Beer Forum

So I got a stir plate and I am now on my second brew using nice big starters. This one is WLP005 for a Nut Brown Ale, and it seems to be Krausening more than the last one, WLP820- Oktoberfest/Marzen. I have had the foam stopper pop off twice now, with krausen beer all over the counter. The Wife is not happy about, and frankly, neither am I.

Anyone have any good advice on how to handle this? I use a 2000ml flask and I don't fill past 1800 just for this reason, but it doesn't seem to matter. Short of a blow-off tube, is there any way to get a starter going on a stir plate without the Krazy Krausen?? I want to be able to run it overnight without lying awake, knowing it is overflowing on my counter.

Thanks,

Rob

I think you could use foam control. B3 has it. I've never used it, but a few of the guys I know have used it with good results.

1800 ml in a 2000 ml flask is the problem. In your fermenter you need 1.5 times the volume of your wort for enough room for your krausen (i.e. a 7.5 gallon fermenter for a 5 gallon wort). Your starter flask is a mini fermenter. If you are doing a 2 liter starter, you need a 3 liter flask.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

Use some foam control it will help. I put it in the flask before boiling it on the stove so I don't get a boil over. Some more room wouldn't be a bad thing either. Until you can do this, put the flask in a baking pan so the over flow doesn't go all over the counter.

I used to use a stir plate (a used commercial model) until it broke a couple of years ago, But I just built another one so I will be using one again.

Speyedr wrote:Short of a blow-off tube, is there any way to get a starter going on a stir plate without the Krazy Krausen?? I want to be able to run it overnight without lying awake, knowing it is overflowing on my counter.

You shouldn't have any krausen on your starter if your stir plate is cranked up enough. The vortex will draw the material the becomes krausen back into solution. What is the gravity of your starter wort. Here is a pic of a starter that is 16 hours old. It was 1.030 with WLP001, aerated for 90 seconds with pure O2 and a .5 micron stone. Notice there is very little head room in the flask and zero krausen.

Starter wort is 1.040. I have a Hanna 300N Stir Plate, the bigger one from Northern Brewer.

As for the flask, the biggest I can seem to find is 2000ml. Know anywhere to get a bigger one?

Thanks for the comments. I had thought of the baking pan/broiling pan just last night, after this post...

Speyedr wrote:Starter wort is 1.040. I have a Hanna 300N Stir Plate, the bigger one from Northern Brewer.

As for the flask, the biggest I can seem to find is 2000ml. Know anywhere to get a bigger one?

Thanks for the comments. I had thought of the baking pan/broiling pan just last night, after this post...

Ebay is a good place for lab glassware

You can get up to 6l flasks at www.cynmar.com they have excellent prices on glassware, Nalgene bottles/Carboys, stir bars, and stir bar retrievers (gucci needs one). They have all the scientific shit you could possibly want. I personally would not buy any glassware used unless I knew what had previously been used in them.

The 6L erlenmeyer flask is $75, which is a steal for a new one.

Cheers,
HH