yeast in blowoff container

[Lunkerking]

So this morning I was racking my Pliny the Elder clone from my primary to my secondary, and I cleaned out the blowoff tube, primary and the blowoff tube container. There was a strong fermentation and some bubbling that went into the blowoff tube/container. When I cleaned it out I clearly saw some hop material…but lots of yeast in the blowoff container.

The other batch I brewed of Pliny the Elder never really carbonated, now I am pretty sure it was due to the fact that most of the yeast ended up in the bottom of the blowoff container. Is it normal for a lot of the yeast to end up there? For this batch when I bottle I will be adding more yeast to get carbonation.

Thanks for any thoughts/advice.

 

[CU_tony]

For a top fermenting yeast it is common for some of the yeast to escape through the blow off tube.

If you are pitching healthy yeast in a suitable quantity I wouldnt worry too much. How much headspace do you have? You may try shooting for 1 gallon or more if you feel like you are loosing too much yeast.

Also if you dont have good temperature control the yeast may be more active because they are at a slightly higher temperature.

 

[jdauria]

Yeast in the blow-off container is a normal reaction to strong fermentation.

Usually you do not need to add more yeast when carbonation as there is still plenty of yeast in suspension. Normally only if you have a long cold crash to drop all the yeast out or if you lager or age the beer for a long time would you need more yeast. It may not have carbed the first time for various reasons such as not enough priming sugar used, bottles sat at too cool of a temp, or you could have underpitched the right amout of yeast to ferment with so that there was not enough active yeast left.

Good luck!

 

[Jim311]

There is so much yeast in suspension in the beer that it's really unlikely all the yeast left through the blowoff tube. I think it's unrelated to your issue with carbonation.

 

[Lunkerking]

Thanks for all the knowledge. I just wanted to see if others have had the same experience.