Porter, Very High Krausen

[Holden4th]

I put down a FWK London Porter yesterday. Following some advice, I put about 5L of wort into the fermenter, sprinkled the yeast over the top and let it spread out to avoid clumping. (The Yeast is a Lallemand Nottingham Ale Yeast). I then gave the whole thing a vigorous mix for about 60 seconds before adding the rest of the wort. I splashed the wort in to oxygenate it.

This thing has taken off to the extent that it's reached the lid of my 25L bucket fermenter and got into the airlock which is now slightly discoloured. This thing is going apeshit with bubbles every second or so. Fermentation temp is set at 18 degrees.

My concern is that it will ferment too fast and then get stuck or is this normal for a porter. The smell, BTW, is awesome.

 

[Markbeer]

Not usual for a porter but expected from Nottingham yeast. Will ferment fast then drop out.

 

[Holden4th]

It's now come through the top of the airlock and has spilled onto the lid. The top of the airlock has a foamy substance coming out of it. Do I take the lid off and remove the foam at the top of wort or do I just leave it. I've done a few brews in my time but have never seen anything like this. Fortunately I put Starsan in the airlock.

When it drops out will it keep slowly fermenting or will it get stuck?

 

[razz]

Just keep cleaning and refilling the airlock Holden4th. Maybe have a second airlock ready to go (if you have one) When it drops you can start taking gravity readings to determine when it will hit terminal gravity. For the record, I usually get pretty large krausens when I use roasted malts for porters and stouts. Good luck.

 

[pnorkle]

Blow-off tube.

 

[Holden4th]

It's dropped out now. I'll do a SG reading tonight and see where it's at. And yes, I need to make myself a blow-off tube.

 

[Dan2]

If you're happy with the outcome and decide to run with it again - knock the ferment temp down.
Nottingham can be treated like a lager yeast (down to 10C).
You will see a much more restrained krausen, and a smoother taste to the beer.
Remember to let the temp rise before terminal though.

1st few times we brewed our stout (with Nott) it was all over the floor the day after pitching.
Temp fixed this.

 

[Holden4th]

OK, if this tastes as good as someone else's I tried I can see my self doing this again. What temp would you recommend? 15 or 16 degrees? How long would it take to fully ferment at the lower temp?

 

[pnorkle]

OK, if this tastes as good as someone else's I tried I can see my self doing this again. What temp would you recommend? 15 or 16 degrees? How long would it take to fully ferment at the lower temp?

Check out the specs here: http://www.lallemandbrewing.com/product-details/nottingham-high-performance-ale-yeast/ You should be able to ferment out in around 9 days according to the blurb.

 

[mattyess]

Had exact same thing with first couple of Porters I did with Nottingham. The first one was the worst, had to pull off the airlock and sit the fermenter in the sink overnight. I reckon I lost about 3-4 litres just in foam. Keeping them temp under 20 when pitching and leaving a bit more headspace has solved the issue.

 

[Holden4th]

G'Day Pnorkle, thanks for the advice. I was going to leave it for 14 days so this is good news.

I thought that the activity had stopped but checking the fermenter last night I found that the pressure had lifted the lid in one section. I discovered this by seeing the brown stain down the side of my chest freezer fermentation chamber. I resealed the lid and when I checked tonight, there is still activity through the airlock which is very encouraging. I'll keg this exactly two weeks after pitching the yeast provided the hydrometer says 'yes'.

I have a bit of a clean up job in the chamber but I'll leave that until I've kegged. I don't like the idea of lifting a 20kg vessel full of precious fluid out of a chest freezer. At some stage my hands would be level with my eyes and my back wouldn't thank me for that.

 

[Dan2]

OK, if this tastes as good as someone else's I tried I can see my self doing this again. What temp would you recommend? 15 or 16 degrees? How long would it take to fully ferment at the lower temp?

Last Stout I did - 5 days til terminal gravity @ 14C (5.2%ABV)
Previously 4 days @ 17-18C
Bigger stout at 7% and 12C took 7 days

Still needs a good few days to a week to clean up after itself - smells and tastes disgusting toward terminal, but cleans up nicely if given time.

 

[Holden4th]

My Porter is still quietly bubbling away as I've got what look like big soap bubbles in the airlock. It's a Senior Round airlock and I took the top off after the overflow. I also broke the bubbles but they've returned which I assume means that fermentation is still taking place.

As I have no intention of kegging it before two weeks is up I'll just leave it to burble away. It supposedly started with an SG of 1060 (I didn't check) but I don't know what the FG should be. It still smells good.

 

[Holden4th]

I'm no longer sure the bubbling is fermentation. I took a gravity reading last night and got something between 1016 and 1018 which is close to what the FG is meant to be. The SG was 1060. I'll take another reading on Thursday to see if there is any change.

I also ordered a blowoff kit from the only Aussie vendor on line who seems to have one. It's on its way and will be ready for my next brew.

I'm not sure what FWK to brew next. My first two were from All Inn. The Omitted Fortune EPA wasn't that good but I don't think it fermented out fully. The Mutiny Red IPA is excellent and I'm still drinking it (but it will run out very soon).

The Porter is from Craftbrewer and is their London GMT +10.

I like English style bitter beers without overdoing the hops. Any suggestions from either range would be appreciated.

 

[YAPN]

Chris's British Pale Ale from Grain and Grape was pretty good.

 

[Rocker1986]

I'm experiencing similar in a brown ale that's in the fermenter at the moment, although the krausen didn't explode until well into the second half of fermentation. I checked it on Sunday after 3 days since pitching, and it was sitting at 1.020 down from 1.046, with about 7-8 points to go, and the krausen was pretty normal, couple of inches high maybe. Yesterday and today it's gone up to the lid, probably another 100mm higher than it was. I'm using 1469 yeast but curious as to why the krausen would explode that late in the game.

 

[Holden4th]

I got a blowoff kit from G&G today to avoid further mess. When I eventually keg there will be a lot of crap to clean up in my fermentation chamber.

 

[Holden4th]

I'm probably kegging this tomorrow. There are still bubbles in the air lock but I'm not sure where they come from as the FG hasn't changed in three days. I'll do a gravity reading again in an hour.

 

[Rocker1986]

What SG is it sitting at? Airlocks can bubble for a number of reasons, which is why I take no notice of them for determining fermentation activity

 

[Holden4th]

I kegged it today. FG was slightly below 1014 which from what I can gather, is within the range it should be. The original SG was 1060.

As an aside, I use an auto siphon racking cane to transfer my beer into the keg. A couple of quick pumps and it's flowing and the first two thirds of the filling process is reasonably quick. The last third takes forever and I'm not sure why. I wonder if the tube inside the keg is rising with the beer and slowing the process down. The tubing tends to coil which I don't like as I'd rather have something that hangs straight down.

Anyway, the kegged Porter will sit in my fermentation chamber for the next two week before I carbonate it. The brief taste I had was very encouraging.