Fermentation overflow

[benoj]

Hi all,

I have a nice NEIPA currently fermenting.

I did my last brew in a plastic fermentation bucket, and I must have had some leakage somewhere as I had no airlock activity.

This time I wanted to avoid the paranioa, so I purchased 3 * 5L glass carboy/demijohn. My fermentation is going very well to say the least. It started with an OG of 1.080 and I included my yeast starter made with white labs california ale yeast. Fermentation kicked off within a couple of hours and I had a decent amount of activity.

This morning I found a lot of overflow from my airlocks. I cleaned the outside and topped up the airlock with cheap gin (used the last of my sanitiser in the brew cleanup). I decided to replace the airlock b/c there was a lot of crap in it. So i cleaned the new airloocks with boiling water and then with gin. But after half an hour or so I can see yet more overflow happening and crud in the airlock.

I'm worried about infection happening - what can I do? Is it safe to leave the overflow just there? Or will this consume all my gin for the next 48 hours or so?

I don't have the equipment currently to make a blow-out tube for the three carboys

Thanks,

Ben

 

[waldoar15]

Not enough headspace. Look up blowoff tubes.

Nothing will get in as long as there is positive pressure.

 

[benoj]

Not enough headspace. Look up blowoff tubes.

Definitely will be doing this on the next batch

How much headspace would you recommend?

Nothing will get in as long as there is positive pressure.

Great news - I'll keep an eye on it and swap for a clean airlock when it begins to slow

 

[waldoar15]

IDK, at least double what you have. Outside of starters, I don't ferment in small vessels. 25% of total volume is a good place to start. Every fermentation is different though.

 

[hottpeper13]

For now you could put a piece of sanitized foil over the opening and do a semi open ferment. When it subsides you can put the loks back on.

 

[VikeMan]

How much headspace would you recommend?

I always recommend a total volume of at least 130% of the batch size.

 

[myndflyte]

The only issue with the airlock getting filled is that if it gets clogged by hops, pressure will build until either the stopper pops off or the glass breaks.