Oh what a night - BB blow off rig

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Cavemann310

Active Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
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Location
Frederick
So I brewed a hop head IIPA yesterday, watched tv through the night and went to check on things around 11pm, come to find the cats were far too interested in "the brewery" and I noticed my airlock was nearing the point of blowing off. Now im in a panic because I never bought a blow off rig or came up with one for the 5gal BB. So i tried this first with some 5/16" tubing

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=66421&stc=1&d=1340720465

that idea was slowly glugging in the bucket and then every 30 seconds it would burst with a heavy round of CO2, couldnt trust that going to sleep, next i tried this with an airlock, a cut apart rubber stopper and some 7/8" hose

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=66422&stc=1&d=1340720465

That also was burping as it was still having to squeeze through the bottom and the inner tube of the airlock which is pinched off with a small three hole opening at the tip so i figured i could add an additional tube on the second nipple to help it


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=66423&stc=1&d=1340720465


That also began to burp and didnt help me much, plus the issue with the base of the airlock, not only that, some of the foam and krausen was reliquifying at the top of the stack in the airlock and seep back behind the rubber stopper into the back of the airlock base and filling up.

started looking around for a better alternative and found the red piece for the bottle washer that is supposed to go on top of the bottle tree to hold it on while you wash, that thing didnt fit my bottle tree and i dont trust it up there anyway so i said screw it, measured the wide end opening, and the width of the orange rubber top with the "nipples" and noticed it was perfect size to jam on there to create a seal. my 7/8" hose was a little too thick to get started so i shaved the edge a little bit, got it started and jammed it through about 3/4", nice and snug and no holes around the edge.

I squeezed the BB to burp a bunch of foam out to give me time, cut the top of the orange nipple piece off and left the ring part on, jammed the red piece over it, taped it on to make sure it didnt go anywhere and viola

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=66424&stc=1&d=1340720465
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=66425&stc=1&d=1340720465

still chugging along this morning no problems no leaks!


got to sleep about 12:30 and now I found a use for that red piece from the bottle washer...harmed a bunch of other supplies in the making though. oh well, live and learn.

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Oh yes but its ****ty carpet installed by the bank before we bought it, I'm looking for a reason to finish this place with new floors or at least the brew room haha
 
I use a rubber stopper with a piece of 3/4 tubing for my better bottles, works well for me so far
 
Yeah I gotta go to the lhbs and get something like that this was just a panic because I hadn't gotten a rig for the BB yet and couldn't go to sleep uncertain it was going to hold
 
Yeah and I was at a standstill staring at the second to last option pondering the bottle washer idea thinking that if i cut the orange top off and jammed it and it didn't fit I was screwed or had to rack it over to a larger fermenter which I obviously did not want to do
 
Why yes it is and no I haven't had it before, mine is extract still gaining my experience, undershot the 1.070-1.074 og at 1.064 wasn't happy about that so i bumped it with corn sugar.
 
Nice job averting a mess! You just successfully brewed a 5g batch in a 5g better bottle!

And your title now has the song "Oh What a Night" by the Four Seasons playing repeatedly in my head. :D
 
Nice job averting a mess! You just successfully brewed a 5g batch in a 5g better bottle!

And your title now has the song "Oh What a Night" by the Four Seasons playing repeatedly in my head. :D

Yep, that happened to me instantly when I saw the title. Nice blowoff rig. Gotta do whatcha gotta do!
 
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