Depends on how much room you got in that carboy. If I put 5.5 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy, I use one. If I put 5.25 gallons in, I usually don't. Even if I do use one, once fermentation slows after a day or so, I swap the blowoff for an airlock. It makes cleaning those blowoff hoses much easier.
Almost any beer can be if the ferment temp goes too high- after using an airlock that bubbled all over the floor, I've always used blow offs. Won't hurt anything, and you can avoid some issues...
A blow off tube is like insurance. You hope you don't have to use, but it's good to know it's there. Better to use it and not need it than not use it and need it.
I've kind of had a different experience then most on here. I've yet to need a blowoff after darn near thirty total batches off and on over thirteen years, most of them this year. This includes a 10% ABV tripel and numerous batches of the "explosive" hefe-weizen. From what I've seen on here warm temperatures are usually the culprit with exploding fermenters. I don't know, I guess I'll probably learn my lesson one day.
I guess if you have to ask, you should probably use the blow off tube. Just figured I'd offer some advice contradicting what you'll usually hear on here.
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Looking forward to brewing some beer
blow off tube?
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