"volcanic" fermentation?

[Rukula]

Recently, ive been youtubing allot of brewing videos, for tips,tricks and inspiration. I'm open for allmost any kind of beer, i love the light summery beer to the pitch black pint..

i dont know what to brew next, and because of that, im scearching around for inspiration. I found LOADS of videos where "black" beer had a volcanic fermentation, where the foam did overflow and go all over the kitchen. I went to coopers website under the tab "Bow to brew" and found a recipe for Imperial stout. At the bottom they mentioned this extreme amount of foam..

Is this a common problem? Why is it doing this? How do i prevent it if i decide to make an imperial stout?

 

[tazuk]

yes m8 seen this on a few brews and on you tube but trust me well worth it : :thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

At the bottom they mentioned this extreme amount of foam..
Is this a common problem? Why is it doing this? How do i prevent it if i decide to make an imperial stout?

It's simply a very healthy vigorous fermentation, perfectly normal, and for a reason which Aleman will probably be able to explain :ugeek: :grin: much more likely with dark beers, though it happens commonly with others. There's no real reason to prevent it, unless you fear you may lose most of your top cropping yeast, but that's not really likely.
There are a few pics on the forum of 'Mr Whippy' type ferments :lol:
You can use anti foaming agents (Bru Paks Anti Foam) but I wouldn't bother. I have used this myself when making big batches in a too small an fv, and it worked to some extent.

 

[RobWalker]

By asking to prevent it, you're asking how to stop the forces of nature...to which i would say, good luck :)

Install a blow off tube to your airlock - that'll keep it sanitary and prevent any mess. Extra headroom wouldn't be a bad shout so use your bigger fermenter of you have one...

 

[Archtronics]

Forget about fitting the airlock until the foam dies down else you will end up with it full of beer!! Just fit some paper towel in it then fit the airlock later.