New to All Grain

[west1m]

Also new to brewing and the forum. made a few batches somewhere in the 80's but bottling was a pain. Someone talked me int kegging so I tried once again. made a few 5 gallon batches so far , all seem quite drinkable but decided to try all grain. Trying out a Cream ale in a new Fermentasaurus. My first batch came up a bit short on water but I ran with it the way it is. Four days into the fermenter it is going Crazy!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Welcome, good luck

 

[Hogarthe]

Take good notes. That will help dial in how much water you need.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Sure was! Welcome.

 

[west1m]

Looking at the major Foam head on this one, this was the first time I use Star-San . I had been using one of the powders. When mixing the Star San I see it is quite foamy where the powder I was using was not. Is this a cause of the large foam bed I have?

 

[Mase]

Couple things:

First, that “foam head” looks like it could be a normal Krausen depending on the yeast.

Second, just out of curiosity, what was the “powder” you were using?

My line of thinking, based on what you stated thus far, is that you were only using a cleaner (powder), and not a sanitizer ( Star-San). You should use both.... clean and sanitize.

And Star-San is foamy and you shouldn’t “fear the foam” as it won’t hurt the beer/wort. But in excess... anything is bad. Just be sure you have no free liquid Star-San in your vessels that will receive beer/wort (an ounce or two would be the most)

 

[west1m]

Couple things:

First, that “foam head” looks like it could be a normal Krausen depending on the yeast.

Second, just out of curiosity, what was the “powder” you were using?

My line of thinking, based on what you stated thus far, is that you were only using a cleaner (powder), and not a sanitizer ( Star-San). You should use both.... clean and sanitize.

And Star-San is foamy and you shouldn’t “fear the foam” as it won’t hurt the beer/wort. But in excess... anything is bad. Just be sure you have no free liquid Star-San in your vessels that will receive beer/wort (an ounce or two would be the most)

Unfortunately I do not have the old powder package any longer asI ran out and thought to try the Star san as it seemed to be the favorite. The powder did say it was a sanitizer and I used it as such. The yeast is safeale05 ,9 pounds grain. As for leftover sanitizer , just a few drippings from being rinsed with it.
It was just a thought as I have been using the same yeast with extract kits and have not seen this much foam. The sanitizer was a new addition but so was the all grain method.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Yep just a health fermentation. I expect a more vigerous fermentation from an all grain brew.

 

[Craigerrr]

Welcome aboard BF, good luck with the brew!

 

[Bubba Wade]

You'll get more foam with all-grain versus extract. This is due to having more proteins in the wort. During the extract manufacturing process, a lot of the proteins are precipitated. The typical home brewer ends up with more from the mash and boil.

 

[west1m]

Thanks for the replies, sounds like it is doing what it is supposed to. The brew has started to settle down now without crawling out the top of the fermenter. Looks like it is going to turn itself into beer...

 

[Hawkbox]

Looks good, nice work.