Mildly intense fermentation..

[astebbi1]

Hey guys, so the 2 batches I started last night are fermenting up a storm in my basement..
These are my first white wine and my first berry mixture as well.. I'm also getting pretty proud of my setup since its grown a lot in the last couple months..




Just one problem though, my berry wine is fermenting a little too much and keeps dirtying up my airlock..
I kept taking it off and cleaning it but it still gets full of the suds that are coming out of the fermenter..
Is there anything I can do about these extra bubbles or do i have to babysit and make sure it doesn't overflow..
Heres a video of what keeps happening, thanks guys,
[ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WmTCVS20dSo[/ame]
-Andrew

 

[tchuklobrau]

A larger ferm vessel would be recomended for the future. For primary fermentation you need more headspace, so if you are doing a 5g batch you want a 6.5-7g vessel, 6g batch use a 7.5-8g vessel. Not sure if this works for wine as it does for beer, but I'd hook a blowoff tube to it. 1" id hose shoved into carboy opening the other end into a pail of sanitizer. this way more c02 can escape but nothing can get in.

I believe standard 3/8 racking hose fits over the post of a 3 piece airlock and can do the same thing.

 

[g8keeper]

you need headspace during primary fermentation, hence the reason most people use fermentation pails for primary fermentation.....once that's done, meaning the sg has gotten down to, say 1.02 or so, then most people rack their wine to a carboy....if they choose to use a carboy for a primary fermenter, they then choose one bigger than the batch they are doing in order to give them the headspace necessary for a vigorous primary fermentation...for example, if doing a 5 gallon batch, they would then use a 6 gal, or preferably a 6.5 gal carboy, as their primary fermenter, and then once the sg is down, would rack to a 5 gal. carboy...

 

[g8keeper]

A larger ferm vessel would be recomended for the future. For primary fermentation you need more headspace, so if you are doing a 5g batch you want a 6.5-7g vessel, 6g batch use a 7.5-8g vessel. Not sure if this works for wine as it does for beer, but I'd hook a blowoff tube to it. 1" id hose shoved into carboy opening the other end into a pail of sanitizer. this way more c02 can escape but nothing can get in.

lol...looks like you must have posted your response as i was typing mine, but nevertheless, looks like the same info....lol..

 

[astebbi1]

lol...looks like you must have posted your response as i was typing mine, but nevertheless, looks like the same info....lol..

Thanks guys I'll be sure to leave more room or get a bucket to do primary in next time. Anything I can do about it now besides waiting and letting it bleed??

 

[astebbi1]

A larger ferm vessel would be recomended for the future. For primary fermentation you need more headspace, so if you are doing a 5g batch you want a 6.5-7g vessel, 6g batch use a 7.5-8g vessel. Not sure if this works for wine as it does for beer, but I'd hook a blowoff tube to it. 1" id hose shoved into carboy opening the other end into a pail of sanitizer. this way more c02 can escape but nothing can get in.

I believe standard 3/8 racking hose fits over the post of a 3 piece airlock and can do the same thing.

hahah nice profile picture by the way..

 

[tchuklobrau]

Either hook up a blowoff, or siphon a gallon or so out into a smaller container, then blend back in when primary is done. might even be more options that the seasoned veterans know of.

 

[Runningwolf]

I agree with the guys above. You are obviously in a rigorous fermentation right now so you could rack half a bottle out of each one for a few days. This would lower your head space eliminating your issue. No air lock needed until you are down to about 1.015 sg (your option). I would pour the half bottles back in when your sg is down to about 1.05 as the fermentation won't be so crazy.

That glass carboy and better bottles are very concerning on the totes but I'm sure you probably have them beefed up some how so as to avoid any catastrophe's.

 

[Runningwolf]

Hey astebbi1, ok it's time to quit crying about your dirty air locks! LMAO

These things happen to the best of us. Look what happened to me just this weekend and I was using pails for fermenting in. I was going to post these pictures in a seperate thread but you gave me a perfect chance.

 

[Al_73]

haha i bet that pail really smeels good!... it happens to me a couple of times on beer

 

[Runningwolf]

haha i bet that pail really smeels good!... it happens to me a couple of times on beer

Honestly the basement is smelling very good right now. I cant wait till about Wed when I can rack over to carboys and take these pails outside and hose down with hot water.

 

[astebbi1]

I agree with the guys above. You are obviously in a rigorous fermentation right now so you could rack half a bottle out of each one for a few days. This would lower your head space eliminating your issue. No air lock needed until you are down to about 1.015 sg (your option). I would pour the half bottles back in when your sg is down to about 1.05 as the fermentation won't be so crazy.

That glass carboy and better bottles are very concerning on the totes but I'm sure you probably have them beefed up some how so as to avoid any catastrophe's.

Thanks wolf, about 1/4 of a bottle did it for the red (the white seems pretty stable no bubbles/foam creeping up) just didn't know if that could ruin the fermentation process..



It's good news that I can even put that 1/4 bottle back in later!! I think a blowoff/tube-in-a-glass airlock could of wasted some wine so I'm happy with this..
And wow yea wolf at least I don't have your type of volcanic problems just yet, but I'm still a newbie so I'm sure I'll have the privilege to expierience it sometime later in my career.. Also the tubs are secure (for now) I'm looking for a nice table but in the meantime they were at least able to hold about 220lb for about 15mins without budging..

Thanks for the help everyone, I'm sure there will be more updates/questions in the future..
-Andrew

 

[pjd]

wow Dan,
That one went nuts! I just made a English Barley Wine ale that literally came alive! My bucket was ready to explode! I ended up pouring one half of the contents into another bucket untill the vigorous fermentation subsided. Then i found out about Fermcap S. That stuff really works!
By the way, What did you add to your Juice? Raisins?
Phil

 

[Runningwolf]

These were four pails of Chilean. I brought them home Thursday night and they were literally ice cold. I immediatley opened the pails and added one pound of golden raisins. The plan was to add my own starter on Friday night even though these came with yeast added. Well I was too tired Friday night and let them go until Saturday morning. This is what had happened over night. I removed about a qt from each pail and still added my starter with Go ferm and yeast. I'll probably rack off the raisins around Wednesday based of my sg (1.015) add superferment and an mlf culture. I plan on adding a french med oak spiral along with some med american oak chips.

 

[Arne]

LOL, Dan. You mean all the times I have posted about setting the too full primaries in a big plastic garbage bag and you havn't read about it? I only put them in when the primary looks pretty full. Sure makes cleanup easier. Arne.

 

[Runningwolf]

Arne you're right and there are times I actually set the pail right in the laundry tray just in case. What happen here is I took the lids off and just sat them back on as we instruct people to do. What happen is enough C02 built up and popped the lid up blowing the juice out. If I had just left a 3/8" gap on one edge enough of the gas would have ecscaped and this would not have happened. Lesson learned!!

 

[Arne]

Amazing how we learn as we go. I wouldn't know to leave the lid cracked either. Someday I'll have to find a pail of juice. None available around here close, although I believe there is a store in Omaha that orders juice at times. Will have to talk to him about it. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[GoldFork]

I'm having a similar problem...but according to all the posts I read, it shouldn't be happening...I'm In the middle of a kit...my original SG was 1.103 which was within specs...its a meritage by the way...Today was day 5 and my SG was down to 1.015...so I decided to transfer to my secondary fermenter (6 gallon carboy)....Since the xfer my airlock has all but shot through the roof...its foaming over constantly....Any advice? I don't really have an alternate container to siphon some off, unless someone can suggest something household that will work.....Thanks

 

[Fabiola]

Hey astebbi1, ok it's time to quit crying about your dirty air locks! LMAO

These things happen to the best of us. Look what happened to me just this weekend and I was using pails for fermenting in. I was going to post these pictures in a seperate thread but you gave me a perfect chance.

IT just happened to my dragon blood, didn't leave enough head space in primary due to the bananas