Starter Blowoff

Barley_Bob · Feb 17, 2014

So, I still use mason jars for my starters. This morning, I came downstairs to see the starter I've been putting together for my brew today had blown off its foil and krausen had run down the sides. Seriously, it has a full krausen. Apparently, its one hell of a starter, but come on. If anyone is interested, I can walk you through the process I went through to make this. You're probably thinking I didn't do this by the book, and you'd be at least a little bit right, but I left lots of headspace and sterilized everything constantly. Anyway, I'm trying to decide what to do with this thing. I put the foil on immediately after I saw the problem. I think I'm just going to skim the krausen off and pitch it. Thoughts?

aiptasia · Feb 17, 2014

Don't skim the krausen!!!! There's tons of active live yeast in the krausen. Let it fall back into the jar naturally or just pitch the whole thing into your wort. If you're worried about it frothing up and out the jar, put the jar in a sanitized tub or tray.

Barley_Bob · Feb 17, 2014

My concern is that crud drifted down onto it overnight, and that I'll be tossing bugs, yeast, or mold in with it. I would love to be able to use the krausen. And, actually, most of the krausen is now stuck to the foil.

aiptasia · Feb 17, 2014

It'll be fine. Trust me. This is how Sierra Nevada ferments bigfoot:

BadWolfBrewing · Feb 17, 2014

This has happened my last two starters (a 5000 ml flask is on my list of thing I need to own soon)

I don't let it phase me. I'll re-dunk the foil in sanitizer and 'rest' it back on the krausen. Then, proceed as normal.

Have a kegged IPA that was fermented with an over-blown starter. Tasty stuff, no evidence of infection.

BadWolfBrewing · Feb 17, 2014

hah, that video is awesome. Makes the bigfoot I drank last night taste even better

Barley_Bob · Feb 19, 2014

So, I ended up pitching the starter and using a sanitized spoon to remove the krausen from inside the top of the foil cap. I'm using a bucket for this one, so I can't see if anything unusual is going on, but I'm sure it's fine. I'm using wlp380 Hefeweizen IV, and it is an enthusiastic yeast to say the least. It started almost immediately and it's going like crazy. My whole basement smells like fermentation.