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Attack of the Killer Foam

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darianwiccan

NewBee
Registered Member
May 10, 2006
7
0
0
:BangHead:

My current 5gal batch has been brewing for about 10 days.I was planning on letting it go 2-3 weeks in primary fermentation. Anyway, the other day I noticed no bubble activity, mainly because the airlock was full of a thick, honey-colored foam. I swapped out airlocks and the bubbling resumed, but at a slowed rate. 24 hours later, the airlock was once again filled with foam. THis time, I (cringe) cracked the seal on my mead and took a look. There was a loose foam the waterline to the lid. Some of it was clining to the lid, and it almost had a slimy way about it when scooped and tossed into the sink. Also, once I put the lid back on, I gave it a freshly cleaned airlock. That was 24 hours ago. I just went in for my morning bubble check, and the airlock is full of foam again!

:BangHead:

Any thoughts?
 
W

wolf_tracker

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 18, 2007
184
0
0
:wave:

BB

You need to post your reciept on the site.
Post it in bullet form

how much honey
how much water
type of yesties
og
sg
nutirents

and a step by step on how you started the patch
then the experts can give you an idea of what to expect.

I being a newbee would check you used a fruit juice of some kine
but I am only guessing

the more info you can provide and the better step by step the better help you can get

bb
:cheers:
wolf
 
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darianwiccan

NewBee
Registered Member
May 10, 2006
7
0
0
Good thing I kept a detailed brewlog for this one...

  • 1 gallon wildflower honey
  • water to make 5 gallons total
  • Lavlin KLV-1116 yeast (1 packet)
  • Heated 1/3 gal honey and 1 gal water to 170
  • Put all heated honey & water into pail, along with rest of the water to hit the 5gal mark
  • Rehydrated and pitched 1 packet of Lavlin KLV-1116 yeast when must was at 105oF
  • OG (taken before pitching yeast) 1.080
  • Capped and airlocked the pail
  • Have taken temperature and BPM readings 2-3 times a day for 8 days.
  • Day 8: airlock full of foam. Swapped out with fresh clean airlock.
  • Day 9: Same as day 8; airlock full of foam. Swapped out again, and opened pail. Scooped out slightly-slimy foam that was filling the pail from the waterline to the lid.
  • Day 10; today: Same head of foam in the airlock. Very little bubbling. However, when I have replaced airlocks over the past 2 days, the bubbling has started again. Methinks the foam is blocking everything up and preventing escape of CO2... but I could be wrong.
 
T

teljkon

Banned
May 28, 2007
265
0
0
24
The basic answer to your problem is more head space in your fermenter. so the foam has space to break down. Id back down the size of the batch by like ½ gallon or a gallon. This isn’t the only way to solve your problem though but its certainly the easiest. The interesting thing is that you can actually use that foam to start a new batch, as it very rich in yeast. In beer brewing they call the foam krausen. If you use the same yeast for most of your batches then it’s a great way to cut back on yeast costs. See my post on the berton union system in the yeasties and beasties board it’s in a post "Yeast Cakes, or Recycling Yeast" by Wolfie
:happy10:
 
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darianwiccan

NewBee
Registered Member
May 10, 2006
7
0
0
Well, yesterday I racked out 1gal into secondary fermentation. All seems to have returned to normal, as both carboys are bubbling away. Thanks for the help! :toothy10:
 
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