Make-shift blow off hose

Long story short:
I have to leave, my brew has been fermenting for about 36 hours. Airlock keeps filling up with gunk. No time to make a proper blow off hose.

Can I just attach my 1/2 inch siphoning tube to my opened airlock to create a blow off hose? If so, what do I put the other end of the hose in? A bucket of water?

Yep, that should be fine. I just use a piece of tubing slipped over the internal stem of a 3-piece airlock. Put the other end of the hose in a bucket or jug of sanitizer.

Sanitizer, like starsan? Or oxyclean?

I've also attached a hose barb and stainless-steel tee to keep it weighed down in the bucket

I use Starsan, but anything that will keep stuff from growing in the water. Honestly, I think plain water would probably be fine, but I think most of us use some kind of sanitizer as insurance.

chungking said:

Sanitizer, like starsan? Or oxyclean?

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Don't use oxyclean, that isn't a sanitizer, use the starsan if you have it. Depending on differing pressures, it is possible for the blowoff tube to suck back into your fermenter. If that happens, you don't want oxyclean to end up in your beer.

HELP! Just tried putting my 1/2 inch siphon tube on. Way too small. I got nothing else to work with....

Should I just leave the airlock on, or leave it off? I have no idea how long I'll be out of town.

I have made many make shift blow offs, any tubing that will fit the stopper will work. If you cant rig something together than I would just sanitize the area and put a sanitized piece of foil domed over the carboy opening with a rubber band to keep it in place. Make sure the foil is domed over it and leave a little area for the co2 blow off to escape and put a towel under it in case it besides to make a mess

I just put my siphon tube into the hole in the lid. Not a tight fit, but it may work. I guess we'll.

No idea it would be this intense!

Btw, I tasted some of the kruesan that got on the tube when I stuck it in. That stuff is gross! Extremely bitter!

chungking said:

Btw, I tasted some of the kruesan that got on the tube when I stuck it in. That stuff is gross! Extremely bitter!

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Probably a lot of hop gunk on there too

chungking said:

HELP! Just tried putting my 1/2 inch siphon tube on. Way too small. I got nothing else to work with....

Should I just leave the airlock on, or leave it off? I have no idea how long I'll be out of town.

Click to expand...

Likely, the tubing you have isn't 1/2" inner diameter. Many folks use slightly smaller inner diameter tubing on their siphon to get a really good seal.

1/2" inner diameter tubing fits over the middle of a three piece airlock with minimal effort.

Got back home today. No explosion or mess, everything seemed fine. Blow off hose was bubbling away. My temps are probably all over the place. I left the swamp cooler in the low sixties and when I came home it was in the upper sixties, and the weather has shifted from being abnormally warm to cold the past few days.

Hopefully it wot hurt anything! I'm back now and can go back to protecting my flock!