Hi there, just wondering if anyone knows the reasons behind messy fermentation. I have recently brewed a karma citra clone using yeast 1056. I made a yeast starter, as reccommended, for the high alcohol content, original gravity was 1068. I pitched at 15 degrees and naturally let it increase to 17 degrees. Day 2- day 4 of fermentation and there was a huge mess, bubbling out of the air lock, lost lots of yeast and roughly a litre of beer. If anyone can give me some pointers that would be great.
Aggressive fermentation
- Thread starter J.papas
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Sounds perfect.J.papas said:
No one said it was supposed to be clean!
A vigorous fermentation at those temperatures sounds good.
If the mess is an issue, get a bit of sanitised beer line, and stick it in the grommet on the fermenter and put it into a bucket of cooled boiled water.
1056 usually produces about a 5cm kraüsen for me. If you have pitched more than normal, you may get a bigger kraüsen though.
How much head space did you have, how much yeast did you pitch and what size is your batch?
How much head space did you have, how much yeast did you pitch and what size is your batch?
Most big brewers use Antifoam in their fermenters, in places where that isn't permitted (Germany) the recommended head space for Lagers is 30%, for Wheat Beers 50% and for Ale somewhere between the two.
That is for "standard" beer, high gravity, high pitch rates, higher temperatures, more wheat, lots of hops... can all cause more foaming.
I'm not recommending Antifoam its a PITA to get rid of without commercial filtration, but if you reduce the temperature (only a couple of degrees), provide a bit more head space (bigger fermenter i.e. 30L for a 23L batch is about 30% head space) or at need use a blow off tube as Brewman said, it should be more manageable.
I would be interested in how you are measuring the temperature (that's the easiest variable to control) if the temperatures were the air temperatures in the fridge the actual wort can be several degrees hotter. Without sounding like I'm harping on about it, putting a small fan in your fridge will speed up cooling and give a more consistent temperature throughout, I have seen plenty of fridges 5oC different between top and bottom, as yeast makes heat, and hot wort rises and the top of the fridge is warmer than the bottom - well I have seen a ferment that was nearly 10oC hotter at the top than the brewer planed, took a while to work out why he was getting off flavours, but that was the answer.
Other than that sounds like a good healthy ferment, what in fact you should be working to get, and a way better problem to have than too slow a ferment.
Mark
That is for "standard" beer, high gravity, high pitch rates, higher temperatures, more wheat, lots of hops... can all cause more foaming.
I'm not recommending Antifoam its a PITA to get rid of without commercial filtration, but if you reduce the temperature (only a couple of degrees), provide a bit more head space (bigger fermenter i.e. 30L for a 23L batch is about 30% head space) or at need use a blow off tube as Brewman said, it should be more manageable.
I would be interested in how you are measuring the temperature (that's the easiest variable to control) if the temperatures were the air temperatures in the fridge the actual wort can be several degrees hotter. Without sounding like I'm harping on about it, putting a small fan in your fridge will speed up cooling and give a more consistent temperature throughout, I have seen plenty of fridges 5oC different between top and bottom, as yeast makes heat, and hot wort rises and the top of the fridge is warmer than the bottom - well I have seen a ferment that was nearly 10oC hotter at the top than the brewer planed, took a while to work out why he was getting off flavours, but that was the answer.
Other than that sounds like a good healthy ferment, what in fact you should be working to get, and a way better problem to have than too slow a ferment.
Mark
