Explosive fermentation, then nothing

Yeast & Fermentation
1

Brewed Jamil’s Christmas Spiced Ale. Used Nottingham yeast, starter, oxygenated well. Explosive results (yes, there was foam on the cieling). Went from 1.080 to 1.030 in a little over a day. Krausen eventually died down on day 3, and I was able to rack into a secondary. Since then, virtually no activity at all. Still at 1.030. Has anyone else experienced such a healthy fermentation die so completely after racking? Suggestions of how to get down to at least 1.020. Repitch another starter? Try another yeast?

Thanks, Angus

2

That is what is called around here…“coming out of the booooooth”

3

Yeah the bad thing about moving into secondary is you leave allot of the yeast behind. I can see why you moved it with that mess you had going on there. I would do like you said and repitch to try to get it down. On a side note Dry yeast doesn’t need to be aerated unless you repitched from another batch. http://www.danstaryeast.com/frequently-asked-questions

4

That is one of the funniest things I have seen in a while! Was that really a fermentation bucket? :shock:

Holy smokes!!!
Did you save any in a flask(to add now)?

5

That’s a fascinating picture! Beautiful in a way.
If you saved any of that yeast, I’d pitch it back in.

6

No, unfortunately I was just concentrating on getting it racked and closed up without exploding again. It did actually do it a second time, so I just rested the lid on the bucket for the last day. Did not stop the monster from trying to escape again.

I went out and bought a large blowoff tube for all future batches, so hopefully this will not happen again.

I think i will create a good starter from US-05 and pitch the slurry. See what happens

7

I do not think a blow off tube on a bucket that size with that fermentation would make a difference. Foam has to go somewhere

8

I got a 1" blowoff tube and will be using my 6.5 gallon glass carboy. If that pushes the hose out (unlikely I hope), it will reduce the size of the opening for potential contamination.

9

Well that bucket you are using is a little over 6 gallons as well and based on your two photos, IMHO you still might have an issue, even with a 1" tube. Maybe not and it would be less of an issue for contamination, unless it clogs and the hose blows too :cheers:

10

Just took a gravity again. It dropped from my original 1.084 to 1.024. Still fermenting. Makes it 7.8% ABV. tasted it, and there is a lot of alcohol to it.

Now here is the question. Looking at my recipe, I accidentally added 1.5 lbs of Crystal malt instead of the 0.5 lb Jamil had in his recipe. This will add some unfermentable sugars, so can it be that the extra gravity is due to these sugars, and that the actual ABV is higher, closer to 9 or the 10% I was aiming for? Should I add the US-05 yeast slurry i have from another batch? Can’t hurt, but am I overthinking this?

11

[quote=“Angusl”]Just took a gravity again. It dropped from my original 1.084 to 1.024. Still fermenting. Makes it 7.8% ABV. tasted it, and there is a lot of alcohol to it.

Now here is the question. Looking at my recipe, I accidentally added 1.5 lbs of Crystal malt instead of the 0.5 lb Jamil had in his recipe. This will add some unfermentable sugars, so can it be that the extra gravity is due to these sugars, and that the actual ABV is higher, closer to 9 or the 10% I was aiming for? Should I add the US-05 yeast slurry i have from another batch? Can’t hurt, but am I overthinking this?[/quote]
You brewing all grain? No the Abv is not going to be higher because of Unfermentable sugars. Yes you are over thinking this.