Then, once I got that bottled, I went and got some real ingredients and equipment.
Last night I boiled up some IPA from the local homebrew shop. Fun stuff, really, nice and hoppy. I had one boilover, which was almost disastrous, but mostly I avoided trouble. However, I’ve got the five gallons of wort with the yeast in a carboy with an S-shaped fermentation lock that at one point had the proper amount of water in it, but I assume does not anymore. There’s a lot of foam coming up through the fermentation lock. I mean a lot of foam. While I’m happy I have lots of healthy yeast, I’m worried about this.
What did I do wrong? How can I avoid it?
What should I do now? Wait for the foaming to settle down, then replace the foamy lock with a fresh one and new water?
You need more headspace is all. 5 gallons of wort in a 5 gallon carboy is too much.
I can’t say exactly how much headspace you need, depends on the specifics of the wort and the yeast,as it seems to me that some recipes will foam worse than others.
Leave a couple inches more next time. I place mine on a plastic bucket lid, but I also have carpet on the floor in the basement…
Yep. As long as it’s foaming, the CO[sub]2[/sub] will keep your wort safe. Once it goes down, wipe the scum from the neck of the carboy and replace the airlock with fresh water.
It just sounds to me like the standard initial fermentation period. This is a good sign that you have gotten a great fermentation going. As others have suggested, your beer will be fine. You probably didn’t even lose that much as it was mostly foam.
I never start my fermentation with a standard S lock for that reason. Instead I run a tube directly from the fermenter to a kettle filled with water and dissinfectant. When the fermentation slows down, I switch it to the S-lock.
Go with a 6.25 gallon food-grade bucket or carboy (while I know a lot of people who are purists about the whole glass carboy thing, I myself am a big fan of the bucket. Very easy to manage.)
I never made beer, but a whole bunch of wine in the past, with a similar problem.
I don’t think it would have been possible to put the initial wine fermentation in a closed container; it would have bubbled and foamed too much to use an airlock. I just put it in a large (clean) garbage can with a plastic bag liner or two, very loosely covered at top. After a few days, It could be racked to a container with a lock, but even then, you need some extra space at the top and a watchful eye.
Even a 6.5 gallon carboy can be too small for some beers - I find that when I make a wheat beer, I get a ton of foamover. My recommendation for now, or for future foamy fermentations, is to attach a siphon hose to the top of the carboy (rather than an airlock), and drop the other end in a bucket.
Fair enough. I really appreciate all the advice - I know we brewbies can be pretty stressed out over stuff that’ll seem normal later on.
I got this carboy secondhand from a winery where I worked in the fall, so I really hadn’t given it a second thought. I’ve been meaning to look into getting a nicer one, but since it’s the first real batch I’m doing, I didn’t want to spend too much on the off-chance that I’d rather continue drinking someone else’s beer. I’ll take this thread under advisement as far as the next equipment run goes.
Ace309, in the first stages of fermentation, you don’t need a fermentation lock, as there is so much gas given off that air is effectively prevented from reaching the must, or whatever the beer equivalent is called. The bubbles might even act as a crude seal. You want to avoid miscellaneous stuff falling in like stray cats, but unless you have a fan blowing nearby, a very loose lid/cover should be fine. Then when things have calmed down a bit, put it under lock. At least that’s the way I made wine and it seemed to work.
Food-grade plastic buckets are just fine for initial fermentations…less chance of foamover without the narrowing at the top you get with a carboy. Before you start buying equipment, ask here first. If 10 of us reply, that will give you 13 different opinions!
I just bought another food-grade bucket (6.25 gal, with an airlock hole in the lid) for $11. Not too much of an investment.
And you can do a secondary ferm just fine in a food-grade bucket too.
I do have a couple of glass carboys, but y’know, they’re slick when they’re wet, they’re awkward to move, and the narrow neck makes it more difficult and time-consuming to pour and clean. The bucket may not be as elegant, but they’re super-convenient.
I have to respectfully disagree with you Musicat. Pretty typical stuff for a winemaker, yes - but as we note at the homebrew shop I go to, there’s quite a division between the super-sterile beer makers and the sloppy, dirty wine makers.
Because beer has a lower alcohol content then wine, it is extremely more susceptible to contamination. Contamination that leads to disaster (undrinkable beer). Winemaking is much more tolerant/lenient when it comes to keeping things clean/uncontaminated.
In fact, looking back at your first post - I wouldn’t recommend garbage bagging when brewing beer because of the contamination issues. I would definitely recommend a fermentation lock even in the initial stages. As others have noted - the real problem is the size of the carboy. Although the overflowing foam is definitely going to be a little messy - the fermentation lock should keep all the brewing beer safe and sound.
You may be entirely right, Doctor Who. I can only speak from winery experience. Besides, who would want to actually drink the stuff beermakers make? Or to quote one of my favorite Aye-Tal-Yun sayings,
“In vino ci sta laetitia,
In pane ci sta vita”
Which means,
“In wine there is laughter,
In bread there is life.”
When I was just using the glass carboy for first stage, I’d stick the racking cane (instead of the lock) in the stopper for a couple of days, with the runoff sent to a bowl on the floor, and then use the lock after it was done putting out foam.
