I have had issues with this RIS the few times Ive brewed it. Each time I brew it I try something new to avoid it exploding, I taped the blow off tube on this time and it seems to be doing pretty well. Im wondering though, has anyone else had issues with a beer they are fermenting with English ale yeast blowing off air locks and blow off tubes?? The first time I brewed this beer I lost a lot of beer due to blow off, so the second time I split the batch into 2, 6 gallon carboys and one of them still shot the airlock off so I added the blow off tubes again and went on my way. This time I started with the tubes and split the batch. One of the halves that started first blew the blow off tube off. I thought it was a fluke so I cleaned things up and put it back on. Then an hour later it did it again so I duct taped the bungs on. No more explosions, just cleaning out the blow off jug... I haven't used english ale yeast for many other beers, so Im curious if its just the head retention on this beer or if its typical for this yeast? Usually I start it out at 64F or so but after this batch started having issues I dropped things down to 60F.
The issue is not the yeast strain but the fact that a RIS is a high gravity beer with lots of 'food' for the yeast. When I brew high gravity beers I use a few drops of Fermcap to keep the krausen level down. I would strongly recommend that you use Fermcap for your next high gravity batch. Cheers!
Thanks, Ill have to read up on that stuff. What affect does it have on the head retention later? Do you know how it works? maybe that's a better question...
“What affect does it have on the head retention later?” Fermcap has no effect on head retention. “Do you know how it works?” Below is the description of Fermcap from the William Brewing website: “A milky liquid emulsion that reduces foaming during fermentation, without affecting heading or the flavor of the finished beer. The active food grade ingredient, dimethylpolysiloxane, reduces surface tension of the wort, enabling you to have vigorous ferments in smaller fermenters. If you have trouble with your fermenter overflowing (particularly in warmer months) this additive is for you. Fermcap™ settle out in the yeast sediment when fermentation ends. Use ¼ to ½ teaspoon per 5 gallon batch of beer, adding right before you add the yeast. Preserved with sodium metabisulphite. This 4 fluid oz. bottle is good for many batches and should be stored in a cool place, and shaken before each use to unify the emulsion.” Cheers!
It is my understanding that Fermcap-S (available from Northern Brewer) is Simethicone. I use it in all of my fermenting beers, as I got tired of dealing with blow-offf tubes. I typically use 1.5 times the recommended dose. I also use a drop when boiling the wort for my starters, as there is nothing quite like a scorched boil over on a glass-top stove. I have seen no effect upon head retention.
Or you could consider using a larger diameter tubing that fits the mouth of your carboy. My tubing is slightly small so I wrap the tubing with plastic wrap before jamming it directly into the carboy's mouth. The larger size of the inner diameter of this tubing will not get clogged.
I almost always just use foil over the mouth of the carboy for the first few days of fermentation, then put on an airlock when the vigorous cycle has subsided. Got tired of the situation you describe.
Not likely. Just using foil over the carboy mouth allows a lot more air to escape (meaning less pressure building up) than an airlock or blowoff tube in my experience.
Hmm interesting. One of the times it blew the blowoff tube off it just continued erupting. Maybe it would be different without pressure building up, I think I might try the fermcap stuff though.
I use FermcapS and have also split the batch up into even more fermentors to allow for much larger head space. I would have split yours into 2 for that RIS (I am assuming the beer with it in the other BB is a second runnings beer, if not, and it too is RIS, then I would have split it all to 3 fermentors).
Its all RIS, the last batch was a little smaller so there was some more head room but not much. Ill plan on picking up some FermcapS. I take it from your comment that the Krausen still gets pretty big? What do pro breweries do for this sort of thing?
It can, I have had 4.5 gallons of Wee Heavy in a 6 gallon BB with FermcapS go ballistic and blow off with 1469. I assume they brew smaller batches to avoid blow off, or deal with the mess all over the floor and in the 55 gallon trash cans they use with the blow off tubes.
I split my 6 gallons into two 6.5g fermenters when I do my RIS. I used american ale yeast, and keep the temp at 60-62 the whole time as well. After a couple blow outs, I got tired of it and fixed it for good.
Cool, I was considering doing a mixed ferment with English and american yeast but decided to leave it alone this time. I would like to have this finish a bit lower but like the English ale yeast in it too.
Yeah, they sell simethicone drops in the baby section of most pharmacies (and at Wal-Mart for ~ $2). I've got no experience with it other than for it's intended use - settling a newborn's belly - but as long as you can find it without added flavorings? It's probably the same stuff. Even comes in 1 oz bottles with a dropper.
