Kraeusen coming out the airlock but can't get a blow off tube

Hi,
I got a big kraeusen happening at the mo and it's spewing all over the top of my fermenter, I would switch to a blow of tube but i don't have any! will it be ok to just leave it with no water in the airlock untill it calms down then clean the airlock out and refill it?
Cheers

Personally I would remove the airlock overnight and leave the fermenter in the bath tub for easy clean up, then go get a blow off tube in the morning.

There should be enough coming out of the fermenter that it's unlikely any bad things will get in, but if you leave the airlock on, even without water, it's likely to clog and then the pressure will build, leading to an explosion and one hell of a mess.

Wow, I just took off the airlock to at least clean it and I was not expecting such a rush of gas to come out! I was going to put the airlock back on but in the 5 mins it took to clean I now have kraeusen coming out the gromet. I'll see what is going on in the morning and replace/get a blow off tube sorted depending on the situation.
I just put this in last night, it was just a 2 can Coopers kit brew (1 can dark ale & 1 can stout).
Thanks.

What kind of airlock do you have?

if you have one of these you can take off the cap and the little inverted cup part and attach a tube (I forgot what diameter) to the straw that sticks up, and then you have a blow off tube. It is nearly impossible to get the tube off afterward, so you'll need to buy a second airlock. I always stick this one on for primary fermentation, and then stick the standard airlock on if I need to do a secondary for whatever reason.

Sorry if I didn't explain the process very well, but it is after 1am and I'm tired.

Nope, got one of those S shape ones.
We'll see what the morning brings, and don't worry I understood your explaination

Remove the airlock and shove a piece of tubing from your racking setup into the hole and into a bucket or glass of water

damdaman said:

Personally I would remove the airlock overnight and leave the fermenter in the bath tub for easy clean up, then go get a blow off tube in the morning.

There should be enough coming out of the fermenter that it's unlikely any bad things will get in, but if you leave the airlock on, even without water, it's likely to clog and then the pressure will build, leading to an explosion and one hell of a mess.

Click to expand...

+1 on this comment.......Open ferment for awhile. Just remove airlock and bung.....enough krausen and gas to protect until things calm down....then replace airlock.

cheesecake said:

Remove the airlock and shove a piece of tubing from your racking setup into the hole and into a bucket or glass of water

Click to expand...

+1 The bung on a bucket or the stopper on a carboy is the perfect size to accept a piece of racking tubing, (the 5/16"s ID, stuff that you use with an autosiphon or whatever). Just use some of that!

I'll second (or third) the open ferm. If there's that much positive pressure inside the carboy, nothing else is getting in... for now. If you just remove the stopper, you need to watch and as soon as the krausen stops expanding, sanitize the mouth of the carboy and get your bubbler back in place.

Thanks guys, had the airlock off last night and this morning (iit is only 6:30am here) the kraeusen has calmed down. Got the airlock back on there now and there is still heaps of co2 coming out.
We'll see how this turns out when its ready to drink.
Cheers