Hi -
Complete newbie here, so please bear with me. I brewed my first batch of White House Honey Porter yesterday. Didn’t run into any problems and learned a lot from the process. (Hats off to Northern Brewer for making the 1 Gal Starter Kit idiot proof - I think).
So I added the yeast to start fermentation, put the jug in a cool dark place, and woke up this morning to see foam coming out of the trap. A lot of foam. Like loud enough to hiss and scare the crap out of my wife foam.
Is this normal?
Does not sound abnormal.
OK - thought we might be in trouble. Should I do anything like clean the trap off or just leave it alone? It’s venting fine, just a little messy.
(Wife called this morning and said it had blown up and the room was a mess. Had me going for a while.)
[quote=“muttinthehut”]OK - thought we might be in trouble. Should I do anything like clean the trap off or just leave it alone? It’s venting fine, just a little messy.
(Wife called this morning and said it had blown up and the room was a mess. Had me going for a while.)[/quote]
Assuming by trap you are talking airlock? If so you would want to set up a blowoff tube for the heaviest fermentation or you will be emptying the airlock quite a bit (or it will be popping off).
No problem removing the airlock to rinse out. Resanitize and put back on.
Easiest blowoff: Remove gusts from your 3 piece airlock (if it is the s-type it won’t work). Run a short length of 1/2" tubing from centre tube in lock into a small jug or bucket of water. This will act as your airlock.
Replace regular airlock when fermentation calms down a bit.
The problem with these kits is that they come with a 1 gallon jug to ferment in, there’s no head space to hold the krausen during peak fermentation, that’s why you had a blowout. You also may have had it too warm, low 60’s ambient is optimal. These kits should come with their 2 gallon bucket
.
That said, 1 gallon kits are kind of a joke. Yeah, they may introduce people to the hobby but $50 is a lot of scratch for 8-10 bottles, the only gear that will carry over to larger batches is the bottle filler and capper. Why not a 2.5 or 3 gallon kit?
+1 to everything Glug Master said.
You can not ferment 1 gallon of wort in a 1 gallon container. NB is doing the new brewer a disservice by selling these kits.
Odd that their 1 gallon kits come this way. The 5 gallon starter kits come with 6.5 gallon buckets, which is perfect for 5 gallon batches and plenty of room to breathe.
I did not actually know that that is how these kits are set up. Does not seem well planned out. My inclination would be to split the batch between 2 jugs for early fermentation, then maybe rack together into one after the major stuff is done. Or just use a larger fermentation vessel.
Or maybe just not sell one gallon batches.
Well this is all good to know. As I said, I’m a complete novice to all of this and trying to learn what I can. What you’ve said makes perfect sense.
So far “the angry jug” (as I call it) has calmed down, so I’m not too worried about it now.
Appreciate all the comments and thoughts.
I went through the same issue when i first started brewing. I made an IPA in a 6.5 gallon fermenter, woke up in the morning to find krausen all over my floor. Immediately I hopped online to find out i needed a blow off a tube. Ran to lowes and had the issue solved all before breakfast. I know where your coming from.
