Fermenting

[AlDaviz]

Came home to explosion of fermentation !!
Think I overfilled my fermenter, ran off 22.5L yesterday. I think I’m gonna need bigger or make a slightly smaller batch.
Came home to bubbling mess as airlock was blocked, quickly filled a jug with starsan and water washed the tube and swapped over so it’s bubbling into the jug.
Will this be ok ??

 

[Slid]

Yes, all the mess is on the outside. No way will anything bacterial have gone in the other way!

 

[Brew Dad]

Should be fine. Enthusiastic fermentations usually are.

 

[Slid]

Taking a look at the picture, there is not really enough headspace in this. The distance between the top of the liquid and the airlock may be a couple of inches, but the volume is much reduced by the way the vessel narrows at the neck. It looks like a 25L water container, or similar, which may not be big enough for more than 20L of beer.

There won't be any harm done, other than the waste and the mess. Good vigorous ferment you have there, what are you brewing, BTW?

 

[Clint]

....I wonder if there's wheat involved?

 

[AlDaviz]

going To be NEipa planning on dry hopping after 4 days depending what the gravity drops too !
There foam being pushed through tube into the starsan, will this be ok or is it best to drain some wort off ??

 

[AlDaviz]

Yes there’s 500g of both torrified and flaked because it had been laid around

 

[AlDaviz]

Yes looks like I need to brew a max of 20L to go into the fermenter from now on !!
Or buy a bigger fermenter.

 

[Slid]

Yes looks like I need to brew a max of 20L to go into the fermenter from now on !!
Or buy a bigger fermenter.

No wonder it overflowed! Good luck with this one and future brews.

 

[Clint]

Leave it..as long as the tube is submerged it'll be safe.

 

[AlDaviz]

Thanks Clint, I just don’t want to be wasting maybe 300g of wai-iti and 100g of Manderina hops when I dry hop

 

[steve denholm]

Yes looks like I need to brew a max of 20L to go into the fermenter from now on !!
Or buy a bigger fermenter.

If this helps I use these fermentors really like them (massive too)
https://www.brewuk.co.uk/young-s-wide-neck-wine-fermenter-25-litre-2759.html

 

[AlDaviz]

So my NEIPA was down to fg 1018 after 3x days, so I decided as advised by various threads Ive read not to dry hop for more than 4/5 days as can leave a grassy taste !
I added the 400g hops guesstimating that the fermentation would be complete in the timeframe as this seems the outcome with some of the mangrove jacks yeasts I’ve been using.
Fg was to be 1010, but looked this morning and it’s down to fg 1008, but still bubbling through the airlock every 20 seconds !!
Was planning on bottling tonight ?? Will this be ok ??

 

[terrym]

The earlier advice given to you should, in my view, have been to leave dry hopping until it was almost done, and at SG 1.018 there was still some way to go as you have found out. That puts you in control not the yeasties. However the normal advice to folks is to only package when the SG is stable and yours is still going down. Better still package when its clearing as well which is another good sign it's done. Anyway two or three more days on the hops won't hurt in my view so I would leave it, and not go ahead tonight. That said there cant be much more to go if the bubble rate where it is so I would be looking at Monday.

 

[Brew Dad]

+1 to what @terrym said. Also, 400 gms is a massive dry hop for a 22 litre batch, so the bubbles in the airlock could just be from all the nucleation sites for CO2 that is causing. Bottom line, the only way to know if fermentation has stopped is if you have a stable gravity reading for 3 days or so.

 

[AlDaviz]

Thanks, it has cleared quite a lot, I’ll leave it over the weekend and see how things go, I’ve a tilt hydrometer that the missus bought me for Xmas so it’s easy to keep an eye on things

 

[Andy15]

Any tips on re starting fermentation?
Started a coopers lager kit on Tuesday but very little bubbling just a thin sediment stain at the top of tub
I started a cider kit on Thursday this is going fine there both in the same room so temp should be ok 21 degrees

 

[Brew Dad]

Any tips on re starting fermentation?
Started a coopers lager kit on Tuesday but very little bubbling just a thin sediment stain at the top of tub
I started a cider kit on Thursday this is going fine there both in the same room so temp should be ok 21 degrees

Have you taken a hydrometer reading? It may well be fermenting fine. But no harm in giving the fermenter a gentle swirl to get the yeast in suspension.

 

[Andy15]

Have you taken a hydrometer reading? It may well be fermenting fine. But no harm in giving the fermenter a gentle swirl to get the yeast in suspension.

Hi just taken a reading it’s at 1010 after 5 days would a quick stir make a difference ?
Or just leave it and test again tomorrow
I’m a little green at this this is my first brew so any tips are greatly received

 

[Slid]

Hi just taken a reading it’s at 1010 after 5 days would a quick stir make a difference ?
Or just leave it and test again tomorrow
I’m a little green at this this is my first brew so any tips are greatly received

That sounds fine to me. I did lots of Coopers' Lager kits (not the Euro Lager, though) and after five days, the initial vigorous fermentation has subsided. After a while, I learned the eternal truth of kit brewing - leave it for 14 days in the FV before doing anything else, irrespective of what it says in the little booklet that Coopers send out with every kit. Very little need to stir it, mess with it or anything else. 21C is fine for the Coopers yeast and all will be good if you leave the poor thing alone for a bit.