dabber

Recipes 

I'm waiting for my equipment to come and was wondering afew things. I notice alot of people use only blow off tubes, so is this the best or will I be fine with my airlock. I ordered a starter kit that includes a 6.5gal fermenter(plastic bucket) and will be brewing 5gal batches. My first beer will be a cherry wheat and the second an Irish red ale. I don't want to make a big mess unless I have to. Will I have enough head space in the fermenter and be alright with the airlock?

I can't wait to get this rolling! I've wanted to do this for along time and when I found out my buddy was brewing I just had to start! He will be helping me through my first boil.

Thanks,
dabber

cweston

Recipes 

You'll probably be fine with your airlock. Most bucket fermenters are actually more like 7 gals--I think I've only had an honest-to-gosh blowoff from a bucket once, and that was repitching a big beer on a big yeast cake, so it was expected.

Happy brewing!

__________________

Primary: none
Secondary:
Bottle conditioning: Robust Porter
Drinking: Saison Dupont clone, tripel
Coming soon: Columbus APA, Rich Red ale

dan244

Recipes 

thats what i have at home and I never had a problem.

__________________
Dan

Primary -- Empty :0(
Secondary -- Empty
Bottled - Scotts Brown Ale, Kicking Cider (11%)
Mini Kegs -- German Hefeweizen, Irish Red Ale
Next - Irish Red Ale
Planning -- Irish Stout

Whelk

Recipes 

You're fine, plenty of room in that bucket.

__________________
Nothing until I figure out if I can make it happen over in the UK.

Trappist Artist

Recipes 

If you have a three piece air lock you can make a quick blow off tub if you do run into trouble. Look and see if your siphon tube will fit, mine does!

Brewing Clamper

Recipes 

Yeap, repitching onto a yeast cake is the only time I've had to use a blow-off, and I ferment in 6.5g carboys.

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--Omar

4 Ohms Aleworks & Lagers | Twitter | Facebook | Blog |

feedthebear

Recipes 

I use a 6.5 gallon bucket for my primary.

I've only had problems with wither krausen rising into my airlock or, my latest misadventure, blowing the lid clean off the bucket when I did a 5.5 gallon brew and my O.G. was above 1.040.

On a bucket fermenter, the easiest way to do a quick and dirty blow off tube is to stick the bottling tube that came with your kit inside the smallest hole of the airlock. Then put the other end in a pan of sanitizer.

I'm still working on a good way to install a larger tube into the plastic lid without compromising the strength of the lid and have it not cost more than purchasing a new glass carboy.

__________________
Planning: Agave Witbock, Raisin Beer
Primary: GF Hazelnut Stout
Tertiary: Cranberry-Pom pLambic (est. bottle date: 03/01/08)
Drinking: Cab.Sav/Merlot Wine, Grand Cru, Hazelnut Stout #3, Ordinary Bitter

BarleyWater

Recipes 

My last batch blew the lid off twice and I didn't even make a starter for it, but that's rare. You should be cool , and if you run into any problems, stick you siphon hose in the airlock hole in the bucket and run the other end down into a pan of water.

__________________

Fermenting: Nada
On Tap:Cran Wit, Dr Pepper Dubbel, Cascadian Pale Ale, Dark Chocolate Stout, Imperial Stout, Brown Mild, Schwarzbier
On Board: IIPA

www.franconiabrewing.com