Too much headroom, what to do?

[RobWalker]

First up, I'd like to say that I HAVE lost a beer to this before - so I do consider it a legitimate problem :lol:

My saison has been fermenting for over a week now and is showing no real signs of stopping. Krausen is being produced after stirring the top gently, there's a big sniff of co2 and the airlock is chugging away occasionally. I've just taken a reading and it's down to 1.002!

I'm using Mangrove Jack's Belgian Yeast. I've heard reports of it doing the bulk of the work in 3-4 days and then taking up to a MONTH to fully attenuate (1.000 region.) The problem with this is I have 16L in a 23L FV + a little extra headroom - with a 23L brew I wouldn't be worried, but that's a lot of headroom.

I've got a few options the way I see it...

1 - Leave it, have faith in the protective co2 cloud despite about 10L of headroom.

2 - Transfer to DJ's

3 - Keg it a little earlier than intended (wait until it seems to be finsihed) and let the pressure release valve account for any "excess" fermentation.

I'm also dry hopping it so how I go about that exactly will be decided along with this...

cheers!

 

[Steve]

1

If you're worried gently lift the lid and take a little sniff at the top of the FV. Burning nose = CO2 to the top. I personally don't support the headspace issue.

You say you have lost a beer to it before but how do you know?

 

[morethanworts]

A month doesn't sound crazy to me, but I wonder if that takes account of raking up the temps well into the twenties and occasionally rousing.

If you are worried, how much alcohol is in there already? The stronger the better, obviously. I left two strong trippels with 13L headspace for 3 weeks quite confidently at 24C (after the first week) and all was well. I think you need more data points to warrant changing your methods,however frustrating the other loss was. No method is risk free.

 

[StevieDS]

I'm also not convinced it's a major issue, I use 23 litre fv's for 15 litre batches and have been for quite a while.

 

[Hawks]

I use a 70l FV ( I suspect its more to the very top, just a claimed 70l) for 50 - 55l batches and never had an issue. I tend to ferment with WLP023 so you NEED that sort of headroom or it all gets messy.

However if you have to leave it for that long could you put into secondary as it slows down, just to get it away from the crud on the sides ( I would suspect this to be a culprit before headroom) but whilst you are still getting some CO2 to help protect it... Just a thought :thumb:

 

[morethanworts]

I tend to ferment with WLP023 so you NEED that sort of headroom or it all gets messy.

It was the same with WY3787. It took up all of my 13L headspace and still went over, even though I was keeping the temperature right down during that phase.

However if you have to leave it for that long could you put into secondary as it slows down, just to get it away from the crud on the sides

I think I sanitised a cloth and some gloves and very carefully gave the 'crud' a wipe around. May not have been worth it: perhaps it would be more likely to disturb any CO2 still there than do any good, but you takes your choice...

I have made very successful brews using DJs, all this said. If you do, then consider adding a tiny bit of sugar to make sure a bit of gas is given off to blow out the air.

 

[NickW]

I've done a couple of brews where my old boiler conked out and there was a mess everywhere and ended up with less than 17l in a 5 gallon youngs FV. Everything went fine :thumb:

 

[Strongarm]

I've done as low as 10L in my 25 litre FV, in fact most I've done (I'm only 3 brews in, so probably not best example) is 16L. All have been fine.