William's FERMCAP

[gordonbl]

I have been brewing the beer kits from Marcellos for awhile.
I ferment in a 6 gal. carboy and haven"t had a problem with
foam reaching the top of the carboy. Well I brewed a belgian ale
kit on a Sunday and the next day when I got home there was good yeast
activity. Later that night I checked on the batch and foam had reached the top and was going into the water trap. I swrilled the carboy around and the foam dropped down. Cleaned the trap. Later the same thing was happening. Swrilled the carboy and cleaned the trap, it was late so I went to bed and hoped for the best. Mistake! The trap clogged, pressure built up and the trap blew off. It made a considerable mess on the cabinets and a small mess on the ceiling. Wife was not happy!

Has anybody used fermcap and does work as advertised?

[aleguy]

Yeastmeister uses it. It seems to work. Blowoff tube works too. Personally, I've never had an airlock clog up on me to the point where it blew out. The pressure usually just forces the trub through.
BTW, I hope you didn't use safale 05 for your Belgian. You will be disappointed in the flavor profile.

[gordonbl]

The foam had alot of hops mixed with it. I think the hops formed a plug and the rest is history.

I used the Safal T58 that came with the kit. It was out of date but kept in the fridge all this time. Made a starter and it was still alive so I used it. Bottled it last night and the taste seems good so far but I haven"t tasted many belgain ales. When it has conditioned awhile I'll need some opinions of how it compares to the store bought beer.

Thanks for the reply.

[yeastmeister]

Yep, I use it all the time. Works well in the boil, and in the fermenter.

[gordonbl]

HELP!

[yeastmeister]

Whatcha need?

[jimmiec]

Bottles exploding?

[redtail28]

Welcome to belgian Ale's! I have had that happen
many times. I also use fermcap a couple of
drop's is all it take's.

[gordonbl]

Thanks for the interest! Cooked a dark german kit last Sunday. Didn't use an airlock. Covered it with alum foil. Foamed over as before but the foam ran all over the carboy. The thing smelled sour! Didn't clean things and I think the foam is what had a sour smell. Cleaned carboy thursday, still not sure if the wort doesn't have a bug. After 5 days the primary is still bubbling about every 30 sec. Talked to aleguy and we agreed if it has a bug it's too late. Will transfer to secondary about Tuesday and I might need a second opinion if this is a wasted batch or to continue.

This brings me to ask other questions.

I have just started to have this blow out problem. Solutions?

Use a larger blowout tube. Doesn't that waste sugers and hop flavors that might other wise be used in the fermenter.

Use a larger fermenter so that the foam doesn't blow out and the foam falls back into the ferment with less possability of infection.

Use fermcap so I might use the same fermenter without getting blow out.

All opinions are appreciated

[alms66]

Use a larger blowout tube. Doesn't that waste sugars and hop flavors that might other wise be used in the fermenter.

Use a larger fermenter so that the foam doesn't blow out and the foam falls back into the ferment with less possibility of infection.

I used to use the first solution when I was doing 5.25 gallon batches, but since I've switched to 3.5 gallon batches, I'm basically using the second solution now. I never found that using the large diameter blowout tube caused any problems with the flavor of my beers. In fact, I've made nearly 100 batches that way, and still to this day I've never had to toss a batch.

Also, if you want the large diameter tubes I used to use, they are yours, PM me and we can arrange the details.

[yeastmeister]

You can also add fermcap to the fermenter. I've used it that way, and not had any problems with head retention in the finished beer. It seems to flocculate out with the yeast.

As far as sour goes, even if it is, don't throw it out yet! We have lots of sour beer lovers. You never know when you found a good local sour bug.

[gordonbl]

The ale doesn't smell near as much now that I have cleaned the foam off the outside of the carboy. It is still bubbling about every 15 sec. 8 days after being in the primary. Longest I have had. Will let it run it's coarse. I was just worried because this has been the strangest ferment I've had.

Ordered fermcap and other stuff today. Thanks for all of the input! Will ask for more help if needed!

Alms, bring the blow off tubes to the next meeting if you make it.

Thanks to all!