Should I use a blow off tube or leave it?

I brewed a Brew Canada Pilsner beer kit and pitched the yeast (Coopers dry yeast packet) almost exactly 24 hours ago. 12 hours later it was already bubbling. OG is supposed to be between 1.03-1.04, it's 1.04.



It's letting out a constant gas pressure out of the tiny holes in the airlock lid and it looks like yeasty beer in the airlock itself now. Could this get clogged and end up going everywhere like I've read about, or should I leave it and not risk infection?

First time using a carboy, I've always used a 30L pail and never had to worry about this before . Did I fill it up too high or is this standard? This is about my 6th brew and I wanted to try out a glass carboy before I moved on to all grain, for some odd reason when I switch to all grain I want to use glass instead of plastic and let it ferment for longer periods of time (24 years old and a batch of beer usually gets bottled within 3 weeks and drank a couple later lol)

Any and all advice appreciated.

I'd go with a blow off tube. Even if you could've gotten away with it, it really isn't worth the hassle of cleaning up krausen off your walls, floor, ceiling, everywhere. I do it for all of my beers for at least the first week of primary while fermentation is at its most aggressive.

My rule is as follows: if I think that it might need a blow-off tube, it does.

:cross:

OK I will have to go get the tube tomorrow morning then.

What about the height that I filled the carboy, does that look right? Could I have gone higher or lower? From what I've read/seen this seemed good at the time but considering it isn't even a heavy beer it kind of scared me lol.

Edit: Ha! I like your rule Nugent, it is what I was thinking but I figured I would ask on here first instead.

I could be wrong here, but my understanding of the carboy was to minimize headspace (why else would you use something that is so much more difficult to clean?). You accomplished the small headspace part very well. Unfortunately, you need a little more headspace in a primary to allow for foam during aggressive fermentation.

I don't think you are going to have any major problems with the brew, just switch to the blowoff ASAP so you don't end up with a big mess.

When brewing beer you WANT headspace. Get a blowoff tube on that now- at least for the first 4-5 days. I dont need one as I always leave enough space for the kreusen to form and settle.

Your fill level is fine you just need a blowoff at that fill level. And understand that you will lose some beer in the blowoff bucket. I use the 6 or 6.5 gallon carboys for primary and fill to about 5 or 5.5 gallons. That gives enough head space that you won't shoot a bunch of beer out the tube and you won't have to clean out a nasty airlock. I like the big 1 inch or so tubing for blowoff tubes. It's a bit easier to clean because you can get a brush in the tube fairly easy.

brewhappy said:

I like the big 1 inch or so tubing for blowoff tubes. It's a bit easier to clean because you can get a brush in the tube fairly easy.

Click to expand...

This is what I was intending on getting this morning, however last night I woke up at 5:30am to my first massive mess

All I heard was a loud hissing. When I got there to check it, it was spraying out the top of my 3 piece airlock like a mini super soaker, so I ran and grabbed my 1/2 inch tubing and sanitized it quickly, popped off the lid of the airlock which caused a pretty loud pop and about 10 litres of foam to come out lol. When that was done I just stuck the hose right on the piece that comes up the middle of the airlock and put the other end in my bottling bucket.


Safe to say it's sticky, EVERYWHERE. Good thing I am using my basement bathroom that isn't getting use at the moment lol.

(That's a merlot in the plastic fermentor if anyone is wondering)

(Also sorry about the slightly dark images, flash makes the pictures impossible to see.)

And I like your idea union, I think when I am done this batch I will mark off my carboy. I always wondered exactly where the levels were. And in case anyone is curious this is a 23L/6G carboy.

Now my next question, the airlock now has what almost looks like beer in it, and there is even a bit of yeast sediment in the bottom of it lol. Should I just leave this as long as gas is continually coming out or swap it out for something sanitary right now?

We've all been there.

Hey I actually don't mind the mess. It's a very fun learning experience in my books. I LOVE the glass carboy, it's crazy how much the wort is churning in there with the yeast doing their thing. Never could see that in my plastic fermenters. Just going to have to clean it up and throw a clean airlock on there in a few days.

Thanks for the help gents (and any possible ladies). Long time reader, first time poster

Slugz said:

Now my next question, the airlock now has what almost looks like beer in it, and there is even a bit of yeast sediment in the bottom of it lol. Should I just leave this as long as gas is continually coming out or swap it out for something sanitary right now?

Click to expand...

I've done that same thing. The smaller tubing is harder to clean and I've had one stick onto the airlock tube so bad that I can't get it apart now. I'd leave it dirty for now. Once it's settled down then put a fresh airlock and stopper in. I pretty much always use a blowoff tube now just to be safe.

Nugent said:

My rule is as follows: if I think that it might need a blow-off tube, it does.

:cross:

Click to expand...

My rule is as follows: Always start with a blow-off tube, it beats cleaning the ceiling!

kh54s10 said:

My rule is as follows: Always start with a blow-off tube, it beats cleaning the ceiling!

Click to expand...

Or a bigger fermenter My local brew shop sells 8 gallon fermentation buckets as part of their kit, when i was just starting i never really appreciated how much that extra space really makes brewing easier...even the biggest beers can just use airlocks.

My first plastic fermenter is 8 gallons. It was twice the price of the 24L ones but well worth it. The 5 or so batches I've done before this one I never had a problem with an airlock. Just wish now that I hadn't lent my plastic fermenter to a friend and got stuck using the carboy .. Still awesome though, I like glass over plastic.