Witbier fermentation bucket too full?

[Lochem]

Hi everyone,

I have a Witbier (all grain) in first stages of nice activity, 16+ hours after pitching my yeast.
Bucket is 28 liters full, 30 liter capacity.

I used Fermentis wb-06. OG was 1.042

A buddy of mine says he thinks I'll have an issue with the volume, with lots of krausen and that I should empty out the bucket to 24 liters max.

Please give your expert advice....

Thanks and cheers

 

[bpt]

I did one of these with a 30 litre fermenter but using wyeast 3944 Belgian wit, 20 litres of liquid, I had it coming out of the airlock.
Huge head on the krausen.
I'd say you have too much in there.
Cheers
Tom.

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

With an airlock, there is such thing as too much. I've been there.

Create an ad-hoc blowoff tube. Grab some sanitised gas or beerline of a close enough OD to the OD of your airlock, jam it in, and feed it into a jar/jug of sanitiser. Yes, it will blow off, yes you will lose some beer, but not as much as if you might dump it out the tap now.

 

[Dan Pratt]

+1 for a blow off tube.
Wheat beers are common for high\massive krausen and head space is optional.

what temp are you fermenting at?

 

[Lochem]

I'm fermenting at 19 c. Making the blowoff tube will be a problem

 

[Lochem]

Dunno if you can see in the pic what I'm seeing here.
Lots of bubbling. But not much krauzen. I'm 24 hours in.

 

[Donske]

I'm fermenting at 19 c. Making the blowoff tube will be a problem

Then prepare for a massive clean up, I've had wheat beer yeasts climb out of the airlock with 12L of head space in a 30L fermenter, you've got no chance.

Edit: you can fit a blow off tube to those airlocks, surely you have some sort of hose or pipe lying around you can rig up, just make sure it's well sanitized, as mentioned beer/gas line works perfectly.

 

[wynnum1]

Put the excess into a 3 liter fruit juice bottles or a 2 litter drink bottles and return when settles down .

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

Then prepare for a massive clean up, I've had wheat beer yeasts climb out of the airlock with 12L of head space in a 30L fermenter, you've got no chance.

Edit: you can fit a blow off tube to those airlocks, surely you have some sort of hose or pipe lying around you can rig up, just make sure it's well sanitized, as mentioned beer/gas line works perfectly.

Yep. A standard garden hose can jam into the airlock out with some effort.

 

[Lochem]

Thanks for the tips.
I went down to keg king and picked up some tubing, jammed it in there and it's bubbling strongly into some sanitizer in a jug.

Still not seeing much krausen build up tho.
I hope it's just the way this strain of yeast works. I've been sanitizing all along the way.

 

[marksy]

Thanks for the tips.
I went down to keg king and picked up some tubing, jammed it in there and it's bubbling strongly into some sanitizer in a jug.

Still not seeing much krausen build up tho.
I hope it's just the way this strain of yeast works. I've been sanitizing all along the way.

Just don't let the blow off tube stay there for full fermentation if wort has made its way into it, its hard to clean after a week, wait a bit@# to clean once its all dried. And can ruin a good bit of tube. (Past experience.)

 

[Lochem]

Thanks marksy, I'll be sure to keep it in mind.