Ok buddies, 5 gal. blowoff or 6.5 for primary?

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What do you do with that foam?

  • Let it settle back into the wort

  • Blow it off

  • Both, depends on the situation


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Beer is good

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Do you guys usually let the krausen fall into the wort or do you let it blow off? The book said it has lots 'o stuff in it... do you differ with the style of brew?
 
I suppose it really depends on the situation. If it is comming out of the airlock, I'll use a blow off tube, otherwise, I let it be. More than 99% of brews, don't need the blow off tube.

-a.
 
Letting the kraeusen fall back into the beer don't affect it as long as the kraeusen don't get aerated itself. Under airlock, this seems hard to do.

I leave it and haven't noticed any off tastes in my brews.
 
I use a 6.5 gallon carboy for my primary and I always attach a blow off tube just in case. I've never had to use it, but better safe than sorry.

I did come mighty close to making use of it last Tuesday with my Hefeweizen though! Man those Hefs are a violent beer! The yeast has that lovely scent of :ban: .
 
There is a good article in Septembers BYO that explains how to make a "Burton Union" It's the homebrewers version of an "English fermentation system" Its one step up from a blow-off tube and lets you harvest yeast
during your fermentation. A parts list is included in the article.
 
Orpheus said:
I use a 6.5 gallon carboy for my primary and I always attach a blow off tube just in case. I've never had to use it, but better safe than sorry.

I did come mighty close to making use of it last Tuesday with my Hefeweizen though! Man those Hefs are a violent beer! The yeast has that lovely scent of :ban: .

Is that Hefe an AG of extract. I am lloking a good hefe fdor my next batch.:D
 
I use 6.5 carboy's and blow-off tubes, that way after blow-off and all the transfering is complete and it's time to keg, I have 5 gallons of beer.
 
The only time I even got close to needing a blowoff tube was with a barleywine, which had an OG of 1.123...so those nottinghams had a lot to chew on.

Orpheus, I'll second that one...:ban: Been fermenting a wheat doppelbock for the past week, and my aging/fermentation room has smelled like ripe bananas...yum! What yeast did you use on your hefe? I'm using the Wyeast 3333, German Wheat. Cheers to those bastards, who have done a hell of a job! I cannot wait to taste it.

Hey, pirate ale, if you're willing to do partial mash, here's my wheat doppelbock recipe from last weekend...


Smoked Doppeldunkelweizen

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

05-C Bock, Doppelbock

Min OG: 1.072 Max OG: 1.120
Min IBU: 16 Max IBU: 31
Min Clr: 6 Max Clr: 25 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 11.85
Anticipated OG: 1.083 Plato: 19.98
Anticipated SRM: 22.4
Anticipated IBU: 31.1
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate: 15.00 Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 5.88 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.070 SG 17.16 Plato

Formulas Used
-------------

Brewhouse Efficiency and Predicted Gravity based on Method #1, Potential Used.
Final Gravity Calculation Based on Points.
Hard Value of Sucrose applied. Value for recipe: 46.2100 ppppg
% Yield Type used in Gravity Prediction: Fine Grind Dry Basis.

Color Formula Used: Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Rager

Additional Utilization Used For Plug Hops: 2 %
Additional Utilization Used For Pellet Hops: 10 %


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1 0.13 lbs. Malto Dextrin North America 1.030 0
16.9 2.00 lbs. Red Wheat Malt Germany 1.039 8
0.5 0.06 lbs. Scottish Peated Malt 1.038 5
3.5 0.42 lbs. Chocolate Wheat America 1.030 450
4.2 0.50 lbs. Flaked Soft White Wheat America 1.034 2
33.8 4.00 lbs. Briess LME- Weizen America 1.035 4
6.3 0.75 lbs. Briess DME- Weizen America 1.046 8
25.3 3.00 lbs. Generic LME - Munich North America 1.036 8
8.4 1.00 lbs. Generic DME - Light Generic 1.046 8

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.75 oz. Northern Brewer Pellet 6.50 20.6 60 min.
0.50 oz. Tettnanger Pellet 4.00 7.6 45 min.
0.50 oz. Tettnanger Pellet 4.00 1.4 2 min.
0.50 oz. Mt. Hood Pellet 4.20 1.5 2 min.


Yeast
-----

WYeast 3333 German Wheat






 
What mine was was a partial mash, not too far from an extract recipe. Just sub in some wheat LME for the red german wheat grain. You can, at least, do this recipe as an extract recipe just by steeping grains.
 
My primary is 6.5 gal. Sometimes though I still need a blow off tube. Depends on the situation really. Usually I put an airlock on till I have reason to do other wise.
 
Evan! said:
The only time I even got close to needing a blowoff tube was with a barleywine, which had an OG of 1.123...so those nottinghams had a lot to chew on.

Orpheus, I'll second that one...:ban: Been fermenting a wheat doppelbock for the past week, and my aging/fermentation room has smelled like ripe bananas...yum! What yeast did you use on your hefe? I'm using the Wyeast 3333, German Wheat. Cheers to those bastards, who have done a hell of a job! I cannot wait to taste it.

I used the Wyeast Smack Pack Weihenstephen. :tank:
 
Beer Snob said:
My primary is 6.5 gal. Sometimes though I still need a blow off tube. Depends on the situation really. Usually I put an airlock on till I have reason to do other wise.
Funny, I do just the opposite. I'm always prepared for blow-off, but I replace the blow-off tube with an airlock when activity settles to a steady bubble every few seconds - or when I rack for clearing/conditioning.
 
Yuri_Rage said:
Funny, I do just the opposite. I'm always prepared for blow-off, but I replace the blow-off tube with an airlock when activity settles to a steady bubble every few seconds - or when I rack for clearing/conditioning.

I live in an apartment so dont have a lot of space. Don't get me wrong if I think 6.5 is not going to be enough room I put the blow off tube on, but an airlock is just less trouble...... less to bump into and knock over that kinda thing.
 
I use a 7.9 gallon bucket with a spigot for my 5.5 gallon batches. No blow off problems and I can rack a full 5 gallon Better Bottle carboy with leftover for a hyrometer check.
 
EdWort said:
I use a 7.9 gallon bucket with a spigot for my 5.5 gallon batches. No blow off problems and I can rack a full 5 gallon Better Bottle carboy with leftover for a hyrometer check.

Hey I got one of them... I wanted another primary... just remembered of my visit the the LHBS today... the hell of it is getting the damm lid off. Just bought a lid remover they started ordering cause I suppose the problem is common:) Think my problem is solved :)
 
Beer Snob said:
Hey I got one of them... I wanted another primary... just remembered of my visit the the LHBS today... the hell of it is getting the damm lid off. Just bought a lid remover they started ordering cause I suppose the problem is common:) Think my problem is solved :)

Cool. Let me know how it works. I may get one of those too. Those lids are tough on the fingers sometimes.

I like the 7.9 gallon size. Room for my 5.5 batch with loads of head room.
 
EdWort said:
Cool. Let me know how it works. I may get one of those too. Those lids are tough on the fingers sometimes.

I like the 7.9 gallon size. Room for my 5.5 batch with loads of head room.

I got it at Aventures in Homebrewing... it was only like $5.50. I'll certainly post how it works :)
 
I am speaking of intentionally using a 5 gallon carboy for the specific purpose of leaving no room for the krausen so it goes out the blowoff, I think many people didn't realize that is what I was asking...

Purposely remove krausen, or purposely allow it to fall back into the wort?
 
Beer is good said:
I am speaking of intentionally using a 5 gallon carboy for the specific purpose of leaving no room for the krausen so it goes out the blowoff, I think many people didn't realize that is what I was asking...

Purposely remove krausen, or purposely allow it to fall back into the wort?

Again guys, check out a "Burton Union" . The burton union purposely captures the krausen for harvest but also returns the wort to the carboy.

Our English friends have been doing this for centuries. :confused:
 
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