Beerdroid incontinence

[dcm]

I'm on my 2nd brewprint (ruby porter).  The first (mountain IPA) is currently hiding under the house (coolest spot I could find in QLD) for secondary fermentation.  It will have been there 2 weeks on Sunday.  Reading around, I've noticed that some say it should be left longer than two weeks but maybe I could just try one bottle at 2 weeks because I'm dying to try it??

Anyway, the ruby brewprint proved to be a little volatile.  At around day 2 of fermentation, the droid leaked a substantial volume (maybe half a cup) of molasses-smelling tar that got onto a dressing table and then a carpet (droid was running in a spare bedroom).

I even removed the lid to see what was going on (briefly for a few seconds, and only to check for any catastrophic failure, I know this is a bad idea).  It was simply foam on the surface that had risen to the lid and been forced past the seal - no leak as such.   Through the window I could see that the mix was bubbling like there was a fish tank air stone in there so there seemed to be a yeast party going on.  It smelt good.

It slowed and stopped by day 4.

Is this kind of overflow normal?  Is this something I could manage by lowering the ferment temperature below the Brewprint specification of 16c?

I used exactly 10 litres of water.  The only thing different I did this time was use the droid in custom mode to pull my tap water down to 16c before pitching and starting the program because the tap water on QLD right now is 30c :-(

Now there is a suspicious brown stain on a formerly beige piece of carpet for which I shall attempt to blame the cat...

 

 

don

 

[Deeks]

Haha Don, I like the description you gave to the overflow from the BeerDroid and then blaming it on the cat.

2 weeks is the bare minimum that is recommended to condition the beer so it should be ok to drink it then and being the first brew it is so hard to wait any longer. Leaving the brew to condition longer will however improve it more with better carbonation and taste.

Some brews do overflow during fermentation which is normal and there is an overflow port on the left hand side of the BeerDroid for this reason. If you look in the BrewArt 101 FAQs it explains it in there with a strong foaming brew being a good sign of a robust and healthy fermentation.

[Paddy]

I had the same with my Abbey Dubbel, made quite a sticky mess. I was a bit worried at the time too, but it drank pretty well in the end. I do wonder if it should have been better though, will have to give it another shot at some point.

[Gibbo]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Overflow is ok, just inconvenient. I am wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what brew they were using.

Personally, no overflows for me... yet.

[Banjo]

My BeerDriod has been brewing pretty much constantly since August and I have only had this happen once when I was brewing a Midlands Pale Ale.  I would imagine that it would be a bit of a rare occurrence.  I have a wooden bench and tiled floor so I am not too worried if it happens again, but if you have carpet in your brew room I would suggest a mat of some sort or something to catch it if it does happen.  I wouldn't want to be cleaning that sticky wort overflow out of carpet!

[Big Pop]

Hi Don & other contributors,

Interestingly I have just experienced the same overflow issue with the Ruby Porter brewprint overnight.  One day into fermentation she has overflowed about a cupful or so.  Noticed it about 7.00am this morning after my nose detected a very pleasant beer brew aroma.  A small amount of reducing overflow has continued throughout today and is it still going as we speak.  Lots of bubbles in the viewing window.  Obviously a very active healthy brew.  My BeerDroid is in the workshop so no carpet to worry about this end.

[Mark Napier]

Hi Don and others,

I had the same with the Ruby Porter about 6 hours after fermentation detected.  Spoke to Brewart the next day, all good and should go for about 12 hours then stop.  We have ours over carpet and use the puppy pee training pads to catch the spills and they worked well.  You can get them at Coles or pet shops.

[Gibbo]

What do you reckon guys? 9.5L for a Ruby Porter to avoid any accidents?

[Big Pop]

Hi, Gibbo,  I'm not sure that a reduced water level would stop the overflow.  By all accounts overflow can be expected as a normal for an 'very' active healthy brew.  The BeerDroid is designed to cater for this contingency with an overflow outlet.

In my pre BrewArt beer brewing days I occasionally experienced overflow up through the bubbler with some worts.  Apart from an inconvenient clean up the beer quality did not suffer at all.

Perhaps a more detailed explanation from the BrewArt Team would serve to put our collective minds at rest insofar as the Ruby Porter, Abbey Dubbel and Midlands Pale Ale Brewprints are concerned.  They seem to be the only culprits identified on this forum so far.

In any event the ultimate proof is in the tasting.  My Ruby Porter is still under fermentation so it will be another 6 - 8 weeks before I deliver a final verdict.

[Deeks]

It looks like the BrewPrints that use X3 will have overflow from the BeerDroid during fermentation.

[Peter Rundle-Curry]

44 minutes ago, Deeks said:

It looks like the BrewPrints that use X3 will have overflow from the BeerDroid during fermentation.

Deeks, I brewed an Irish Red & and English pub which both have X3 and both were OK!, the wife will kill me if it leaks into her nice new 'butlers pantry'

[Deeks]

Oh well there goes that theory.

It must be a combination of ingredients and yeast as well as the temperature that it is brewed at that causes the overflow effect.

I have done a Russian Imperial Stout in my Coopers DIY Kit fermenter and that thing overflowed like a volcano.

[Peter Rundle-Curry]

I screwed up one of the Irish red keg valves and had to remove it after 1 week of secondary fermentation, OMG it spurted all over the ceiling, floor and me.  Managed to do it lost a glass! it was pretty funny to watch.. I have it in the brewflo and will try it tonight at beer o clock.

[dcm]

So I’m going to pitch another Ruby Porter today.

Most of my first batch is 10 days into secondary fermentation under the house but there is a question mark over how it will go due to what I shall in future refer to as “the tap incident”.

I think it should be mostly ok, I probably lost a litre or so and some of the beer may have gotten aerated during bottling due to me prancing about chanting magic incantations whilst stuff went everywhere.  We will see.

Brewart support was top notch – I got a new tap and a new Ruby Porter kit.  I’ll let you know if the droid pukes again on this brew.  It will be down on plastic this time.

[dcm]

Looks like Ruby Porter is a serial offender for my Droid's little problem :-)

Expecting it this time, precautions were taken and no cat blaming will be necessary.

"Ewww" cried Mrs DCM, "the whole room stinks of beer!".

I think it smells rather nice :-)

[Banjo]

I had a very minor overflow with the Lords English Pale Ale brewprint this week.  It happened on day 4 of fermenting.

[Simon Roberts]

Had the same overflow issue as dcm but with a Polska Baltic Porter after 3 days of fermentation. I, too, opened the lid as it took me by surprise, made a big mess of the cupboard and the floor and was still leaking after 24 hours. This has almost stopped the leaking at this stage but it is still fermenting. Hope I haven't ruined the brew. Not game to release pressure using the tap, though, as I have already had two taps fall apart. Will make sure the BeerDroid is sitting in a catch tray for subsequent brews.

[Banjo]

From experience I think it is best if you have the droid on a surface that you can just wipe down around if possible.  That way you don't end up lifting the droid and causing everything to stir up inside.  I would leave the lid on at all times unless you are dry hopping, just wipe the side of the droid clean if you get a wort volcano. Also no need to open the tap, it isn't a pressurised fermenter, excess CO2 can escape at the same point where the wort volcano spills out if needed.

[Pursya]

Well, I though, "I'll try a Ruby Porter, everyone else has."

But, thanks to this thread I was armed with vital information, do I slipped an oven pan under the Droid.

This is whet greeted me tonight, 1 day 18 hours in.

[u9026a]

The Droids incontinence got me thinking.  There must be an air gap somewhere for all that gas that's produced. So is the lid deliberately not air tight?

[MattS]

13 hours ago, u9026a said:

The Droids incontinence got me thinking.  There must be an air gap somewhere for all that gas that's produced. So is the lid deliberately not air tight?

Yep. Have a look at the lid and you can see the gap in the rubber seal around the rim. It's deliberate.

[Pursya]

After the Porter incontinence, I also had a small issue with the current "londons own".

A small dribble.

Maybe I didn't clean the seal correctly?

[Stephen Cornelius]

A little outdated, I am running the Tea Party Lager, got home this afternoon and it seems to have soiled itself. Thanks to this forum, it has put my mind at ease.

[Captain 3 Droids]

Appreciate post not active at present however although overflows can be expected I wonder if the temperature of the water when the yeast and ingredients are added has something to do with it. The original posted stated added at 30C so would think a lot of yeast cells may generate whilst the temp is being dropped buy the unit to the propagation temperature? I endeavour to match the set propagation by using this calculator:-

http://www.onlineconversion.com/mixing_water.htm

1gm = 1ml of water so as an example 6000 of water @ 30C; 4000 @ 6C (chilled)

[Captain 3 Droids]

Had my first overflow of Krausen with a Brewprint Irish Red Ale. Not severe just seepage going half way down the left hand side of the unit as meant. Wipe it off with a damp soft cloth then sanitised the area with a damp cloth with starsan on it to avoid any infection from the initial clean.