Why you should take off the blowoff when primary is done

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munkyhead8

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Welp, just learned this the hard way. I made a tripel about 3 weeks ago and needed to use a blowoff (big one in a glass carboy.) We had a pretty good freeze in the last week and my brew room dropped to around 45 degrees and the temp change sucked back the nasty yeast/sanitizer/lord knows what water in the overflow bottle. . . I use a big honey jar and it sucked back probably 1/2 gallon of it. Needless to say, I don't think there is much hope for this tripel. Learn from my mistake. . .
 
Easy tiger! You might be fine....that nasty yeasty stuff came from the beer originally anyhow!! What sanitizer did u use?
 
I don't use blow offs. I use a large bucket and fermcap and never had a blow off that way. I also pour my airlock liquid out before cold crashing a bucket because of what you dealt with. Blow offs should only be on there until the krausen drops back down imo.
 
Welp, just learned this the hard way. I made a tripel about 3 weeks ago and needed to use a blowoff (big one in a glass carboy.) We had a pretty good freeze in the last week and my brew room dropped to around 45 degrees and the temp change sucked back the nasty yeast/sanitizer/lord knows what water in the overflow bottle. . . I use a big honey jar and it sucked back probably 1/2 gallon of it. Needless to say, I don't think there is much hope for this tripel. Learn from my mistake. . .

Don't pitch it! I would see it through. Give it time to work itself out.
 
I use starsan and it was the second round. I generally dump the blowoff bucket after it starts to get a good layer of yeast. I suppose the extra volume would help dry it out some more!
 
How much starsan got in?? I betting not a whole lot....your probably fine. Think about it this way, it's okay to bottle onto starsan foam, it's okay to rack to kegs on starsan foam, its okay to rack from kettle onto starsan in your fermenter. I wouldn't dump it.:)
 
I always wonder why people put so much Starsan in the blowoff container. You only need enough to keep the end of the tube submerged.

I also say - don't dump it. If it was Starsan it probably only diluted the beer slightly.
 
It's somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 gallon of liquid. Probably closer to the quarter. I used a bit more than normal because this yeast pushed a lot out and the end kept getting stopped up by the yeast cake in the blowoff.
 
I use a blowoff on every batch and generally don't remove it til fermentation is finished.

+1

I do always however, make it a note to remove it and plug the stopper before cold crashing. I've not quite figured out a better way even though there is some "suck in" when I'm done cold crashing and remove the stopper.
 
The liquid is to prevent excessive air exchange, not contamination. Even with pressure from CO2, some O2 will get in.

So what? You can ferment beer in open containers. I use buckets with the lids places on loosly, or a carboy with some foil over the neck. Fermenting beer is not a process that requires special measures of isolation.
 
+1

I do always however, make it a note to remove it and plug the stopper before cold crashing. I've not quite figured out a better way even though there is some "suck in" when I'm done cold crashing and remove the stopper.

Definitely! I son't evenise an airlock when cold crashing. Why bother? Fermentation is done.
 
Denny - what about oxidation? Why allow finished beer to have exposure to air that isn't necessary? It's take about 60 seconds to sanitize an airlock and put it on there.
 
So what? You can ferment beer in open containers. I use buckets with the lids places on loosly, or a carboy with some foil over the neck. Fermenting beer is not a process that requires special measures of isolation.

Depends on the beer. If you're going to consume it relatively fresh, sure. Aging is a different story.
 
Correct. And for aging, you also dont need a blowoff tube. Personally, i prefer to do my aging in a sealed keg or in primed bottles where oxygen isnt even in the picture, but if i was going to try some aging in a carboy or bucket, that's about the only use for an airlock.
 
Denny - what about oxidation? Why allow finished beer to have exposure to air that isn't necessary? It's take about 60 seconds to sanitize an airlock and put it on there.

The fermenter is sealed at that point. An airlock allowsgasses out, but not in. There's nothg that needs to go out at that point, so sealing the fermenter is all that's needed.
 
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