How long do you leave a blow off tube on?

My question is how long should I leave a blow off tube on if I am getting bubbles in my air lock, and if it will hurt to just run the tubing into an empty plastic gallon jug. And if it is crutial that the air lock be put on as soon as the bubbles stop reaching the top of the carboy. Hope this makes sence I am new to this and do not want to mess up the brew.:rockin:

Every brew I make, I throw on a blow off tube right away, I just use a little bleach or sanitizer in a 2 qt pitcher, I use what ever left over from cleaning the primary. Others use vodka.
I also leave the blow off tube in until the Krasuan drops and there is no chance of a blowoff.
I hope this helps.

Thank's
so after the blow off is done should I put the air lock on right away? and do I have to put some kind of sanitizer in the blow off container.

I put on an airlock as soon as possible after taking off my blow-off tube... any time exposed to the air is time that possible bacteria / wild yeasts / etc. can get in your brew. That being said, my obsessiveness there is probabbly unfounded since I don't think you can mess beer up. As far as sanitizer in the blow off container, I agree with Kuai Kuna and just use some of the left over sanitizer from the pre-brew clean. I don't think it would be all that imperative however, if you just had water in the container.

I never use a blowoff tube, except on really big beers, or huge starters. I primary in a 6.5 gal carboy, and never have problems with Krausen reaching the airlock.

I hate cleaning thos things.

Oh, as to your question, you can leave the tube on as long as you want ( taking it off earlier makes it easier to clean), yes there should be liquid in the container, no it doesn't have to be sanitizer, though that or cheap vodka is best.

taelmore said:

Thank's
so after the blow off is done should I put the air lock on right away? and do I have to put some kind of sanitizer in the blow off container.

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I use the bucket of sanitizing solution that I used to sanitize stuff during the brewing process for my blow off bucket. When I remove the blow off tube I immediately replace it with a sanitized rubber stopper and airlock full of vodka.

It seems to me that since seeing the airlock "working" is not really a good reliable sign of active fermintation and assuming you are using a hydrometer after 7 days anyway why not just leave the blow off tube in? Is there something I'm missing?

GunnyW said:

It seems to me that since seeing the airlock "working" is not really a good reliable sign of active fermintation and assuming you are using a hydrometer after 7 days anyway why not just leave the blow off tube in? Is there something I'm missing?

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An airlock is the most reliable way to protect your brew, although if your racking after 1 week (which I never seem to do) I guess you could just leave the blow off tube on and put an airlock on the secondary.

taelmore said:

Thank's
so after the blow off is done should I put the air lock on right away? and do I have to put some kind of sanitizer in the blow off container.

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Wait a good bit and make sure the blowoff is actually finished. Mine seemed done yesterday (putting out a lot of co2, but no more sludge going into the blowoff tube) so after 3 or 4 gunk-free hours I put on a regular air lock. A couple of hours later the airlock was filled with foam again and I had to go back to a blowoff. I put an airlock back on this morning.

I use Idophor/water in my blowoff container...usually an old growler.

Thank's for the info It should help, I have a batch of hard cider going now and the air lock is perkulating well with no bubbles in the air lock. Thanks for all the help