Blowoff valve for high gravity beers

Is it typical to have to install a blowoff assembly with higher gravity beers? I've made a tripel and an IPA that both had OG of 1.060. Each had about a gallon of headspace and still needed the assembly.

Most people simply use a vinyl hose from the carboy and run it into a container of sanitizer solution or bleach water for the first few days of the heavy fermentation. Makes for some awesome bubble sounds!

I almost never crash my car, but I always wear a seatbelt. Using a blowoff tube for the first active days of fermentation is very cheap insurance. Some people just leave it on for the entire process - there's no downside really.

Its so cheap and easy, better be safe than sorry, we just use them for the whole process. When you end up hearing them sound like multiple uzis going off for a real HG beer, you'll be glad

frazier said:

I almost never crash my car, but I always wear a seatbelt. Using a blowoff tube for the first active days of fermentation is very cheap insurance. Some people just leave it on for the entire process - there's no downside really.

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Excellent point. The setup actually looks cooler to my friends who have no idea what's going on.

I always use a tube put into a pot of starsan. My last 2 beers actually had such strong active fermentation that the yeasts spilled through the tube and I have a thick layer in the pot underneath the starsan. Bad part is that it's almost impossible to clean the residue in the tubes afterwards.

ndinh said:

...it's almost impossible to clean the residue in the tubes afterwards.

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try soaking it in starsan? after that, i make a tight seal with my hand from the spigot to the tube and blow the remaining particles out. that always seems to do the trick for me.

Glad I had a blow off tube vs bubbler in the last batch. The bubble frequency was ridiculous like more than 1 per second for a couple days. Don't think the bubbler could have taken that abuse without spewing it's liquid dry.

ndinh said:

Bad part is that it's almost impossible to clean the residue in the tubes afterwards.

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A bucket style 3/8" tube: PLC line cleaner
A 1" carboy style tube: A bottle brush and a string to pull the brush through