Foaming Airlock

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jhay

Well-Known Member
Joined
5/1/13
Messages
87
Reaction score
4
Location
Tweed Heads
I put down the Little Critters Pale Ale (discussed earlier) yesterday usinfg Safale US 05 yeast pitched at 24" dry..Looked at it this morning in the controlled fridge (set at 18.5') and found that the airlock has foam coming out of it.I removed it and resterilised and filled it with water.
I'm now concerned that It might be infected or as to whether the yeast is still working as ther is no sign of fermentation..Klausen at this stage hasn't formed other than spots on the lid.Any opinions please.
 
Stuff blowing out probably won't lead to infection I would have thought, I think this where blow off tubes are a good idea but then I'm a relative newbie...

Last time I used us-05 it took anout 18 hours to get cranking but not sure what happened with yours. I'm sure one of the other guys here will know whats up.
 
All I can say Lob is that it is foam and there is no sign of krausen on the side of the fermenter other than on the lid..
 
I don't suppose there was heaps of foam in the fermenter when you added the yeast and put on the lid? Could the yeast be stuck to the lid?
 
here are photos

008.jpg


008.jpg


009.jpg
 
bradsbrew said:
Did you use starsan in the airlock?
Good point, or anything that can foam up. Bit hard to see much in the photos but that top down one looks like there are some bubbles. Are you sure the lid is on tight? On one of my fermenters some gas leaks out even with a new seal unless the lid is screwed on to buggery.
 
Foam goblin, thats all I got :)

I'm sure once everyone has slept off last night you'll get some better answers ;)
 
I see stuff all krausen on my US-05 brews, lucky if it's more than 5mm thick, probably less. It seems to take 12-18 hours to start forming anything visible, and it's only every 2nd brew or so that I see any airlock activity at all. And I've pitched it dry and re-hydrated a few times, doesn't seem to make any difference.

The end result has always been exactly as I hoped, so it's never bothered me. How your airlock had krausen coming out of it within 24 hours that has completely collapsed back is a bloody mystery! As for infection, only time will tell...take a gravity reading tomorrow and see if it's dropped much from your OG..if it has, it's fermenting. And taste the sample, there's no mistaking infected beer.

I have had coopers kit yeast climb out of my airlock before, did the same as you and it ended up fine....well...as fine as anything fermented with Coopers kit yeast can be. :)
 
NuggetSA said:
Foam goblin, thats all I got :)

I'm sure once everyone has slept off last night you'll get some better answers ;)
Nothing terribly wrong with the answers so far. No one has much to go on, really.

This foam. What colour was it? Big bubbles? Small bubbles? Did it have a smell even? The word "foam" alone is not enough to diagnose a problem (if any exists).

carniebrew said:
How your airlock had krausen coming out of it within 24 hours that has completely collapsed back is a bloody mystery!
Unless he also cleaned out the inside of his fermenter then the mystery is solved - that isn't what happened at all.
 
No smell but the foam looked like soapy bubbles.I can't discribe it bettet than that.The brew was put down at approx 3.30pm yesterday and I can't see any fermenting yet.Maybe a bit early yet.
 
The condensation makes it look like it might be fermenting to me. Gas forcing bubbles (whatever they might be) out of the airlock also indicate something is going on. As you say, a little bit too early to be stressing in any case.

Is there any chance the airlock had a dry soapy residue on it from last time you washed it?
 
bum said:
The condensation makes it look like it might be fermenting to me. Gas forcing bubbles (whatever they might be) out of the airlock also indicate something is going on. As you say, a little bit too early to be stressing in any case.

Is there any chance the airlock had a dry soapy residue on it from last time you washed it?
No as I rinse twice with anything to do with the fermenter prior to sanitising.
 
without anything foaming "up" to the airlock, odds are it has to be something to "do" with the airlock, :blink:

here's an idea... take the airlock out, remove the lid, replace with glad wrap... no more foaming airlock :lol:
 
jhay said:
No as I rinse twice with anything to do with the fermenter prior to sanitising.
Yes but what are you using to sanitise after the double rinse?
 
jhay said:
I sanitise with Starsan
I would say the foaming is residue from the starsan, when the gas pushes through the airlock the starsan foams. Starsan doesnt need much movement to foam up.
 
Back
Top