Pale Ale a-brewin'!!

[ray m]

I finally got to brew my American Pale Ale today. OG 1.050 (a little higher than I wanted, but that's ok). The damndest thing happened with my starter, tho. I used White Labs California Ale yeast, made the starter (1 qt. size) yesterday afternoon. By this morning, krausen was filling up the airlock!! I am attributing this to super fresh yeast, since the expiration on it was not until late September. It smelled like a normal starter, so I guess all was well--never had a starter fill the airlock before. Has anyone else out there encountered this phenomenon? I am betting my house that by tomorrow afternoon I'm gonna have to do an emergency blow off operation. Will keep informed on progress---I plan on dry hopping with 1 oz. of Cascade---mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[cyanide]

I recently made a Pale Ale too, 4.5% and 40IBU, my only complaint was I liked it too much and it went down too easily! I liked my beer sipped.

Certainly one of the best ale styles to have on a regular basis.

[YamahaXS]

Pale Ale is my favorite style of beer. :D YUM!

[Tom C]

Just kegged 5 gallons of my Geary's Pale clone mmmmmm such a flowery cascade aroma from dry hopping and wow nice taste! 5 gallons continue to dry hop. I made this over a month ago and have been good not touching it.

Tom C

[Redbird Fan]

I had this happen once - since the krausen will begin to fall, I wouldn't sweat switching it over to the blowoff tube (it's already too late for that). When it happened to me, I did remove the airlock and re-sanitize it, then replaced it. It should be fine, and any possibility of bacteria entering or affecting the brew due to this event is very minimal as with the level of activity you are describing, the yeast will likely have out-competed any possible bacteria.

That level of yeast activity is what you really want every time (even though it's not likely to happen) so you should be in store for a great beer!

[ray m]

Things thus far going well with fermentation after 20 hours since I pitched. The yeast formed a very thick cake on the top, but it's starting to crack now, with little bubble veins showing on the top. I can already smell the Amarillo hops, which I used for bittering---nice, flowery & citrusy. I can't wait till this is done!