[jrhomebrewing]

I recently made this scotch ale. When fermenting the lid blew off several times each time it got worse making a big mess. Im not sure if the beer will turn out but I am wondering if this is to much yeast or why it blew off or is there a way to fix it? I used a 6 gal fermenter and had an air lock on the fermenting bucket too. I used 4 dry yeast packets.

Recipe
•  For 5.5 gallons (21 L)
14.5 lb (6.57 kg)   English Pale Ale LME (3.5 °L)
0.5 lb (113 g)   Munich Malt
1.0 lb (0.45 kg)   Medium Crystal Malt (40 °L)
0.5 lb (227 g)   Honey Malt (18 °L)
0.25 lb (113 g)   Extra Dark Crystal Malt (120 °L)
 0.25 lb (113 g)   Pale Chocolate Malt (200 °L)
1.6 oz (45 g)   Kent Goldings, 5% Alpha Acid (60 min)
0.5 oz (14 g)   Kent Goldings, 5% Alpha Acid (10 min)
4 yeast packets or appropriate starter*   WLP028 Edinburgh Ale, Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale, or Fermentis Safale US-05

[Stevie]

4 dry packs is way too much. The recipe was most likely asking for 4 liquid packs. 1.5-2 would be more appropriate. I doubt it will hurt anything.

Is that out of brewing classic styles? Those recipes will normally list a qty of dry yeast by weight.

Big beers tend to go crazy. If your airlock is clogged the lid will certainly blow. Try a blowoff next time. You can attach a length of 3/8 tubing to the inside post of a 3 piece airlock putting the other end in a container with starsan.

What temp were you fermenting the beer at?

[jrhomebrewing]

The recipe was just one i found online. I have several other recipes that say the same thing. ABV is suppose to be 9.7% so maybe next time i should only use 2? I am fermenting about 65. What do you mean by a blow off? If i want to use liquid yeast home much would you say to add?

[Stevie]

I looked it up in my copy of BCS. It is very close to JZ's strong scotch ale. He notes 18 grams of hydrated dry yeast or 4 packs of liquid yeast.

Pitching rate calculators online can help you figure out the proper amount of yeast per batch. Mrmalty.com is an old classic, but others exist as well. Calculators have settings for both liquid and dry. Dry yeast results will be reported in grams. Most dry yeast comes in 11 gram packs. I will round up generally.

You will want to look into starters if you don't feel like buying multiple packs of liquid yeast. Another option is to brew a lower ABV beer and reuse the yeast.

A blow off is a tube that is used in place of an airlock. Here is an example. http://www.humpsbrewing.bluegosling.com/res/crisis-averted.jpg  It allows all the extra foam to flow out and into another container. I use a blowoff for every beer and need it about half the time. Bigger beers tend to go nuts.

[HoosierBrew]

Yeah, I've made some pretty large beers with 2 rehydrated S-05 packets in the past and had really good results.

[tommymorris]

Fermcap in the fermenter can limit the size of the krausen and prevent blowoff.

I don't do this but I have read about it. My fermenter is 7.9G for 6G batches so blowoffs aren't a problem.

[jrhomebrewing]

Thanks for the help! I am going to keep the beer in the fermenter and see if its any good to drink still after exploding all over. Next time ill add less yeast and try doing the blowoff.

[Stevie]

One important note... If you use the airlock in your blowoff setup, you should cut or break the little cross out of the bottom. Clogs easily

[tress]

Im not sure if the beer will turn out...

I'm sure your beer will turn out just fine.  By the way you've described the blown lids, there is such a very healthy colony of brewer's yeast that there won't be any room for nasties to establish themselves.

I've had a few lid blow-offs and clogged airlocks (as I'm sure nearly everyone else here has experienced) and all of those beers have ended up completing their fermentation and coming out delicious.  Hell, you may even come up with your own style...Sour Scotch Ale?

[jrhomebrewing]

So how do you know if the beer is no good to drink? its still in the fermenter it smells kinda sour. I have not done a hydrometer reading yet. I plan to take a reading sometime next week so see what its at..

[majorvices]

So how do you know if the beer is no good to drink? its still in the fermenter it smells kinda sour. I have not done a hydrometer reading yet. I plan to take a reading sometime next week so see what its at..

Best way to know if it is good to drink is to drink it. Don't hold it suspect until you have actually let it sit a few days and let the yeast drop out. I brew some lager beers that smell and taste pretty funky while yeast is still in solution. When most of the yeast drop out they imporive greatly.

That said, if you fermented too warm (which almost all new brewers do) you will have some off flavors. But it doesn't mean that beer is undrinkable.

RDWHAHB!

[HoosierBrew]

Best way to know if it is good to drink is to drink it. Don't hold it suspect until you have actually let it sit a few days and let the yeast drop out. I brew some lager beers that smell and taste pretty funky while yeast is still in solution. When most of the yeast drop out they imporive greatly.

That said, if you fermented too warm (which almost all new brewers do) you will have some off flavors. But it doesn't mean that beer is undrinkable.

RDWHAHB!

Yup to all of this.

[tress]

So how do you know if the beer is no good to drink? its still in the fermenter it smells kinda sour. I have not done a hydrometer reading yet. I plan to take a reading sometime next week so see what its at..

Let the beer finish fermenting as planned.  A day or two before you bottle/keg, taste it.  Remember that it won't be cold or carbonated but you will get an idea of how it will taste.  If you get a surprisingly sour flavor, then you may have an infection.

However, as majorvices touched on, don't mistake all off-flavors as a contamination.  Unbalanced recipes, weak or short boils, fermenting too warm, stale ingredients, old hops, and many other factors will cause off-flavors too.