Blow Off Tube

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Johnwongfat

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I brewed up an Imperial Stout, used the aforementioned yeast starter (see my other thread), and put it in the carboy. The results the next morning settled the debate with great authority. (I will post the picture if someone can tell me how. Not sure if I just put in the file path or what when I hit insert image...) The lid actually blew off my airlock! After much cleanup and cannibalizing some of my tubing I made an impromptu blow-off system. My question is should I go back to an airlock once the krausen goes down and the fermentation settles a bit or should I just leave the blow off in place? I've never had this vigorous of a fermentation and don't know if I need to do anything special with the blow off.
 
I had that happen to me on my first heffy. I have used a blow off tube ever since with no problems. I am still relatively new at this and not sure if this is the right thing to do. I just do not ever want to clean a mess like that up again :rolleyes:
 
Once you stop getting foam out of the blowoff, you can replace the bubbler. Give it a good cleaning first. Check the cap for plugged holes.

I had one ferment blow the lid off of the bucket. Still turned out ok.
 
Supposedly, a blow-off tube has the advantage of removing sediment from one's beer, which can contribute to off tastes in the brew. I say "supposedly" because I've never used a blow-off, but plan on doing so in some future batch (read: when I get my lazy a$$ motivated).
 
I just had my first blow out with my german wheat. had to go to a blow off, just took a small pitcher, mixed up some star-san and ran it. it is bubbling like crazy.
 
I had to make my first blow-off last week on a hefe, and I just left the blow off on for the duration on the primary. By the time the blow off was done serving its purpose it only had 2 days left in the primary, i thought, whats the use of switching it out now. Its now going to hurt anything.
 
Heh heh...at 7am this morning, I had a vigrous blow off from my SpeedBall Wheat. I had a nice active ferment hours after brewing and when I went to bed last night, I knew what I would wake up to.

I love seeing those violent ferments in the morning...
...the smell, you know that yeasty smell, the whole carboy. Smells like... victory.
 
I wouldn't leave a blow off tube on the primary for more than a week. The end of the blow off tube generally gets put into a can of sanitizer. The yeast and crud get blown off into this can which then exposes them to ambient air and contaminates, plus, the sanitizer loses it's punch after a few days. So, after the bulk of fermentation has progressed (a few days) and you have blow off, the end of your tube is sitting in some really nasty stuff that is definitely NOT sanitary. As long as fermentation is progressing, there is positive pressure pushing out from the fermenter and the risk of infection is pretty non-existent - but once this dies down, it is possible for for some of this "stuff" now sitting in the can to migrate up the tube and into your beer. Do yourself a favor, as soon as the krausen recedes a bit, slap on an air lock, or rack to a secondary (and slap on an air lock).

Prosit!
 
You really think that unsanitized "stuff" is going to crawl 3 feet back up my tube in two days and contaminate my beer? All while it is still fermenting a little? I kinda dought it. But its never bad to be over cautious.
 
OtherWhiteMeat said:
You really think that unsanitized "stuff" is going to crawl 3 feet back up my tube in two days and contaminate my beer?
In word - yes. What happens when beer stops fermenting? Well, for one, the volume of CO2 leaving the confines of the fermenter drops off dramatically. Second, the wort cools down. When it cools down, the pressure inside the fermenter drops which partially removes some of the protection we had when it was vigorously fermenting. A week is a good rule of thumb (at least for ales).

It's all about odds. Would you intentionally stick the end of your blow off tube into a container of yeast and contaminated wort (because that's what your blow off liquid is)? No. Why not? Because it's a bad idea. It only takes a few minutes to sanitize and install an air lock. Very cheap insurance.
 
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