2.5 gallon brew in 6.5 gallon bucket- Will I need a blow off tube?

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peroua15

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I recently brewed a strong belgian and was wondering, for safety and cleanliness reasons, if a blow off tube would be necessary. its going to be a strong beer and sit in the bucket for a while. i just don't want the top to possibly blow off and deal with that when I could have easily prevented that? i doubt that that much foam would occur, but wondering if anyone has had that happen before on a smaller batch...?
 
As two others have succinctly said, you will not have to use a blow off tube.

However, I would be concerned about oxygen while fermenting and aging. The amount of headspace you have by aging 2.5 gallons of a Belgian Strong in a 6.5 gallon fermenter may result in extreme acetic, sherry, or other oxidative flavors.
 
If your using it for primary then you will be ok with oxidation. I do 3 gal batches in my 6.5 gal fermenters. I would not secondary in the bucket, then again I don't secondary in any bucket.
 
Nope. You'd really need some crazy big krausen to reach the top. I've done several 2.5-3.5 gallon batches in a 6.5 gallon bucket and it's never been close.

I did 3.5 gallons of an imperial stout for 5 weeks in primary and then 5 weeks in secondary (in a 3 gallon better bottle). I haven't tasted them yet, but hopefully no issues with that. I think I opened the primary once to check the gravity, and then I think some CO2 was released out the airlock, so hopefully the oxygen was pushed out.
 
If your using it for primary then you will be ok with oxidation. I do 3 gal batches in my 6.5 gal fermenters. I would not secondary in the bucket, then again I don't secondary in any bucket.

If you're aging a Belgian Strong as peroua15 is, I would want to minimize the headspace as much as I could to reduce the amount of acetic flavors. Acetic acid may work in a Flanders Red, but not in a Belgian Strong.
 
If you're aging a Belgian Strong as peroua15 is, I would want to minimize the headspace as much as I could to reduce the amount of acetic flavors. Acetic acid may work in a Flanders Red, but not in a Belgian Strong.

If he is talking about blowoff tube needed then I assume that he is talking about doing Primary fermentation. The amount of CO2 that is released in Primary is more then enough to drive vertually all of the O2 out of the headspace. Like I said if secondary then never use a bucket and go with either a Better Bottle or Glass Carboy or just do like I have moved to and do a long primary where the CO2 from the primary fermentation is still in the bucket.
 
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