Slurry Ferment Launches Lid

[ScionOfZion]

After brewing all afternoon (and taking many trips to the keg) I finally put Janx's House Bitter recipe onto a slurry of London Ale yeast at 8:00 P.M. At 10:20 it sent the fermenter lid into low orbit and slathered a fresh coat of Krausen on two walls.

I rigged a tube from an open airlock to a bucket o' sanitizer and will replace with another airlock when things settle a bit. I have to tell you though, I have never seen as violent as fermentation as this in my ten years of brewing.

Would such a fast ferminatation neccessitate a shorter stay in the primary fermenter? Could autolysis be a problem if I went the traditional 5-7 days?

 

[Tony]

Wow! Was it the normal 6.5 or 7 gallon bucket? What yeast did you use?

Im just curious!

 

[tnlandsailor]

I posted on another thread about length of time in the primary. Frankly, I think the concerns in this area are way overblown. I've left beers in the primary for as long as 4 weeks with no indication of off flavors from yeast autolysis. If you think about it, how come bottle conditioned beers don't exhibit autolysis even after weeks and weeks in the bottle? The only difference between the primary and a bottle is just the sheer quantity of yeast involved.

It certainly doesn't hurt to get the beer off the primary yeast quickly, but if you can't get to it and a couple, or even a few weeks go by, don't sweat it. It's fine.

Also, you should get into the habit of using a blow off tube, especially using a slurry from a previous batch. Even if it doesn't blow off, it never hurts to err on the side of caution.

Prost,

 

[bikebryan]

The amount of yeast in the bottle is only a very tiny fraction of the yeast that is in the primary fermenter! As yeast cells die in the primary, they begin to sink to the bottom, along with the hops residue and any other suspended solids left in the wort. When you rack into a secondary, you leave a large amount of that dead yeast behind.

More yeast falls out in secondary, so that when you either Keg or bottle, there is really very little live yeast left in suspension compared to when you started. THAT is why you should rack from primary after the primary fermentation has completed.

 

[ScionOfZion]

Update: As soon as I posted yesterday morning I walked downstairs and saw that the lid had BLOWN OFF AGAIN from the 6.5 gallon fermenter during the night. Apparently, the lower stem of the airlock had been clogged by a large chunk of the mutant yeast.

When all was cleaned up and sanitized I noticed that the lower stem of the airlock had a little plastic "screen." I have removed it for future use with a blow tube. Also, I got to thinking, the slurry (a White Labs London Ale yeast from a previous batch of IPA) began its career as a yeast starter. There was a lot of slurry. I'm wondering if perhaps in the future I should remove some of it before adding the new batch of beer.

As of five minutes ago the airlock was working fine--one little burp about every twelve seconds--and it smells wonderful. I guess we'll see.

I'll say this much...I'm now a big believer of the blow tube method when using a slurry. Before it clogged it was going like mad. There was no way an airlock could take that kind of pressure.

 

[uglygoat]

There was a lot of slurry. I'm wondering if perhaps in the future I should remove some of it before adding the new batch of beer.

don't touch the slurry or scoop any of it out... it is best to expose the yeast slurry to as little atmosphere outside the primary as possible. so when you re-use yeast, i would rack my original batch off the yeast then put the new wort atop it immediately... glass primary would be the way to go in my opinion if you are going to be re-using yeast simply cause it keeps the outside out of the primary better than a bucket.

if the lid keeps blowing off... try a sheet of plastic wrap, secured with a rubber band, poke some holes in it so it can release the gas..

then when it's done or the foam has lowered, slap the lid back on.

 

[bierzwinski]

don't touch the slurry or scoop any of it out... it is best to expose the yeast slurry to as little atmosphere outside the primary as possible. so when you re-use yeast, i would rack my original batch off the yeast then put the new wort atop it immediately... glass primary would be the way to go in my opinion if you are going to be re-using yeast simply cause it keeps the outside out of the primary better than a bucket.

When you put the new wort on the old yeast, do you then shake it up to get the whole thing mixed up again, or will the yeast just reactivate itself, or will the force of the the new wort going into the carboy be enough to churn it up??