Major Krausen/blowoff

[philbrasil]

So I decided to brew an imperial stout. My system can produce ~15gal. of a high gravity brew. That´s what I shot for. I got 14.3 gal of 1.119 OG and transferred to my plastic conical (they are a thing here in Brazil). I head plenty of headspace to account for a vigorous fermentation/krausen (I have a 75L fermentor and had ~55L in there, so I had pretty much a 25-27% of headspace). And still, I got a MASSIVE blowoff. Unfortunately the lid doesnt seal correctly so I got beer leaking from it (and from my blowoff tube as well). The thing was so vigorous that I lost 5L of the whole 54L that was in the fermenter, which is around 9% of my whole batch!!

I did a pretty big starter for this. Got my expired WLP004, did a starter, brewed a dry stout, rinsed my yeast, did a 4.5L starter, decanted and added back 1.5L of fresh wort one day prior to my brew date, and then dumped the whole thing. It got off in ~7hours. At 15 hours the thing was spilling foam/beer/yeast everywhere. And now with ~40hours it´s beggining to quiet down (but the blowoff tube is still attached and is shooting gunk off, at a much slower rate). I pitched at ~64ºF and let it ramp up to 67ºF, but I believe that it got hotter inside the fermentor (I measure my temp with a thermostat taped to the outside of my fermentor). I am considering raising the temp. again to 70-71 to finish it off, maybe tomorrow.

Did anyone experience anything of that sort with this strain? I never thought it would produce so much krausen. Or that´s a problem with every super high gravity brew?

Since I am going to brew it again (I am planning to age it on a 27gal. wood barrel), I am afraid to lose that much volume and to have it spill all over again. Should I use an anti-foam, and if so, which one should I use and whats a good dosage rate? Any other tricks or tips I could use to avoid using anti-foam and control my krausen better?

[Effingbeer]

Yes, lots more krausen forming stuff in high gravity beer.
How I would mitigate this: pitching colder and a slower ramp time to desired ferment temp. Ferment a few degrees colder for longer.
Yes, the beer inside is probably a few degrees warmer. That much yeast activity puts off a lot of heat.

I would also loosen the cap on your fermenter to release pressure until the insanity dies down. I use sanitized tin foil.
The positive pressure keeps out the contaminates. It doesn't seem to climb as much when all that gas isn't forced through the small diameter tube. After it settles down a bit, airlock goes on.

Let the yeast have a good steady temp to work for a bit. Raising your temps too early can be hard on your little friends.

And FOR BEER'S SAKES!, get that open plastic beaker/potential contaminate siphon at a lower level than your beer! It is freaking me out. Or get a growler, use a stopper or foil or something to keep the tube near the top of the jug, so the tube is not in the blowoff liquid.

[philbrasil]

Thanks. Damn good tips. The plastic beaker was there just because it was insane, with stuff blowing off and a lot of activity, but you are right.... Right now I am just going to switch my plastic tube + beaker with sanitizer, clean everything on the outside, and keep my temp. in the 70-72ºF until it finishes...