Airlock overflow low og

[Austinco2]

I made a "clone" of a local brewpubs standard ale. I missed my og because the extract recipe was 6.9lb of lme and I quote: "specialty grains" with no amount listed. So by clone I mean just an experiment in what I like. Anyway by the time my beers leave secondary I'm usually down to 4.5 gallons so I decided to put 5.5 in the fermenter to start with and see what happens. My og was 1.040 I'm using wyeast northwest something. 1332 I think it is. It said the attenuation maxes out at 71% so I'm probably looking for a of around 1.11 I think. I have overflowed the airlock before but only with high gravity beers starting where I did Is this normal?

 

[Germelli1]

I actually had my first blow off on a 1.050 pale ale...with nottingham yeast of all strains. I pitched onto a partial yeast cake so it explains why mine went nuts.

It could be two main things...you are doing something right, or you are doing something wrong

The bad side could be if you are fermenting too hot and it got the yeast really active.

On the only slightly bad side: If you made a starter, you might have overpitched since your beer is in the lower range of gravities.

One the good side you could have aerated the wort very well, allowing the yeast to go nuts reproducing.

Those are just a few of many possible causes, but I wanted to point out that although not typical, there is noting extraordinary of harmful about a blow off with a smaller beer!

 

[Austinco2]

It has gotten worse! Hey thanks for the reassurance that all is dandy. I am fermenting on the wArm side but within the parameters of what is recommended by wyeast. It is hard down here in south Texas without a dedicated fermenter fridge! Anyway, I just thought about this: would it be wise
To sanitize another airlock and replace the dirty one or
Might I cause more harm than good?

 

[Gduck]

I've swapped air locks before, or have taken off a blow off tube and put on an air lock. There's enough pressure from that fermentation that nothing is really going to get in that little opening in the time it takes to switch them. I still sanitize the new air lock as normal, and also spray around the old one with star san befor taking it out. Might not be entirely necessary but it makes me feel better and I always have a spray bottle of star San around.

You just need to be really careful doing this with the buckets as its easy to push that little grommet in the lid so it pops out and falls in to the beer. I've had that happen. In theory the grommet is sanitized so it falling in isn't going to do bad things to the beer, but then you don't have anything to hold that airlock in firmly with. So it's just something to be careful about should you chose to replace it.

Do you need to? Not really. You could just sanitize a spoon or eye dropper, or something, and clean out the beer blow off from inside the airlock and then put a little bit of sanitized water/vodka/whatever you normally fill it with back in.

 

[Clementine]

I would be temped to rinse the top of that bucket with boiled cooled water before doing anything the blow off that is there is full of sugar and is now a breeding ground for everything floating around. Once you have rinsed the top of the bucket go to town on it with star san in a spray bottle and then fit a blow off tube to that bad boy before you are cleaning beer off the ceiling

Don't be afraid to tackle your fermenter the microbes are not lining up to get in there. Just be careful, sanitize the lid around the air lock and the new air lock/ blow off tube when you take it out, minimize open time and don't let any water/foam and googey stuff fall back in the fermenter. Plan what you are going to do even reherse it when you do it so you can think through the process. I have a big bowl full of sanitizer so if I have to put something down I can sit it in the sanitizer. May be some paper towel with isopropyl alcohol to wipe anything that is gooey and covered in foam etc etc.

Check out swamp coolers they are the way to go for keeping it cool over summer if you are only a few degree off.

Clem

 

[Austinco2]

My airlock is still bubbling away! After 5 days in primary I'm still getting a bubble every six seconds! My Belgian Tripel barely bubbled that long into primary and it came out to 8.25%! I'm starting to wonder if my hydrometer isn't good. I have questioned it's accuracy once before out of the three batches I've done with it(I broke the last one.) I put 2 cups of oats and about 1 1/2lbs in @155 for 30 min and 6.9 lb of light LME. Does 1.040 sound about right for 5.5gal of water?

 

[kh54s10]

My airlock is still bubbling away! After 5 days in primary I'm still getting a bubble every six seconds! My Belgian Tripel barely bubbled that long into primary and it came out to 8.25%! I'm starting to wonder if my hydrometer isn't good. I have questioned it's accuracy once before out of the three batches I've done with it(I broke the last one.) I put 2 cups of oats and about 1 1/2lbs in @155 for 30 min and 6.9 lb of light LME. Does 1.040 sound about right for 5.5gal of water?

As stated many times in this forum airlock activity is an unreliable indication of fermentation.

Have you checked the calibration of your hydrometer? 1.000 in distilled water at 60 degrees F (I think 60* is right)

Don't know about what to expect with your recipe, sorry.