[fun4stuff]

Use a blow off tube next time !

 

[drainbamage]

I'm with Doug. Imagine the sealed system as a one-way valve. As long as the outgassing of fermentation is blowing material out the airlock, there is a relatively low chance of bad stuff moving in against it. You got to it relatively fast while active fermentation was still happening, so it wasn't lying dormant in an open container for an extended period. Ongoing active fermentation should fill up the headspace on the new fermenters pretty quickly as well.

I wouldn't leave it in 40° conditions for any length of time though. That is too cool for ale yeast and will likely stall it.

 

[Hello]

As others have said, 40F is too cold and use a blowoff. I had used a blowoff on my quad and ended up changing the bottle of star san 5 times in total before that dang thing stopped. Chilling to 40F is no good and you'd want to prevent massive temperature swings to ensure the flavors of the yeast are spot on. Not sure what that yeast does if fermented cold, but 40F won't likely ferment much if at all.

Think about open fermentation and a coolship. With that, the moment active fermentation has stopped, I believe you then transfer it to something that is closed, but I could be wrong. Either way, as fermentation happens, air is escaping but nothing is generally coming in.

 

[solbes]

Been there, done that. Belgian yeasts (don't know about S-33) are notorious vigorous top croppers. Meaning they make a heckuva a lotta foam. I blew bucket lids twice when using WY3787, even with fermcap S added to control the foam. Both beers turned out fine.

I would say maybe let your primary go longer than 10 days. 2.5 - 3 weeks would be my recommendation, then rack it over to secondary. You want primary to be coolish for the first 2 days (low to mid 60's), but then you want to ramp it up a degree per day until it finishes. Make sure you go high enough to assure it actually IS finished, b/c you could end up overcarbed in the bottles if you don't quite get there.

 

[lazarwolf]

I have to ask, where did you get this recipe? did you test your gravity?

 

[KaseyNeheir]

Original gravity ran roughly 1.099, a little over what I was intending (1.097.) I got this recipe on Brewer's Friend, but I made a few changes. Final gravity should be 1.022ish. Original Recipe is here:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/207684/incognegro-grand-cru