Stout blow-off

[uncletarr]

I brewed the mustache envy belgian stout extract kit from northern brewer last night and it's fermenting in a 6.5 gallon bucket. It was fermenting fine all day until I noticed about an hour ago that my airlock was starting to take in some krausen. I took the airlock off and replaced it with a sanitized tube running into a large bowl of sanitized water.

Was that the right thing to do? And is it normal for a stout to blow off like that even in a 6.5 gallon vessel?

Thanks

 

[Hello]

What was your starting gravity? It's likely that it is just a strong fermentation and your actions were correct.

 

[uncletarr]

Gravity was around 1.087. The OG listed on the ingredient sheet is 1.080. Should that be a concern?

 

[OswaldvW]

Blow-off is usually due to the kind of yeast you are using. I have always gotten violent fermentations when using Weizen yeast.

What kind of yeast are you using? I always set up my fermenters with blow-off tubes until I am sure fermentation is safe and under control (usually 2-3 days).

 

[dkeller12]

What is your fermentation temperature?


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[uncletarr]

I'm using wyeast belgian abbey 2. The room the fermenter is in is at 75 degrees.

 

[uncletarr]

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[uncletarr]

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[dkeller12]

Despite the yeast being tolerant of that high a temperature, your getting a very active fermentation most likely because of it being so high. You may also get some off flavors at that high a temp. Next time, try to maintain a lower temperature and it can help keep this a bay, most of the time. Are you trying to control the fermentation temps at all?


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[dnslater]

This is a big beer. Big beers usually need blowoff tubes regardless of style.

 

[uncletarr]

Are you trying to control the fermentation temps at all?

I can't keep a constant single temperature but I'm trying to keep it within the 70-75 range. It's in a corner of a room and I'm maintaining temperature of the whole room.

 

[jbb3]

I can't keep a constant single temperature but I'm trying to keep it within the 70-75 range. It's in a corner of a room and I'm maintaining temperature of the whole room.

Search for "swamp cooler" on the forum. It's a low cost way to control fermentation temperature.

Basically, get a plastic container large enough to put your fermenter in. Fill the container with 6 or 8 inches of water. Put an old t-shirt over the fermenter so the t-shirt is hanging in the water (so the water will wick up the shirt). Then have a small fan blowing on the t-shirted fermenter. Evaporation will help cool the fermenter by several degrees compared to the room temp.

You may even have to put some frozen bottles of water in the water to get the temp down to where you need it. Just keep the frozen bottles swapped out as the temp begins to creep back up.

 

[uncletarr]

Search for "swamp cooler" on the forum. It's a low cost way to control fermentation temperature.

Basically, get a plastic container large enough to put your fermenter in. Fill the container with 6 or 8 inches of water. Put an old t-shirt over the fermenter so the t-shirt is hanging in the water (so the water will wick up the shirt). Then have a small fan blowing on the t-shirted fermenter. Evaporation will help cool the fermenter by several degrees compared to the room temp.

You may even have to put some frozen bottles of water in the water to get the temp down to where you need it. Just keep the frozen bottles swapped out as the temp begins to creep back up.

I'll definitely fasten something up to do this from now on. Thanks for the advice.