What the foam over?

[VetTanker]

So, I have heard ppl mention vigorous fermentations, but never the exact cause. Sat night, among a few other small batches, I started a cyser. This is my second cyser. First one came out fine, but drier than I wanted and I ended up overdoing the vanilla bean on the back end. So I decided to try it again. I upped the honey from 2 to 3 lbs and used a local Desert Wildflower instead of a random Clover off Amazon. I used the same unfiltered apple juice, but this time used the full gallon of it in a recently bought Little Big Mouth Bubbler instead of just filling to capacity in a 1gal carboy. That juice left a crap ton of sediment the first time, so I wanted to make a 1+ gallon batch to get a full gallon out. I also switched from the K1V1116 yeast I used the first time to the 71B yeast. The only other differences between the two at this point is the second has a whole stick of cinnamon in primary whereas the first only had a half stick and this time around I’m doing staggered nutrients vs the first time when I put them all in up front. The first one behaved as all of my other batches have, a little foam on top, but no bubbles that stayed or built up without some form of agitation. This second cyser, for some reason built up a massive head of thick, dense foam, talking 2-3 inches high through that wide mouth.

What would cause this batch to behave so differently? The honey was new to my meadmaking, but I used it in two other batches I started the same night that are behaving normally, and I have used 71B before and that batch also behaved normally.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hard to be able to be able to pin point a specific cause since you made several changes and each change could be the culprit. You upped the amount of honey so you upped the viscosity of the liquid and that may be enough to restrict the egress lf the CO2 allowing the gas to collect under a tighter net of proteins in the honey. You changed the yeast and at the temperature at which you are fermenting and the temperature the fermentation by this yeast adds to the must that may be enough to create a more vigorous fermentation. You don't say but it is also possible that the colony of viable yeast cells was significantly greater and that may have contributed to the froth. Was this fermented in a different carboy? Plastic? It's possible that there are rough surfaces on the inner walls and those surfaces will allow gas to nucleate and that with the greater viscosity of your must can result in more gas being forced out of solution.. and these are the conditions inside the fermenter, not outside (temperature , air pressure etc)...

 

[VetTanker]

Hard to be able to be able to pin point a specific cause since you made several changes and each change could be the culprit. You upped the amount of honey so you upped the viscosity of the liquid and that may be enough to restrict the egress lf the CO2 allowing the gas to collect under a tighter net of proteins in the honey. You changed the yeast and at the temperature at which you are fermenting and the temperature the fermentation by this yeast adds to the must that may be enough to create a more vigorous fermentation. You don't say but it is also possible that the colony of viable yeast cells was significantly greater and that may have contributed to the froth. Was this fermented in a different carboy? Plastic? It's possible that there are rough surfaces on the inner walls and those surfaces will allow gas to nucleate and that with the greater viscosity of your must can result in more gas being forced out of solution.. and these are the conditions inside the fermenter, not outside (temperature , air pressure etc)...

It is in a different container, but both are glass. As for amount of viable yeast, all I can say is both got their own full packet rehydrated, I think properly, but definitely in the same manner. As for more honey creating viscosity differences, idk if you’re right or wrong in all that (never before heard anyone talk about that aspect) but I have used higher concentrations of honey without creating any excess foaming. OG on this one was 1.148 vs 1.123 on the first one. I can’t speak to the temps inside any of my fermenters, but the ambient temp inside my house has remained between 65 and 71 during both fermentations.

 

[Squatchy]

So the yeast strains are all different and some make more foam than others. Same with honeys. You can have the same yeast strain in 5 different meads of different kinds of honey. And you will see a difference. No big deal. Carry on.

 

[Devin Petry-Johnson]

Just guessing here... what about sanitation? Is it possible some baddies got into the batch and started doing their own thing?

But as long as it isn't contamination, it's probably nothing to worry about. Some batches seem to foam more than others, at least in my experience.

 

[VetTanker]

Just guessing here... what about sanitation? Is it possible some baddies got into the batch and started doing their own thing?

But as long as it isn't contamination, it's probably nothing to worry about. Some batches seem to foam more than others, at least in my experience.

Nice wide mouth container, I can’t discount the possibility of something like a stray cat hair drifting in while it was open. But it was a brand new glass container that I cleaned and sanitized properly.

The massive head of foam has subsided, though it does continue to have a consistent, thin layer on top (still in excess of anything I’ve seen in my other meads). I’ve not been worried so much as curious as to the cause and annoyed at the inconvenience of having to clean out the airlock and leave the top off for about 24hrs with just a paper towel over it.

 

[Squatchy]

Nice wide mouth container, I can’t discount the possibility of something like a stray cat hair drifting in while it was open. But it was a brand new glass container that I cleaned and sanitized properly.

The massive head of foam has subsided, though it does continue to have a consistent, thin layer on top (still in excess of anything I’ve seen in my other meads). I’ve not been worried so much as curious as to the cause and annoyed at the inconvenience of having to clean out the airlock and leave the top off for about 24hrs with just a paper towel over it.

So like I said. Different yeast strains make more or less foam. Different kinds of honey make more or less foam.

 

[VetTanker]

So like I said. Different yeast strains make more or less foam. Different kinds of honey make more or less foam.

Must have been the combination of that yeast and honey with the apple juice. Realized afterwards that the honey/yeast combo is the same as is in the two trads I started the same night.