Do I need a blowoff tube for this recipe?

I am planning on brewing the following Dogfish Head 90 clone in the near future. I am only using a fermenting bucket for my primary at this time. Due to the high OG, should I arrange to use a blowoff tube? To this date, none of my brews have created too much krausen, but I'm wondering if this one will change things. Any opinions?

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 3.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.105 SG
Estimated Color: 9.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 42.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 66.67 %
4.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM) Dry Extract 33.33 %
0.50 oz Warrior [15.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
0.75 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (90 min) Hops 10.8 IBU
2.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (90 min) Hops 18.9 IBU
0.75 oz Warrior [15.00 %] (90 min) Hops 12.5 IBU
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 7.0 days) Misc
4.00 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 7.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs Whitbread Ale (Wyeast Labs #1099) Yeast-Ale

As far as the recipe goes, I plan on dry-hopping when I rack to the secondary. After 7 days at temp, I'm thinking of cold-crashing it to get the hops to settle out before bottling.

If you think that you might need one, use one. Can't hurt.

I would, if not have one ready to go in case.

OP, how big is your primary? If you have a 7 gal primary, all might go well. It's been my experience that a high gravity brew starts relativly slow, then really does it's thing.

My primary is 7 gal. I was thinking of drilling a hole in it for a blowoff tube and buying a couple of corks - one for the smaller airlock hole and one for the bigger hole. That way I could use it either way.

IME temperature will help to control the rate of fermentation. I don't belive in air locking anything during primary, if in doubt just lay a paper towel soaked w/ star san over the hole in the lid until things settle down. or even some cling wrap over the top of the fermenter so you can see the kruesen.

i have 1 airlock, and never use it. all 3 of my primaries have blowoff tubes. i mean, why not? id rather have a blowtube, than to have my brew end up on the ceiling

I've used an airlock only once when I should have used a blowoff tube(huge mess to clean up). Now I always use a blowoff tube no matter how much headspace I have, there are no drawbacks to using a blowoff tube, so my vote is to use one regardless of the recipe or fermenter size.

Sounds like sage advice from all. Guess I'll drill the lid and cork the airlock hole. Thanks.

on a different note, i think your recipe is a bit off. that SG is a bit high for a 90 minute clone. if you are trying to hit 9% ABV you're going to have to stop fermentation @ around 1.036. in my opinion, that is way too sweet. if you're going for a higher abv than so be it.

After my first wild volcano encounter I always use a 3/4 blow off pipe. Im not going threw that again.

jwible204 said:

on a different note, i think your recipe is a bit off. that SG is a bit high for a 90 minute clone. if you are trying to hit 9% ABV you're going to have to stop fermentation @ around 1.036. in my opinion, that is way too sweet. if you're going for a higher abv than so be it.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I may drop the DME 1/2 pound each. That should put me around 9.1 or so. Thanks for the head's up.