New Brewer Introduction, Some Questions

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by GoodhewBrew, Dec 22, 2014.

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  1. GoodhewBrew

    GoodhewBrew Initiate (0) Dec 22, 2014 Michigan

    Good Afternoon All!

    I just wanted to introduce myself as a newbie on this forum and in home brewing in general! My name is Ryan, I just graduated from college and my fiance has given me my graduation gift, a deluxe brew kit from Brewer's Best, along with an ingredients kit for their Holiday Ale. Immediately I was excited to try it. As of now, the wort is fermenting in my closet. I've found the experience as a whole to be quite enjoyable, and am excited to continue to grow with it. I also hope to learn many tidbits of knowledge from all you fellow brewers here!

    One question real quick, however. My brew day was on Saturday night. Everything went well and from start to finish, I was able to get my wort into the primary fermenter in just about four hours. The next morning I woke up to see some nice bubbling in the airlock, which made this first-timer very very proud. I went out for a nice dinner with my fiancé, and when I came back there was a small amount of foam in the airlock. Didn't find this to be a huge problem; so I took it off, cleaned and sanitized it, and then placed it back to its position. Woke up in the middle of the night to check on it and the entire airlock was filled with the gunk and there was so spillage on the lid. I immediately went to action and cleaned it all up. I decided to then attach my siphon hose to the airlock and make a quick improvised blow off tube into a bucket of sanitizer. Waited about half hour to ensure it was working properly and went back to sleep. Woke up the next morning and everything was working properly. When I got back from work today I looked at the tubing and it looked like it had stopped foaming out. I then took off the blowoff tube and cleaned and sanitized it. I went back to the fermenter and took the lid off to see what was going on. I looks like the foam has subsided to about 4 inches below the top. So I'm guessing there will be no more vigorous fermentation. Now I am leaving today to go to my families house until Friday for Christmas, my question is would it be safe to just put the airlock back on? Or should I use the blow off tube again? I don't want to come back to a mess all over right after the holidays.

    Thanks again, and happy holidays!
    -Ryan
     
    #1 GoodhewBrew, Dec 22, 2014
  2. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Probably.

    It couldn't hurt. How are you controlling the temperature in your fermenter? This sounds like a fairly high gravity beer, which along with warmish temperatures would be a recipe for blowoff.
     
    #2 VikeMan, Dec 22, 2014
  3. GoodhewBrew

    GoodhewBrew Initiate (0) Dec 22, 2014 Michigan

    The OG was 1.065, and the FG is supposed to be around 1.016.

    The temperature in the closet is normally between 68-70F with little fluctuations.
     
    #3 GoodhewBrew, Dec 22, 2014
  4. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Which means the temperature of the wort/beer is into the 70s. Maybe even high 70s. (Fermentation makes heat.) That's really too warm for most ale strains. I'm not saying your beer will be undrinkable (it probably won't be), but there could be excess esters and possibly fusel alcohols. I would recommend getting your wort/beer cooled down, but a couple of days in, and with the krausen receding, the damage (if there is any) is done, i.e. the stage has basically already been set for your eventual ester/fusel profile. Good Luck to you. In any event, it will be beer.
     
    #4 VikeMan, Dec 22, 2014
  5. GreenKrusty101

    GreenKrusty101 Initiate (0) Dec 4, 2008 Nevada

    "I went back to the fermenter and took the lid off to see what was going on."

    Resist the urge to open your primary unecessarily...have a good holiday...and try to get some sleep :slight_smile:
     
    #5 GreenKrusty101, Dec 22, 2014
    HerbMeowing likes this.
  6. GoodhewBrew

    GoodhewBrew Initiate (0) Dec 22, 2014 Michigan

    Well, you live and learn I guess! So I guess I'll just put the blow off tube back in it and call it good. Turning off the heat while I'm away should also help the temperature, and hopefully I'll salvage some decent beer out of my first batch.
     
    #6 GoodhewBrew, Dec 22, 2014
  7. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    You don't want the temperature to go too low at this point. The yeast are busy converting fusels into the more palatable esters, definitely the lesser of two evils. Don't put them to sleep before they're done cleaning up their mess (if there is one). You could taste it now to find out, but for a first batch, I wouldn't recommend poking around in it any more than necessary. I would probably just ride it out.

    For next time, I'd figure out how to control temps from the beginning.
     
    #7 VikeMan, Dec 22, 2014
  8. GoodhewBrew

    GoodhewBrew Initiate (0) Dec 22, 2014 Michigan

    Sounds good. Thanks for all your help. We'll see how it turns out in a couple weeks!
     
    #8 GoodhewBrew, Dec 22, 2014
  9. MCBanjoMike

    MCBanjoMike Initiate (0) Aug 7, 2014 Canada (QC)

    If it makes you feel any better, I fermented my first beer (a DIPA) at 72F ambient, who knows what the temp in the carboy was, and it came out pretty well. You'll probably end up with something tasty, even if it could have been better.
     
    #9 MCBanjoMike, Dec 23, 2014
    GreenKrusty101 likes this.
  10. KurtE

    KurtE Initiate (0) Nov 19, 2012 Illinois

    I blew the airlock off twice on my first batch too, I thought for sure I had ruined it but ended up being one of my best! I use blow off tubes on primary fermentation almost every time now.
     
    #10 KurtE, Dec 29, 2014
  11. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    That's the spirit. There's plenty to learn, but you did well with sanitizer and blow off tube. Keep asking questions, grow your hobby, have fun.
     
    #11 pweis909, Dec 29, 2014
    PapaGoose03 likes this.
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