Oops! Coopers Stout

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Smeagol

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Hey guys,
I made up my Coopers Stout, got home today and noticed that the stout had crept up through the airlock!
There was only a minor amount of spillage on the top of the lid (that had come up out of the airlock) maybe about 50mls, and the water in the airlock had been replaced with stout!! :)

I've heard stories of the stout creeping out of the carboys before but I didn't think that I was anything too extreme with my mixture to make a mess of this. Yet for this to come up out of the airlock it must have been bubbling away like crazy.

Any feedback would be appreciated.
 
Often a result of high temperatures and lots of yeast.

What temp are you fermenting at?
 
G'day Corey, just checking the temp it's moved up to 30 so that's probably it. But it's a hot day today and where I keep the carboy it never usually gets over a maximum of 26. When I mixed it, it was sitting at 26
Do you suggest I put some wet towels on it to reduce the temp?
 
There are lots of different ways to cool your fermenter.

The wet towel method will only be effective if you have relatively low humidity and/or a fan blowing on the towels.

The best method I've heard (without using refrigeration) is to place your fermenter in the laundry tub, fill it with water, and place frozen water-filled milk bottles in the tub with your fermenter. Change the frozen bottle over morning and night.
 
Wow that is way too high.Try putting it in a trough or bath of water and drop the temp.I brew with ale yeasts at 18-20c and even as low as 16 .High temps will give u esters and off flavas and probably spoil that dry finish u hoped for. :(
 
OK, fan and towels in action.
I know that 30 degrees is way too high, but what can you do when you're at work all day?
Will have to invest in an old fridge I think.

Thanks guys. Hopefully, the patient will survive!!
 
If the stout has been at 30 odd for about a day, it could be a very average beer. Hope its not too bad for you!

Ive found the wet towel method to work ok for me. If I wet the towels at the start of the day, it can stay cool, even on a 30 deg day.
 
Smeagol,
If u live in Sydney, Newcastle, or Brisbane (I think), wet towels prob won't help much due to humidity. You may need to use another technique to cool the brew.
I'd say that this beer, if damaged already, may be beyond repair. Prob not though, as Coopers yeast is fairly forgiving and quite active, as you already saw (via the airlock). You prob wouldn't have a reasonable beer if u used another yeast.
Could be a bit headachey though - will follow this up on the beer myth thread.
Seth (East coast)
 
Gday smeagol

My first brew a few weeks back I brewed too high, the brew was at 28 or so, 30 on a 37C day, it reached FG after 3 days...lol

Now i've finished a pale ale, the best method i found was to put my fermentor inside a plastic tub about the same size as one of those black recycle bins, put some cool water in it with some ice cubes, frozen PET bottles or those esky chillers. Brew stayed at 18-22 the whole week.

I'm a bit worried that if i do a yeast or something with a lively yeast that my strides will cop some brew, the fermentor sits in my wardbrobe under the pants section..lol
 
Ahh, those black recyclable boxes, perfect. Cant believe I didnt think of that. Ill definitely be doing that next brew. The recyclables can wait. :D
 
Weizguy said:
Smeagol,
If u live in Sydney, Newcastle, or Brisbane (I think), wet towels prob won't help much due to humidity. You may need to use another technique to cool the brew.
I'd say that this beer, if damaged already, may be beyond repair. Prob not though, as Coopers yeast is fairly forgiving and quite active, as you already saw (via the airlock). You prob wouldn't have a reasonable beer if u used another yeast.
Could be a bit headachey though - will follow this up on the beer myth thread.
Seth (East coast)
Hi mate,
Checked the brew this morning, this is day 2.
The temp appeared to be edging towards the 24 mark with the wet towel concept.
I wet it again and put it back on. It's a cooler day today anyway and it's raining nicely but overall the wet towel seems to be doing OK. I live on the Central Coast NSW and I'm pretty close to the coast line so it's rare for us to cop that much humidity.
 
Wet towel works best if you let the ends of the towel sit in a pool of water. In other words sit your fermenter in the middle of a tub of water on something (like bricks) to keep it just above the water.

Put your wet towel around the fementer and let the ends sit in the water and work like wicks. Keeps the towel wet a lot longer and saves you having to put it under the tap so often. Doesn't hurt to put a couple of drops of bleach in the water too if you're going to have the towel on for a couple of days. Keeps the mould at bay. :)

Warren -
 
Smeagol, in future you may want to attach a blow off tube instead of an airlock for the first couple of days. Run a metre or so of tubing out of the bung or grommet into a jug of water. This will catch any foam. You can replace it with an airlock when the beast calms down.
FWIW, we made up a brew on Saturday (a variation of the Supreme Gracy spiced cider, this is Su-Pear-Eme Gravy, with apple & pear juice, spices, brown sugar & honey) and figured that as we used a well developed champagne yeast starter in a bit over 9.5 litres of this, in a 10 litre carboy, a blow off tube would be the go. Turned out to be a good call, lost a bit of it but now it has settled down & is under a regular airlock
Rodderz, this may also help keep your strides clean. Of beer overflow, at least.
 
THe frozen milk bottle swamp cooler works like a treat for me. Been 30 here in Brisbane all week and it's managed to keep my belgian at 22. (A forgiving brew for hotter temps) More small bottles work better that a smaller number of large bottles, 3L milk jugs take too long to freeze.
 
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