Wyeast 3522 belgian ardennes

[Remos112]

Is this normal? This afternoon I made a starter for my la chouffe clone I am planning to do next saturday here are some figures:
I used 3 liters of water, 350 grams of extra light malt extract and 1 smack pack of wyeast ardennes. I placed it on a stir plate and at first nothing was happening , but after about8 hours it looked like the picture supplied. I have never seen a yeast perform this violently before. I turned off the stirplate fearing otherwise it would foam over Is this normal? and if so what precautions should I take for the main brew? Any advice is very welcome!
Thanks in advance
Remi

 

[Remos112]

apologies for poor picture quality as my iphone's main camera is broken so I'm stuck with using the front camera

 

[iancl]

3522 tends to fire off pretty aggressively, typically almost double the krausen. It will settle back almost as quick.

 

[Remos112]

3522 tends to fire off pretty aggressively, typically almost double the krausen. It will settle back almost as quick.

Ok that's somewhat comforting. I have now turned off the stir plate, will turn it on next thing in the morning and see how it will ride out. The main brew will be in a modified fridge kept at 23" celsius, I will definetely add a blowoff hose though! Can't believe how violently this yeast is fernenting, very impressive!

 

[serum]

Yep totally normal. I bought a 3L flask to do starters because it took off so much. The Westmalle one is the same if you ever use that. I can't remember which number it is though.

 

[IslandLizard]

Add a drop of Fermcap-S to your starter wort at the start of the boil. It stops foaming and excessive krausen build up later.

Once it's done propagating, WY3522 eggdrop soup will settle out as a thick rubbery layer of yeast in your flask within a day less in the fridge. Easy to decant.

 

[Remos112]

Thanks for the replies everybody! I thinkI have tried the westmalle before on my brewferm abdij brew and indeed it was pretty wild, not like this though! My next brew will be brewfrerm grand cru based with the Rochefort strain, I wonder how that one would turn out! Also I will look into that fermcap stuff if my brew supplier has this it is definetely worh try!

 

[specharka]

3522, 3787 and 1388 are all ridiculous and aggressive top croppers. You really have to give them the 30% head space they ask for, or your walls will get a spray.

 

[phendog]

I combined a White Labs Farmhouse yeast with Belgian Saison yeast in a 2 liter flask one time. Thought I had plenty of head space - only to wake up the next morning to a very messy counter top. Stuff went crazy. Very thick yeast running down the flask and yeast liquid all over the place. Turned off the stir plate, left sit another 10hrs and then pitched into my wort and things got even more interesting. Crazy funky beer!!

 

[Remos112]

Thanks everybody that sounds comforting yet scary! I plan on placing the fermenter in a jerry-rigged fridge running at 23"C or 73,4" F (this is the exact temperature Chouffe ferments their beer at) Also I will be adding this blowoff hose, hopefully it will be enough to prevent any major erruption.

This is the recipe I created after reading several, mine will be extract as I don't have any equipment to go all grain.
Any insights tips, do's or dont's will be greatly appreciated:
Batch size: 21L
-3 cans light LME 1.5kg each
-white candy syrup 1000ml or 1.4kg
-0.35 kg steeped caramalt
-53 grams of Syrian Goldings hops boiled for 45minutes
-37 grams of Saaf Hops added the finel 30 minutes of boil
-17 grams of ground koriander seeds added final 15 minutes of boil
-1 teaspoon of irish moss presoaked in cold water and added final 15 minutes of boil
-Started of 450 Billion wyeast Ardennes yeast
Estimated OG 1080
Estimated FG 1024 @72% attenuation resulting in 7,9% ABV

I plan on keeping it for 3 weeks @23"C then bottle it with 180grams of dextrose and a swirl of fresh yeast I am saving in the fridge (the Chouffe brewery adds fresh yeast prior bottling, so I figured why not do the same)
I would love to hear your thoughts
Thanks in advance!