I have a 6 gal glass carboy that I nearly topped off. Probably only left 4 or 5 inches of head space in there. 2nd day into ferment and it’s tumultuous and rising up the narrow neck. I duct taped the stopper and air lock down to the glass, but is there anything else I can do to prevent a blow off (other than going back in time)? And, what do I do if there is one (never had one before)?
Bad idea, will just make the eruption more violent
If some is going to be ejected anyway, why not just rack some off to make room?
Fermcap-S, if you have a LHBS beat feet there ASAP. While you’re there, get a blow off tube and just run that into a bucket of starsan.
Alternatively, if you’re using a 3-peice airlock, just run a hose from it to a bucket of star san. Not ideal, but it’ll work in a pinch.
WHATEVER YOU DO, get that duct tap off, you don’t want pressure building in a glass carboy. Carboys are not designed to hold pressure…A little krausen is a lot easier to clean up than 6 gallons of wort AND krausen.
Ok duct tape is off and a racked about .5 gals out. Now I have a nice foamy krausen sponge cake stuck up in the top of the vessel and the beer is down below, is this a problem? I am disappointed that my duct tape fix was not sufficient, I though duct tape could fix anything. Thanks.
You are fine now
My absolute ideal is to get the fermenter filled to a level so that the foam doesn’t actually go out of, but just rises into, the blow off tube (so there’s no loss of beer) but the brown stuff sticks to the top of the fermenter when the foam dies down and doesn’t sink back into the beer giving it harsh flavors.
Great. It looks like that’s what I’m going to get.
Well you did lose a little already, right? But now you know exactly where the magic fill line is!
This is part of why I’d like to move to open fermentation. Plenty of documentation that both British and German brewers sought to remove that crud. (Brits via open fermentation and running off the excess yeast.)
Yeah, I don’t like the idea of most homebrew conicals for this reason. They’re designed with headspace to avoid hittong the roof! Commercial ones can be equipped with internal skimmers. I’ve also read that some breweries aim to do what I do, hit the fill level that leaves the “Braunhefe” on the roof of the fermenter. I have pretty good luck with my method in a carboy, although I do lagers and in the first couple of generations the yeast don’t tend to give quite enough of a head. (I think the Brits, like the Germans, now pretty much use conicals with vacuum skimmers.)
I know that Samuel Smith’s uses open fermentation and skimmers. I believe there are a few more Yorkshire breweries that do likewise. (Samuel Smiths is also NOT low oxygen. In fact, watching a brew on their Victorian brewhouse would likely give a brewing with low O2 goals fits.)
I bought a SS Brewtech brew bucket just before my hiatus from brewing. Still haven’t used it, but it seems the best of both worlds: conical bottom, easily removable lid for skimming. Goal would be to skim yeast/aerate the wort at least daily, if that doesn’t provide the right results I’ll move to open fermentation.
A former regular on here, S. Cerevisiae, used to talk about how many British strains have such high oxygen requirements that they won’t fully ferment a beer, and as such aren’t marketed to home brewers. The goal is to get to the point where these yeast can be used. (White Labs Cask Ale is one, if I remember correctly. They basically refused to sell it to home brewers when I emailed them about it, citing that it only comes in microbrewery-sized packaging. I said that’s fine, I’ll culture it from there, they still said no. Oh well.)
You are the ideal guy for open fermentation or opening up to skim, as I know you like judicious amounts of oxidation. Most homebrewers would probably find it either gives too much 02 or poses other risks. Any guy serving out of a pin ought to go full on old school Brit!
I don’t know about availability in your area, but do you know Samuel Smith Yorkshire Stingo? (It’s no longer handled by the OH distributor, and they have non-comps so that it can’t be ordered here online!) It’s an 8%ish ale, $11ish a 550ml bottle. Cask aged for a year+ before bottle conditioning. If you can get it, by all means do. It’s a wonderful ale, and if you’re lucky you just might be able to culture the dregs!
Open fermentation won’t be an oxidation issue if done properly. Also, the beer should be racked to secondary (the cask, secondary is only worth it if you’re carbing/and or adding something like fruit or bugs) before fermentation is complete. Sound familiar to spunding? Only difference is you add a dose of priming of some sort and finings.
I have not seen Stingo in my area. Sadly Sam Smith’s is a rather neglected brand in my area. I watch their section of shelves like a hawk, bust most of what I find is pretty old. A little oxidation is OK in a British, a lot is terrible. I recently had one of their beers that was undrinkable, a chocolate stout so oxidized that it tasted like how stale pipe tobacco smells.
Sam’s has definitely declined in profile here too. And their fruit beers get most of the remaining shelf space! (Exposure to Pale Ale and Taddy Porter when I was still technically underage probably saved me from wasting my whole youth drinking Old Milwaukee.) What surprised me is that Stingo got pulled around the time the new breed of wood aged beers was on the rise – I’d think there would be a market for an original. You could try to find some online – that’s how I found it can’t be shipped to Ohio. Thought I had a solution, but that wiley beverage distribution company foiled me!
Holy crap yes, and nobody ever buys them, judging by the amount of dust on the bottles…
The more I think about it I just want somebody out there to get Stingo and see if you can culture up the dregs and use a “real” Yorkshire yeast in homebrewing. I was going to do it years ago, sadly never did. Phil_M, you say suppliers think this yeast is unsuitable for homebrew as it needs too much rousing ?! That should be easy, no need for elaborate equipment like in a two-story square or round. A paddle ought to do it, along with the greater surface area-to-volume on a small scale!
EDIT sorry, I have completely derailed this thread. But I think Pope is good with his blow off now, so he wasn’t using this thread anyway. 
This thread got cool. Started researching open fermentation, something I never though a homebrewer could even attempt. Maybe this will be a fun, on the side, experiment for me. Does this look like a good idea for a coolship?
*Just contacted the company and they say it’s not food grade. What have others used? What about sawing a PET bottle in half?
There are kind of two meanings for open fermentation. One (I think wjat Phil_M has in mind) is just not having a closed fermenter, so you can skim the crud off (like old time pictures you’ve probably seen) but keeping it all cultured yeast. Another is where you’re going, also allowing wild yeast to join the party. A coolship is not needed, it wouldn’t be the best way to inoculate the wort (you’ll never be able to be sure you’ll get usable organisms in there, or do it repeatably. And the ones that take off while it’s still warm will be nasty bacteria as likely as any kind of yeast.)
There’s lots of stuff out there on how to capure wild yeast in your yard and culture it up for brewing. If you have fruit trees in your yard, that’s supposed to be a great hunting ground. (I was going to try it, but then had to sell the property with the orcard. :() I’ve read articles in a couple of the magazines (for starters try to track down Stan Hieonymus’ article in the the June-July 2016 Craft Beer & Brewing) and no doubt lots of books and online resources. If I still had the apple trees, I’d be giving it a try!
I do live on an orchard, avocados and grapefruit, but harvesting bacteria sounds a little too technical then. Remember, I’m the guy that started this thread with the duct tape on the airlock idea. So, unless I can use the duct tape to harvest this bacteria I think I’m out. But, what about just brewing beer as I would, ferment in an open trough for 4 or 5 days, skimming, and then transferring? I’m intrigued to try something new.