Boom!

Brewed one up last night and pitched 2 packs of Wyeyeast 1056. No doubt about activity! About 18 hours in it looked like this:

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What are your fermentation temps?

Also, this is why I always use a blowoff.

My airlocks lay in the bottom of tote somewhere… Sneezles61

Oh gross. I haven’t used a blow-off in a long time. Maybe I’m doing it wrong.

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It’s nice that your yeast are happy but you might want to consider controlling fermentation temperatures a bit. I don’t see stick on “fermometers” on your fermenterers? What’s the fermentationt temperature?

I think you said in another thread that your ambient temp was about 65? If that’s the case the temperature inside that fermenter could be 75 or warmer. Probably warmer than the yeast’s tolerance range.

Get some stick on fermometers and put them on your carboys.

Google or search this forum for “swamp cooler” Just a bin with water to set the carboy in and a fan or ice to help keep fermentation temperature in control.

Every yeast has an individual optimal temperature range. Your goal should be to keep it in the lower end of that range for the first 3-4 days, then you can let it go ambient to 70 ish.

Controlling fermentation temperature will drastically improve the quality of your finished beer.

Same here, it’s been years since I used a blow off. Keep the temperature in the right range and ferment in a bucket that has enough head space and there is never a problem with too much foam.

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Damm. A big mess. Thats why i do use a ice bucket to keep fermenting under control. And a blow over hose for just in case

Thanks for the advice friends I think the temp is a little high.The ambient in the room is about 64 DF at fermenter level. This is an unheated basement room (mancave closet) that I’m running a little space heater in to keep at 64. A couple of my fermenters have the stick-ons but I’ll get more. I fermented in a jug that had a stick-on last time and this beer did the same thing at 66 DF fermentation temperature. Sounds like I need to keep the temp closer to 60 and it shouldn’t boil over. So much to learn… LOL I think I’m going to develop a checklist until some of this stuff becomes second nature.
Yeast temperature range? CHECK
Thanks again!

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Next thing to learn after temp control is yeast starters. Two packs of 1056? It looks like you have 2 or 3 other beers going too, if you’re using two packs per batch you’re going to go broke! With starters and reuse, you can make many batches from a single smack pack.

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@jmck
Agreed! I’ve been reading about yeast harvesting and reusing yeast cakes. I just haven’t had the inclination yet. This beer had 9# of DME in the recipe so I wanted to make sure I had enough yeast so that’s why two packs.

To be honest, I still feel like I’m drinking from a firehose and trying cover so many variables. I know I’m missing lots and I appreciate all the free advice and suggestions from the folks on here including yours. Bottom line, so far I’m having a blast!

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Yeast starter. The way to go. I do collect. And wash yeast. I use this together with a fresh yeast starter.

Some of the comments here make it sound like any blow-off is always a bad thing. Yes controlling temperature is important to prevent a runaway fermentation but controlling temp won’t always prevent excessive foam. Maybe I’m wrong but I expect a blow-off with some high gravity brews and active yeasts, especially since I oxygenate the wort. Wyeast 3787 even indicates that “additional headspace is recommended”.

Since I don’t have an extra oversized fermenter around, a blow-off tube provides the extra headspace. The pic below is 3.5 days into fermentation of a Northy 12 Belgain Quad (O.G. 1.090) with the above yeast (optimal temp range 64 - 78). The wort temp, measured in the middle of the fermenter, has been controlled at 70F from the start. The room is kept 60 to 65.

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Blow off isn’t going to hurt the beer but it’s not necessary and a pain to clean. Get a larger fermenter or make a smaller batch. Start your fermentation at the cool end and never have to clean a blow-off tube again. I used to make big beers in a 9gallon wine bucket works great

I can clean my blow off tube with a gun cleaning rod and paper towels. No problemo! Sneezles61

Doesn’t the gun oil leave an aftertaste?

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Smaller batch ? Less Beer ? What a terrible thing :slight_smile: Thanks for the wine bucket tip. I might try that. I don’t have a problem cleaning the tube. I tied some string to the handle of a bottle brush and tied a single link of chain to the other end of the string. Get the tube wet, drop the link through the tube and pull the string. I was surprised how well it works … and its cheap & easy.

No. I cleaned it so long ago, well maybe thats why my farts had a ka-BOOM! to them back then! Sneezles61

I fasten a piece of paper towel with a rubber band on the end of the smaller diameter siphon tube as a cleaning rod. Paper towel is wet with PBW solution.

3787 has fat krausen at any temp I think.

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It sounds more like a hearty, healthy pitch rather than too warm ferm temps.

You’re having a blast and that’s what this is all about. Every Brewer is different. @denny likes to experiment. Me, I’ll change this or that, but once I find something that works it’s hard for me to change. Some like the sciencey part, some like just to drink beer. Different strokes for different folks.