Made a 48+ hr. starter with WPH530 and pitched to 6.5 gallon big mouth bubbler and 28 hours later it over whelmed my bubbler caught it just in time installed a blow off hose. This is the first time for me to see a fermentation this big that gallon and a half head space I though would never be over whelmed boy was I wrong :oops: temp at 70 F
My experience with Belgian yeast strains for the most part, are just like you said. For years now I automatically start out with a blow-off set up, probably until krausen starts to fall back. I just made a Blonde @ 1.065 using WLP 575 blend, which is 500-530-550 strains combined, with a 2 qrt starter, and my blow-off was pumping in 4 hrs. It’s crazy with chunks flyin’ around the carboy as if an electric mixer was moving it. Way cool!
Thanks for the heads up I have been brewing simple beers this was my first that is going crazy and filled my bubbler with krausen out the top!! :shock: It is kind of cool. Temp at 70 F
I have been using 530 for about 10 years now. It is a great yeast, but you do need to provide lots of head space. I usually use two carboys for 5-6 gallons. You can use a blow off tube, but if you blow out all of your yeast, the beer may not finish. A low gravity blond should be ok, but I have had problems with a tripel and a dark strong that came out way too sweet when the yeast blew out the top. I had to eventually rack them on to a different yeast cake to get them to finish. It is much easier to keep all that yeast in there in the first place. I have not had any problems since I started using two carboys. My last tripel went from 1.084 to 1.000 and was very tasty with a few months of age.
Thanks for the heads up SA on the big beers. I generally lose very little thru the blow-off but I mainly brew blondes, Belgian Pales, and Wits. Soon I will brew a Strong Dark for the fall. For my tastes on the Blondes I make a 2 qrt starter and 12PPM’s thru a stone using pure oxy, brew temp is 66-67 deg. How big are your starters for 1.080+ and how much oxy do you insert, and what temps do you ferm?
I just bought the 7.9 gallon bucket I will use it from now on for 5 gallon batch big beers and still use the blow off hose !! Do you think this will do the job??
I usually just make a small 400 ml starter for 5-6 gallons of blond ale at 1.052. After the blond has finished, I then make my big beers and rack those big beers onto that primary yeast cake. It is a little bit of extra work on brew day, but it works great. A bucket that big should hold a lot of foam. Try it with a low gravity beer and see if it holds it all. I made 4 gallons of a 1.045 blond a few years ago and it still blew the top off of a 6.5 gallon carboy. I usually start my blondes at 65-68 for two or three days, and then let them go up to 78. The big beers, I ferment at 65-68 for a couple of weeks and then let them go up to 78 until they finish. I usually check them in about a week, and they are done. I am kind of old fashioned and I don’t use pure O2 unless I brew with a friend and they have it.
