What just happened?

[shelbymedic]

Hi everyone,
I brewed a Honey wheat this past Thursday with great success. First all grain batch completely by myself and I hit 76% efficiency. I made a starter from WLP300 and I had airlock fermentation in two hours! I ferment in my basement which is normally 68 degrees throughout the year. We had a cold front come through last night and the temp dropped to 61 degrees. I was working so I had my wife wrap a blanket around the bucket last night around 7pm or so and at this point she said it looked completely normal. Well, I went downstairs to move the fermentation bucket back upstairs to warmer (more consistent) temps and this is what the airlock looks like! What in the world?? I switched it out with a new sanitized airlock but wanted to hear yalls thoughts.

Cheers
DonaldView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1488123278.495383.jpg

 

[flars]

Not enough head space in your bucket or the yeast produced more heat than you thought it would. Fermenting wort may have gone much higher than the 68°F ambient temperature it started fermenting at.

 

[max384]

Fermentation happened!

Congrats. The yeast are making you beer!

You can prevent this by increasing headspace (bigger bucket or less beer in same bucket), by using a blowoff tube, or possibly decreasing temp. But, really, other than the mess, it won't hurt a thing, so long as your fermentation temps are in a good range.

And nice job hitting 76% efficiency on your first AG batch.

 

[cladinshadows]

"Blowoff" just happened. WLP300 and other weizen yeasts are well-known for producing huge krausen and blowing off, particularly at temps beyond the mid-60's. After the krausen fills up the headspace in your bucket it's got nowhere to go but out of the airlock.

If you're still in the active phase of fermentation you should be prepared to change out that airlock a few more times. If you're working with limited headspace or don't like cleaning your airlock out, a blowoff tube works well. Here's what John Palmer has to say: http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/fermenting-your-first-beer/choosing-your-fermenter

 

[shelbymedic]

I guess I was more surprised than anything. I've not had a beer blowoff since my RIS a year ago with an OG of 1.079. I have 5.1 gallons of wheat beer is in a 6 gallon bucket.

I eventually need to convert all my fermentation buckets to blowoff tubes.

 

[NSMikeD]

been there, done that