Experienced Brewers Input after my Violent Fermentation?

[ChattanoogaJSB]

Hello All,

I said most of this in my introduction but I thought after reading a good number of posts here I would get a little input from folks much wiser than me.

Background is I am a first time brewer, brew day saturday with a Northern "Deluxe" kit and the "Caribou Slobber" extract brown ale. I did the 60 minute boil, steeped the grains, added the hops all as instructed. Sanitized my carboy/airlock/plug/ etc (everything that would touch wort).

Chilled the Wort in the sink, followed the temp down below 90 degrees into the 80's. Had a LOT of star san foam in my carboy so I called Northern, they said it was fine (I mixed the ounce to five gallons as instructed). Transferred the Wort to the carboy. Aerated. Mixed the dry yeast with warm water as per the package, and pitched it. Set up the airlock and put the whole thing in my coat closet.

It started to bubble nicely (I thought) in a couple hours. Went to a movie, returned home 4hrs later to find it exploded the plug out the top and was foaming out the open hole (rough guess as to how long this lasted... 2 hours?) Foam was actively coming out steadily, and the beer volume was only a smidge off my 5 gallon mark so I didn't lose much wort. Panicked and frustrated, I went back to my DVD (watched it twice before I began) and made a makeshift hose out of the siphon tube and a sanitized plug, put it in a water bowl, and taped the crap out of the top of the plug. Set it all in the garage, around 80 degrees (didn't want it to explode in the house again) I watched it bubble steadily out the new blowoff but it seemed much less violent. Lots of krausen build up on the space everywhere to the top of the carboy, no funny colors. Next morning it had slowed to a 20-30 second bubbling, so I put it back in the closet still with the blowoff.

Next day, an open space finally occured above the wort line, still with foam attached to the top. I gently rocked it to remove some (not all) of this. Now on day 4 in the closet I have bubbles every 45-50 seconds and a very (super) thin krausen on top of the wort.

My big questions are...heck, forget my questions, maybe I should just ask for advice for the future and say thank you in advance!

I read where a lot of people advise only doing one fermentor and skipping the secondary, but I am thinking of moving this to the secondary in 10 days so I can free up the primary for a second batch of wort (a porter extract). If this is a truly bad idea, I won't.

Seems like there are plenty of "don't throw it out" threads and I hope I'm not posting out of line, but I thought a little word of wisdom could help me at this point.

 

[SoonerDoc]

Some recipes ferment violently, make sure you look up "blow off tube" for next time. Temperature control for your fermentation can help and gives you a better product.
How big is your carboy?
Typically you don't need to secondary, but several on here do. It's up to you and up to the style you're brewing.
You probably made beer. Congratulations!

 

[PIGMAN]

80 degrees is a little warm for fermentation, you should try to get down to the 60's if possible. Also, what size carboy did you use?

 

[ICWiener]

Haha...you're having an exciting first brew. That's for sure. My words of advice:

1) Next time, don't put it out in the garage. Put it in the bathtub. You want to try as hard as you can to keep actively fermenting beer away from 70F+ temperatures.

2) Transfer that sucker. Personally I don't secondary, but if you need the fermenter to build your pipeline, you do it. Just make sure you have a bottling bucket free.

Sounds like you are taking the right approach, and your methods are sound. Good luck on your future brews and don't forget that blowoff tube next time!

 

[ChattanoogaJSB]

I'm not too hot at multiquoting...sorry fellas, but I sure appreciate the responses.

It's a 6.5 carboy. The secondary is a 5.

I will most assuredly use the blowoff every time now. The video made it sound much less important!!! I am actually considering using it instead of the smaller airlock all the time now, since it seems to be functionally the same.

I agree the 80 degrees was too hot. Overnight it probably was more like 75. I'm not sure what my chances are that I produced off flavors with it that warm out. right now in the closet it is just 72. I can put it in the basement at 65 degrees or so but I was afraid that would not be warm enough, from the little bit of info the video gave me (they said a "warm dark place").

I do hope I am going to get some palatable beer out of this, thank you again for the words of wisdom.

 

[ChattanoogaJSB]

Haha...you're having an exciting first brew. That's for sure. My words of advice:

1) Next time, don't put it out in the garage. Put it in the bathtub. You want to try as hard as you can to keep actively fermenting beer away from 70F+ temperatures.

2) Transfer that sucker. Personally I don't secondary, but if you need the fermenter to build your pipeline, you do it. Just make sure you have a bottling bucket free.

Sounds like you are taking the right approach, and your methods are sound. Good luck on your future brews and don't forget that blowoff tube next time!

Would a day 10 transfer be OK? It almost seems as if it fermented a LOT (too much?!) in a very short span, so I think the 5 gallon will hold this tepid fermentation that is all I have right now (with the blowoff). I do have a 6.5, a 5 gallon carboy each plus the bottling bucket so I can go ahead and move this along and still be free to bottle... next batch it sounds like doing it all in the primary is a great way to go.

 

[bchurch]

Also Google fermcap, it will help you stop things like this from happening. Cheers!

 

[ICWiener]

Your 65 degree basement will be ideal for you. You'll learn that every yeast strain and style of beer calls for a slightly different temperature range, but 90% of the beers I brew ferment around 64F. Does it stay that temp all year around (give or take)? If so, that's awesome.

You'll probably be fine, but if this beer turnd out tasting like someone poured a shot of cheap vodka in it, that means it fermented too hot. I used to have that problem in my early days. Learn from these experiences and push forward, that's all we can do!

 

[ICWiener]

Would a day 10 transfer be OK?

Probably. But just in case...do you have a hydrometer? If so, take a reading. If you're at or close to final gravity, go ahead and transfer. Don't worry about a blowoff tube for the 5 gallon carboy. After the initial craziness, the yeast only slows down. You won't have the same amount of activity in secondary. If your gravity is still a ways off, let it sit another couple of days.

Leaving your beer in primary is fine, transferring to secondary is cool too. Everyone has their opinion. I only use a secondary these days for adding fruit or long term aging for sour beers.

 

[GrogNerd]

rack to secondary if you want, it's a personal preference and like ICWeiner says, used for adding fruit (a true secondary fermentation because you wait for primary fermentation to finish before transferring), dry hopping or extended aging.

better choice is getting another primary vessel. at some point you will get one anyway

the unfinished part of my basement has stayed in the low 60s since I started brewing back in October. PERFECT for most ales that I will be brewing.

 

[markus2982]

We had the lid blow off of one our primaries about 4 months ago. Since then we always a blow off tube made out of a stopper and racking tubing. I would like larger tubing but haven't gotten around to it yet.

If you are going to rack to a secondary don't get rid of your air locks. They work great in a secondary since there is minimal activity in the secondary. That way you don't need a lot of blow off tube set ups.

 

[ChattanoogaJSB]

Your 65 degree basement will be ideal for you. You'll learn that every yeast strain and style of beer calls for a slightly different temperature range, but 90% of the beers I brew ferment around 64F. Does it stay that temp all year around (give or take)? If so, that's awesome.

You'll probably be fine, but if this beer turnd out tasting like someone poured a shot of cheap vodka in it, that means it fermented too hot. I used to have that problem in my early days. Learn from these experiences and push forward, that's all we can do!

That helps, along with the other posts. The temperature thing really was not clear to me somehow in all the instructions I thought I read carefully. Yes, the basement will stay 65 ish until mid summer if I keep it closed up, then all bets are off.

And, if my beer tastes brown (it is at least the correct color!) AND carbonates (it should) I can probably live with the first batch also tasting a bit stiffly of bad vodka (not my choice but I'm gonna ride it out and see!):rockin:

 

[GrogNerd]

will find a lot of brewers say the biggest improvement in their brewing came from better temperature control during fermentation.

and practice. practice making beer. gotta love this hobby/obsession

 

[glenn514]

Yes to keeping the fermentation temperature a bit lower. And I have simply gotten into the habit of using a blow-off tube for the first 48-72 hours of fermentation. Once the violent churning fermentation has subsided, I switch to a regular airlock.

glenn514

 

[andy6026]

since everyone's already driven the point home about temp control, I'll give the advice that you be extra careful in the bottling process, so as not to oxidize your beer by splashing too much (or at all), and not overcarbonating (by adding too much priming sugar). I made both of those mistakes during my first batch and it created a lot more work for me and rendered it undrinkable. If you can learn from the mistakes of others then you're already a a large leap ahead of me.

 

[ChattanoogaJSB]

since everyone's already driven the point home about temp control, I'll give the advice that you be extra careful in the bottling process, so as not to oxidize your beer by splashing too much (or at all), and not overcarbonating (by adding too much priming sugar). I made both of those mistakes during my first batch and it created a lot more work for me and rendered it undrinkable. If you can learn from the mistakes of others then you're already a a large leap ahead of me.

Sounds good, I've heard some people prime for carbonation with less than the 5 oz sugar, I have heard 4 oz several times...

At this moment I don't feel a large leap ahead of anybody, pretty nervous about the whole process, made worse when you can't make it better by trying to do anything to "speed it up" and get to the end...

 

[GrogNerd]

I still go by Papazian; for a 5 gallon batch

¾ cup corn sugar OR 1¼ cup DME OR ⅔ cup table sugar

 

[ChattanoogaJSB]

Well, yesterday was day 7. I took off the trusty blow-off tube to reinstall the airlock and could not resist sterilizing and stealing a little to taste, just to see how bad it is. My take: after just a week it could and should of course condition much longer, but it really did taste much like a flat Newcastle. I was pretty relieved- no major harm done I believe. I'll let it sit another couple of weeks and bottle... probably put it over in the secondary as soon as my NB Porter kit arrives in a few days so I can get my primary carboy free again... Thanks to you all!!!

 

[naga77777]

Hah! Good deal, OP!

Your first brew sounds very much like mine! I did the Caribou Slobber kit, and pitched in the 80's (wayyy too hot), had a VIOLENT fermentation, and still made beer Off-tasting beer, but still beer

Temp control, and pitch at the lower end of your fermentation temp if you don't have a fermentation fridge/freezer. I could never get the temp of my first batch down, even using my "mother of fermentation chiller" to where the temps needed to be during active fermentation. Nowadays I can afford to pitch a little high, beause the freezer will take it down 5-10 degrees within a couple hours. EDIT** this is probably not a good recommendation, but I routinely pitch in the high 70's and ferment around 65 and taste no ill effects. Dont take this as a recommendation for making the best beer, it's just what I do.

As far as bottling, read revvy's stickied "bottling tips for the homebrewer" thread. And remember to really mix the beer into the priming sugar solution before bottling. Either do this by making the siphon tube kinda whirlpool it gently when racking into the bucket, or stir GENTLY with a sanitized spoon after racking. I do have uneven carbonation in my first batch. No bottle bombs, though (knock on wood).

Good luck! Sounds like you're already off to a great start. I can say, i'm OCD about a lot of stuff, but once you get your technique down, you can start to relax with this hobby. I'm doing a few things now that would have made me cringe when i started, and my beer's tasting better than ever

There was 2 quotes that really made me lighten up with the sanitation: Biermuncher said "Don't poop in your fermenter, and you'll be fine" and someone else said "I'm straight up negligent about my sanitation. Never had an infection." Still, DO PAY ATTENTION to sanitation, but don't fret.

Just for funsies, here's the pic after the first day of my Caribou Slobber's fermentation:

 

[whoaru99]

Lots of talk about temperature control and I agree with it regarding potential off flavors. However (and may have missed it), didn't see anything regarding temp and fermentation rate.

Not only do the recommendations for cooler temps (generally) help the flavor, those cooler temps help with fermentation speed regarding blowoff as well. When you pitch warm it's like putting the yeast into high gear. If you start cool the fermentation process can sorta ease into it rather than "dumping the clutch" so to speak.

 

[ChattanoogaJSB]

Hah! Good deal, OP!

Your first brew sounds very much like mine! I did the Caribou Slobber kit, and pitched in the 80's (wayyy too hot), had a VIOLENT fermentation, and still made beer Off-tasting beer, but still beer

As far as bottling, read revvy's stickied "bottling tips for the homebrewer" thread. And remember to really mix the beer into the priming sugar solution before bottling. Read it, was great! I'm excited! St. Paul Porter comes tomorrow, so this is going to secondary so I can get two going

Good luck! Sounds like you're already off to a great start. Hmmm.... we'll see. I really did think the test sip was good, though, as I qualified to be a week old and flat. I can't get the previously mentioned description of a "shot of cheap vodka" out of my head. I grimace even when I'm not drinking and I think of it

There was 2 quotes that really made me lighten up with the sanitation: Biermuncher said "Don't poop in your fermenter, and you'll be fine" and someone else said "I'm straight up negligent about my sanitation. Never had an infection." Still, DO PAY ATTENTION to sanitation, but don't fret. I like that!

Just for funsies, here's the pic after the first day of my Caribou Slobber's fermentation: I can relate, I should've taken photos I now know!

Thank you for all the replies, folks!