So will this affect my ABV?

[Husher]

I had my first real blow off. Airlock looks like the water is boiling and needs a refill every 30 minutes. Not like it matters with pressure like that. But the thing is, Alcohol floats, so does that mean the alcohol near the surface is being ejected, and that the remaining stuff may have lower ABV? Or an I paranoid?

Probably, but thought I'd ask.

Cheers.

 

[Nunner]

If its bubbling that bad you may want to add a blow off tube into a glass of sanitized water (I use a pasta sauce jar with a hole in the top) so you do have to stay up all night adding water...as for the ABV I think you will be just fine

 

[Calder]

/The alcohol is well mixed. Have you ever seen a bottle of beer with the alcohol separated, or even a wine bottle? With all the churning in there, everything will be well mixed up.

What you are loosing is yeast (no worries - a common practice is to skim this yeast to reuse; like the Burton Union System). And hops, and along with them is some IBUs. The stuff coming out is taking out some of your bittering (not not enough for you to be able to tell the difference in your beer.

Worry more about the mess it might make rather than what it is doing to your beer. The beer is doing fine.

 

[darrenbrews]

Paranoid, but what did you put in your airlock? Starsan seems to act like your description, much more violent bubbling than water or vodka.

 

[Husher]

Paranoid, but what did you put in your airlock? Starsan seems to act like your description, much more violent bubbling than water or vodka.

Actualy the first fill was vodka, bit since it gets emptied every 20 minutes (since I discovered the gyser), I've been replenishing with my no rinse sanitiser, one step. It's basically hydrogen peroxide.

Once the activity dies down tomorrow, I'll swap with Vodka, since I like to keep my batches in primary for 2-3 months. I brewed 3 batches yesterday (cheating, two of em were canned kits), I should be able to bulk ages these without need to bottle two or the three for some time.

I made a newbie mistake. I added too much water for that carboy. I've never had a problem before but there's always the first time.