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Here's one to try!
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What's in Your Carboy Anyway?
Posted on: 6/25/08 by The BrewologistHello my Fellow Favorers of the Foam! I'd like to take this opportunity to announce the Cryptobrewology Beer Forum beta. it's nothing fancy right now, but I plan on improving the appearnce as time goes on, and I hope we get some great brewers and beer lovers posting and exchanging recipes and information.
Some of you may have noticed that my Homebrewing Forums link in the website navigation actually points to The Brewers Roundtable, which is a great forum and friend of Cryptobrewology.com, so I do not intend to take visitors away from that forum, in fact I urge you to stop by the Brewers Roundtable because they offfer information on making mead and other things as well. It's a great forum.
For some time I've been wanting to open up communication with visitors to Cryptobrewology and this seems like the best way. So please register and start posting.Tell us what's in your carboy, share your homebrew recipes, reviews, brewing misadventures, raves about your favorite beer, brewery or brewpub, share homebrewing tips, tricks, techniques and talk about your brewing setup. Hope to see you at the forum! I've already started... go see!
Thanks for your support, and thanks for visiting!
American Craft Beer Fest in Boston
Posted on: 6/9/08 by The BrewologistDon't miss the American Craft Beer Fest in Boston June 20th and 21st! According to the Beer Advocate Website, it is the "East Coast's largest and most diverse celebration of American craft beer!"
Over 300 craft beers will be served up by nearly 75 brewers, including Allagash Brewing Co., Atwater Block Brewery, Avery Brewing, Ballast Point, Blue Moon Brewing, Boston Beer Co., Brooklyn Brewery, Flying Dog, Harpoon, Lagunitas, Long Trail, Magic Hat, Otter Creek, Redhook, Sierra Nevada, Smuttynose, Victory, and more!
Guest speakers include Harpoon's Dan Kenary, Anheuser-Busch Brewmaster Florian Kuplent, Brian Buckowski of Terrapin Beer Company, Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster Garrett Oliver, and Dogfish Head Pres. Sam Calagione.
For more information on guests, breweries and tickets, visit the American Craft Beer Fest official home page.
Thar She Blows!
Posted on: May 19, 2008 by The BrewologistDealing with Blow-Off During Fermentation
Sometimes I get emails from home brewers with questions about brewing, bottling, fermentation problems and stuff like that. One recent email brought up a situation that makes for a good topic here.
Jeff Brown, who blogs about homebrewing at the Homebrew Experiment blog, contacted me with an emergency. He had brewed a Samuel Adams clone and ran into a fermenting snafu when his beer began foaming up incredibly, with bits of hops clogging the airlock, causing pressure to build in the fermenter. A disastrous mess ensued.
I quickly replied with a suggestion to rig a "blow-off" tube to allow pressure to escape safely without blasting the airlock into his ceiling again, or causing injury to passers-by. I'll explain the use of a blow-off tube and how to rig one up to prevent this from happening to you, and I'll also cover some other alternatives to prevent this kind of mishap.
Jeff's other question, aside from "How do I stop this!!" was, "Is my beer ruined?"
If you catch it in time and can quickly and cleanly remedy the situation your beer should survive. However, if the lid of your fermenter blows off when you're not around and the liquid is exposed to the open air for a prolonged period, you may end up with some contamination. If this happens to you, don't waste your batch right away, just let it finish fermenting and check for potential signs of contamination along the way, which include off odors, and sour or acidic tastes. Whether a sour flavor is a sign of an unwanted contamination depends on what beer style you're producing too. But that's a story for another article.
What happened in Jeff's case is called blow-off, and it has happened to most home brewers at one time or another. It happened to me during my first brew, but I've managed to prevent it from happening since. There are two reasons for blow-off: very active early fermentation and limited head room in the fermenter. There are two solutions for this: more head room in the fermenter, or a blow-off tube.
Some brewers use a blow-off tube as a standard part of their fermentation, as if blow-off is just an accepted part of the fermentation process. It does not have to be. When I encountered blow-off I had brewed a batch of beer slightly over 5 gallons and fermented in a 5 gallon fermenter. A 6 gallon fermenter is recommended if you ferment exactly 5 gallons of beer, this gives the foam more room to develop. After the initial rush of yeast activity the head will thin out significantly.
Another alternate to a blow-off tube is to ferment a slightly smaller amount of beer, say, about 4.5 gallons. I've done this regularly for quite some time and have produced some great beers, including a barley wine and a stout, without the need for a blow-off tube, and without significantly effecting the final alcohol level. I make up the final 5 gallons by boiling my priming sugar (or malt extract) in about a half gallon of water and stirring that into the beer before bottling.
If you must ferment 5 gallons and only have a 5 gallon fermenter and you are fermenting with a yeast starter, and brewing rather high gravity beers, you'll probably need to use a blow-off tube.
There are a few different ways to go about this. One is to use your existing airlock stopper, whether a rubber stopper or the rubber cap with the two nippies sticking off the top, and run a 3 or 4 foot length of 1/2 inch tubing (or whatever fits on, or in, your airlock stopper or the hole in your bucket where you put the airlock).
The other is to use a length of 1 1/2 inch tubing and fit it directly into the mouth of your carboy. You'll probably need some kind of spacer or flange to take up the space around the tube in the neck of the carboy to seal it up tight.
Example of a Blow-Off tube arrangement. |
Once the blow-off tube is in place and fermentation has started you will see the head develop and grow, and in some cases push right through the hose and into the bucket. At least it won't clog. A larger tube is recommended to guarantee no clogging. Smaller tubes can still get gunked up and plugged.
My recommendation? Get a 6 gallon carboy and keep your wort right at 5 gallons or slightly less, you can always make up a quart or two during priming. Blow-off is something that can be prevented in most cases.
Happy brewing!
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Cryptobrewology.com is an online publication dedicated to expanding interest in the art of home brewing and appreciation of unique, entertaining, even mysterious beers. It is maintained by an experienced home brewer and beer enthusiast. |