Brewed Jamil's Cowboy Alt from BCS this weekend. Pitched FR night. Had built up a starter using Wyeast 1007 german ale from a smack pack during the week prior. I didn't think I needed to big a starter, but some feedback I heard suggested go bigger than you might think due to the low ferment temp (60° F). Started with 1.2L starter (that's all I had enough DME for at the time). Use a 2L flask, swirling manually here and there. It seemed done, so I chilled it after a few days. Got more DME, decanted the starter, and added another Liter of stater wort. This took off and was very active. Again, after a few days it mellow and finished. I chilled in the fridge, decanted, and used for the brew FR night.
OG was 1.050. Did a 90 minute mash (at 149°) given the pilsen base malt, as well as a 90 minute boil. Transfered (via racking cane) 5.5 gal to the bucket. I don't aerate, so I simply poured a few times between two sanitized buckets, creating a ton of foam.
By Sat morning it was bubbling steadily. Use a bucket, and have a hose attached to the cheap plastic airlock, running into a growler of starsan solution. Sunday it was REALLY cooking. Sunday night I checked and the growler water was now a hazy tan color. I replaced the blow off with a clean airlock, cleaned it, new starsan solution in the growler, and put it back on. Found the same thing this morning (did the same process). The activity had slowed slightly (not much, but a bit compared to the heavy activity of Sunday).
Is it strange to have a 1.050 beer blow off like this? Is it because of the particular yeast strand being a top cropper?
Just curious. Thankfully the airlock never looked really clogged, as there's not a lot of hop matter in this beer. Just surprised by the amount of activity in the blowoff.
