Beer loss in fermenter

[Toy4Rick]

Hey everyone,

Semi-noob here with >50 brews under my belt. I only ferment in buckets and always use a blow off tube through active fermentation. This last batch I brewed with my son in law was a Porter, 1.073, Windsor/Danstar yeast which we hydrated in warm water.

Long story short, we lost over 1 gal of beer during active fermentation/high krausen. Yes we had tons of blow off like always however I have never lost that much actual beer before. The bung was well above the wort level so it did not direct syphon. Every time I would check in on it, the level was down even further. At one point we changed out the 5/16 blow off tubing for 3/8 tubing just to ensure we didn't plug it up and very little krausen came out during the switch.

Any thoughts as to why the loss?

Toy4Rick

 

[fartinmartin]

When it's too quick and foaming like that, I find that it's too warm, cool it down to slow it down.

 

[Yooper]

I've only needed a blow off tube once, in about 2006 I think it was, when I made a wheat beer and had a too-warm temperature.

When you routinely have blow offs, it's probably time for a bigger fermenter with more headspace. I use 7 or 8 gallon sized fermenters for a 5 gallon batch, and keep the fermentation temperature around 65 degrees for most ales.

There are always trub losses in the fermenter, but losing a gallon of beer out of a 5 gallon batch is huge- that's 20% of your batch!

 

[Jayhem]

What they said! Ferment your ales in the 60-65F range and the krausen will never make it to the bung! I NEVER use blow off tubes and I've never had a fermenter explode and I ferment 5.5 gallons in my 6 gal carboys! I use temp control and never let beer temp get above 65F until the krausen falls.

 

[cjgenever]

what they said! Ferment your ales in the 60-65f range and the krausen will never make it to the bung! I never use blow off tubes and i've never had a fermenter explode and i ferment 5.5 gallons in my 6 gal carboys! I use temp control and never let beer temp get above 65f until the krausen falls.

+1

 

[SpeedYellow]

The shocking part of this story is that you've brewed over 50 beers yet still call yourself a "semi noob." Dude, that's a lot of brewing.

 

[Toy4Rick]

I'm always learning

Yes it was a bit warm at 72 so we added a wet towel. With that being said, why so much beer loss just from krausen? I have had blowoffs before and never lost any noticeable amount let alone more than a gal

Oh well, another one for the books

Rick

 

[fartinmartin]

Use your own numbers, these are mine out of fresh air.
If you wanted a range of 60 to 70 degs and you had 72 degs you have over done it buy 20% !
I would really like a 20% increase in most things! but not brewing degrees !
Your numbers should come from the yeast packet , the working range of your specific yeast.

 

[Jayhem]

I would really like a 20% increase in most things! but not brewing degrees !
Your numbers should come from the yeast packet , the working range of your specific yeast.

most ale yeast recommend 65-75F! That's a huge range and is too high to make good tasting beer! If you ferment ale yeast (any type) at 63-66F it will turn out excellent results every time.