Done with my LHBS

Congrats AHS you will now be getting all my business. I am done trying to patronize my LHBS. Their prices are way too high, they aren't helpful enough and they give bad advice.

I've been having a few concerns with them but I kept giving them second chances. However my experience last week was their final chance.

I went to buy a blow off tube for my carboy and the guy who runs the LHBS recommended me a tube that only has a 1/4" inside diameter (maybe 3/8"). From reading these forums I understand most of you recommend something bigger. So I asked him if I needed to be concerned with that plugging up and he told me not to worry.

Well, what do you think happened the first time I used it?

I was lying in bed waiting for my alarm to go off a few minutes later and I hear a soft gun shot noise coming from my closet and some bottles rattle. So I got up to check and saw the rubber stopper and blow off tube shot off my carboy (made a good mess of beer on the ceiling). And this was 30 minutes before I was leaving town for a week, so I couldn't babysit my beer.

I let some krausen ooze out to alieviate some of the pressure before I recapped it and I had my sister stop by my apartment while I was gone to check on my beer to ensure the blow off was still attatched and I didn't ruin my cherry stout. Luckily it seems everything came out fine.

However I am frustrated with my LHBS because that is a headache I didn't need to have if he would have just sold me what I wanted... a bigger tube. If that blow off tube would have shot off only 30 minutes later I would have been gone for the week already and ruined my most expensive batch of beer to date.

Grrr

So, how to I attach a larger blow off tube to a carboy? My tiny tube just inserts in the rubber stopper that comes with my starter kit, but a bigger tube won't fit in that tiny hole obviously.

Well, the best answer is to avoid a blowoff but since that doesn't appear to be an option for you, I believe most people use a 1" tube that fits snugly into the neck of the carboy. I'm just regurgitating what I've heard not speaking from experience here. I think basically the bigger the better. Just wedge it in there.

Sorry to hear of the mishap with your Beer and your displeasure with your LHBS. Mine here in Pittsburgh is really a great place and I have noticed they are stocking more and more. Seems there might be a need for a new LHBS in the area where you are located. Ever think of becoming a small business owner?

Good luck with your brew.

Salute!

Wow, that sucks (or blows). Not to excuse crappy advice and poor service, etc. But I have never used anything but 3/8 hose for my blow off and I have ony had an issue once (same as you) in more than 100 batches. Then again, I use a 6.5 gallon carboy, so there is lots of headspace to handle much of the krausen. The guy at your LHBS should always error on the safe side with advice.

I use a 1/4'' blow-off tube that i shove into the same rubber stopper i use for the airlocks. The first time i used the thing it popped off, but then i started to just tape it to the carboy(6 gallon BB). I didn't have any issues after that, i think the pressure building inside kind of pushes anything stuck in the tube. When i started using water baths and ice bottles keeping my ales in the low 60s the fermentation slowed and i don't even need the blow-off tubes. I just put my 3 piece on, unless its a big beer then i go blow-off to be safe.

I use a 1" tube direct in the carboy, no rubber stopper. I've only actually seen anything go into the tube in a hefeweizen so far, but I'm only 8 brews deep.

After fermentation has slowed, I pull it out and put in a regular airlock.

I also use a 1" tube directly in the carboy.

Also... my LHBS also has high prices and bad advice. They are nice guys but, I just get what I want and dont take their advice. The first few times I went in there with good info and they told me to differently. Most times it ended with bad results. So now I am cordial with them and just kindly tell them I prefer to use my own methods/advice.

I get better prices from AHS, B3, and NB but, when brew day comes and I realize that I need some specialty grains or hop sacks... etc. I have no choice.

Well, if you're from WI and unhappy with your LHBS, I hope you aren't in my area, because the LHBS here is awesome and the prices are surprisingly barely above that of AHS (many grains are less).


Personally, if your LHBS is too expensive, and don't offer any good advice, I suppose I would cut them off-- but if you are just cutting them off due to the blowoff tube advice, you may be jumping the gun. I always use a tube that size on my primary as a blowoff.

Obviously, as you demonstrated, that might not always be the best idea, but I don't think it's the kind of bad advice to write someone off for. You're a brewer, which means you've obligated yourself to a process whose every process is debatable in every way.