Always use a blow off

After reading numerous posts concerning blow offs, dirty ceilings, etc, etc, etc, I decided to post this PSA.

ALWAYS, always, always use a blow off tube.

You cannot predict when it will happen. It can happen with ANY beer.

The prescription is not more cowbell, but a blow off tube.

Use it, Love it, Say goodbye to blow off mess, waste and beer loss.

really....use a blow off tube


Pez.

Can't. Can't stay away from my bubbling airlock right at eye level. The suspense in the very beggining and the crazy activity just pull me in. Also why I went with glass carboys. Guess I'm a glutton for punishment. I think I have 7 airlocks and I just brewed my first beer

(I do keep my carboy on a nice super fluffly/absorbent towel just in case)

I have glass carboys too. End of the blow off tube goes into a jar/bucket of water. I use a one gallon pickel jar. Bigger bubbles.......more fun. Pez.

Trokair- you have a dubbel in the FV right now and havent had a blow out? impressive.

Edit: and that nice fluffy towel will only soak up what comes out nicely down the side, not what blasts to the ceiling.

Pezman1 said:

I have glass carboys too. End of the blow off tube goes into a jar/bucket of water. I use a one gallon pickel jar. Bigger bubbles.......more fun. Pez.

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exactly what i was thinking. use a gallon jug and you get a nice sounding bubble too!! really tho, Pez, good post. there's been a lot of 'krausen in the airlock HELP' type threads lately.

Trokair said:

Can't. Can't stay away from my bubbling airlock right at eye level. The suspense in the very beggining and the crazy activity just pull me in. Also why I went with glass carboys. Guess I'm a glutton for punishment. I think I have 7 airlocks and I just brewed my first beer

(I do keep my carboy on a nice super fluffly/absorbent towel just in case)

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You will change your mind when you're cleaning yeast off the ceiling.

discnjh said:

You will change your mind when you're cleaning yeast off the ceiling.

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Thats what tge chest freezer is for. I have had only one blow off and it was more of a spill over. I have so much **** in there I don't have room for an extra jug. I know theres the risk but I need to ferment all the things. Worst case scenerio I just clean the freezer.

Listening to blow off tube bubble farts is a lot more fun than watching an airlock

I use a 3 gallon bucket as my blow off solution with a little bleach to keep bugs out and it sounds like someone is on the can in my basement sometimes.

Fermcap-S. Use it. Love it. Have even less mess at the end of the day.

SwampassJ said:

Thats what tge chest freezer is for. I have had only one blow off and it was more of a spill over. I have so much **** in there I don't have room for an extra jug. I know theres the risk but I need to ferment all the things. Worst case scenerio I just clean the freezer.

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Well sure... if you have a chest freezer. Some of us do not.

So glad I didn't have to learn that the hard way.

I always start with a blow off tube....

There is no way to predict which brew will bloww off. I havw had high gravity brews just chug along and a relatively low gravity brew blow off like crazy.... Go figure.

discnjh said:

Well sure... if you have a chest freezer. Some of us do not.

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You need one when room temp in the winter is still mid 70s.

Pezman1 said:

The prescription is not more cowbell, but a blow off tube.

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Now that's funny!

I find keeping mine on the cold side it stays pretty tame, i rarely use one and of the few times i did use one to begin with i still had a puddle with a fast and furious ferment- lost a good beers worth-it was Coopers on a ryepa i made high sixties temps used it at that temp because i read it tolerated higher temps better-didnt care for that yeast too much really. I guess i could think differently with fermenting it cooler.
Its a good idea,but im finding 9/10 times i dont need one, i also always check its progress during fermentation.

I almost learned this the hard way myself. After all the reading, video watching and thinking I was ready to attempt my first batch of home brew... I went with the air lock. Nice and mellow the first day, even part of the next- looked fine - a few hours later walked in to see an air lock full of foam and a bulging-wort covered bucket lid ready to launch at any moment. I bled the pressure and set up a blow off tube. Did the same for my second batch as well and I'm sure I will from now on. Beginners luck I guess...

I came close to a blowoff on my first brew! I already went out and put together a blowoff tube for my next.

See the yeast in the airlock?

Ok. I had my first explosion this past weekend and I think I woke up early enough to catch the bulk of it. Just a small mess on the ceiling. Still not completely sold on the blow off tube for smaller beers under 1.06.

Here's my question. I have a carboy cap. You know, one of those nifty platic caps with two stems coming off the top and removable caps. Can I put my airlock and a blowoff tube on or does the krausen just come out both holes?

PseudoChef said:

Fermcap-S. Use it. Love it. Have even less mess at the end of the day.

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I use FermCap too: Belgians seem to take no notice of FermCap. I also have an EPA (1.053) at 66 F with Essex yeast going at the moment. The blow-off tube has had foam in it for 3 days now.

I use a blow-off tube every time. Sure saves on clean-up.

Rehlgood said:

Ok. I had my first explosion this past weekend and I think I woke up early enough to catch the bulk of it. Just a small mess on the ceiling. Still not completely sold on the blow off tube for smaller beers under 1.06.

Here's my question. I have a carboy cap. You know, one of those nifty platic caps with two stems coming off the top and removable caps. Can I put my airlock and a blowoff tube on or does the krausen just come out both holes?

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Kraeusen will take the path of least resistance, but once you have some in the blow-off tube, the airlock will probably become the path of least resistance.

I would encourage people to use a tube that is the size of the opening, and not a quarter inch diameter tube. Kraeusen can become very dense, and it there is any hop matter in it, it can plug a small diameter tube.

hmmm i chose to not use the blow off as good yeast can get 'blown off' no? Instead I upgraded from my 5 gallon glass carboy and bought a 6 gallon better bottle used to make 5 gallon batch. It rises...doesnt hit my air lock...and then drops. I use the glass carboys for secondary

the tube fits but the cap is not air tight. At least not on my better bottle. There is positive pressure during fermentation anyway so the small air leak is not a concern of mine. Once the kreusen drops, I switch to a bubbler.

ScoRas said:

I came close to a blowoff on my first brew! I already went out and put together a blowoff tube for my next.

See the yeast in the airlock?

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I would still replace and clean the airlock,because if it dries its a pita to clean- but nothing pbw couldnt take care of i guess if you have that. Taking car of it right away just makes cleaning easier,kinda like rinsing cooking pots/pans after frying and not letting them dry up overnight.

jonmohno said:

I would still replace and clean the airlock,because if it dries its a pita to clean- but nothing pbw couldnt take care of i guess if you have that. Taking car of it right away just makes cleaning easier,kinda like rinsing cooking pots/pans after frying and not letting them dry up overnight.

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That's good advice. It's probably too late now, and I guess I'm going to have to use PBW, a totthbrush, and plenty of elbow grease. Krausen has fallen and I'm moving that to secondary for dry-hopping on Saturday.

Calder said:

I use FermCap too: Belgians seem to take no notice of FermCap. I also have an EPA (1.053) at 66 F with Essex yeast going at the moment. The blow-off tube has had foam in it for 3 days now.

I use a blow-off tube every time. Sure saves on clean-up.

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This is definitely true - my Belgians seems restrained, but I've heard horror stories of 3787 even with Fermcap. I did have 1728 go a little haywire a weekend or two ago. I don't use airlocks though, and I think new brewers look too much into them. I just put some foil on the top of my carboys and call it good to go - never had an explosion or had to mop my ceiling this way, the krausen just kind of seeps out and over the sides, and into the tubs I have them in. Still think that's easier to clean than a blow-off hose

SauceBoss said:

hmmm i chose to not use the blow off as good yeast can get 'blown off' no? Instead I upgraded from my 5 gallon glass carboy and bought a 6 gallon better bottle used to make 5 gallon batch. It rises...doesnt hit my air lock...and then drops. I use the glass carboys for secondary

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Yeah. I thought that was a good idea too. I bought a 6.5 gallon carboy for 5 gallon batches. The first two went well. Even with a Scotch Ale with a 1.075 OG. Then I did a RIS with an OG of 1.10 and it hit the roof (literally)!

although now when i think back on it... my one blowout was with a blowoff tube! So the other advice, if you're gonna use a blowoff tube rigged to the main piece of a three piece airlock... cut the little cross out of the bottom of the airlock (the part that you stick in the stopper).

I have only brewed 1 batch so far but used a blowoff tube into my bottling bucket that has a 2 gallon starsan mixture in it. Loved the sound of it "Burping" into the bucket and put my airlock on a week in after taking my gravity reading. Figured better safe than sorry.

Rehlgood said:

Ok. I had my first explosion this past weekend and I think I woke up early enough to catch the bulk of it. Just a small mess on the ceiling. Still not completely sold on the blow off tube for smaller beers under 1.06.

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My first beer was a 1.036 or so OG and I was very glad to have a blow-off. It wound up putting off about a quarter gallon of junk into the output jar.

SauceBoss said:

hmmm i chose to not use the blow off as good yeast can get 'blown off' no?

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Probably, but I'd rather it get blown off out the tube than blown off all over the ceiling.

car421 said:

I have only brewed 1 batch so far but used a blowoff tube into my bottling bucket that has a 2 gallon starsan mixture in it. Loved the sound of it "Burping" into the bucket and put my airlock on a week in after taking my gravity reading. Figured better safe than sorry.

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woah, 2 gallons? that's a lot of star san to gunk up if you do have yeast carrying over. get a mason jar, put an inch of starsan in it and put the tube in that. at least that's what I do.

zeg said:

My first beer was a 1.036 or so OG and I was very glad to have a blow-off. It wound up putting off about a quarter gallon of junk into the output jar.

Probably, but I'd rather it get blown off out the tube than blown off all over the ceiling.

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What size was your fermenter? My 6.5 gal carboy worked great until this weekend.

SauceBoss said:

hmmm i chose to not use the blow off as good yeast can get 'blown off' no? Instead I upgraded from my 5 gallon glass carboy and bought a 6 gallon better bottle used to make 5 gallon batch. It rises...doesnt hit my air lock...and then drops. I use the glass carboys for secondary

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I think you'll find at some point that your 6-gallon better bottle was about two gallons too small to contain the mess you just cleaned off the ceiling. I had my 6.5 blow for days recently on an Oatmeal Stout that was already short 1/2 gallon from the start.

Jayhem said:

Listening to blow off tube bubble farts is a lot more fun than watching an airlock

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my favorite HBT quote of all time.

It is indeed the little things that make the home brewing experience most extraordinary.

I used this method just the other day, and even with a smaller diameter blowoff hose it didn't blow off the other cap.

[QUOTE="Here's my question. I have a carboy cap. You know, one of those nifty platic caps with two stems coming off the top and removable caps. Can I put my airlock and a blowoff tube on or does the krausen just come out both holes?[/QUOTE]

Rehlgood said:

What size was your fermenter? My 6.5 gal carboy worked great until this weekend.

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This was in a 5 gal Better Bottle with something like 4.75 gallons in it to start, so it's true that there wasn't much room for expansion. Still, it blew pretty hard for a couple days.

I am fermenting 5 gals of 1.058 OG stout in my 6.5 gal bottling bucket right now. This one put just a touch of gunk into the blowoff, so it probably would have been ok with an airlock.

But really, I don't see much reason to take a chance. The slight inconvenience of the blow-off tube seems like pretty cheap insurance against a pretty horrid mess in the event that your fermentation goes crazy.

spazjdm said:

Trokair- you have a dubbel in the FV right now and havent had a blow out? impressive.

Edit: and that nice fluffy towel will only soak up what comes out nicely down the side, not what blasts to the ceiling.

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Yeah, I think it may be a stuck fermentation though. I got about 2 inches of krausen then it all dropped back in around day 5. Been quiet ever since. I do have it in a 6.5 gallon carboy so there is some room.

I just really like the three piece airlocks for some reason. The hose coming off the top into a bucket/jar of starsan just doesn't look good to me. Not going to matter for much longer anyway. I have a dual zone temperature controller coming in the mail to set up my spare refridgerator in the garage as a fermentation chamber.

My imperial black rye ipa had a 2-3 inch krausen for a few days and then it dropped. It isn't stuck, just fermented out rather quickly

Trokair said:

Yeah, I think it may be a stuck fermentation though. I got about 2 inches of krausen then it all dropped back in around day 5. Been quiet ever since. I do have it in a 6.5 gallon carboy so there is some room.

I just really like the three piece airlocks for some reason. The hose coming off the top into a bucket/jar of starsan just doesn't look good to me. Not going to matter for much longer anyway. I have a dual zone temperature controller coming in the mail to set up my spare refridgerator in the garage as a fermentation chamber.

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Cleaning the fridge would still suck, no?

I'm definitely using tubing for my next brews. After having a hefe absolutely cause a huge mess and a belgian strong ale constantly blow it's top off, I think it's time to try something new to make me not clean as much.

Since Brew #2...back a few years ago...I, too, always, ALWAYS, A-L-W-A-Y-S use a blow-off tube. Mine goes into a 64 ounce V-8 bottle half-filled with water and a tad of bleach. Sure is fun to watch it bubble! I usually switch to a regular airlock after 3-4 days of fermentation.

However, there are always exceptions! I brewed up a Bourbon Barrel Porter last August, and it fermented viciously! When I went to add the bourbon and oak chips, it started fermenting all over again...and I had foam all over the place! So, the blow-off went back on!

Anyway, I'm a firm believer in the blow-off for the first 2-3 days of fermentation.

glenn514

I always use one its just easier then cleaning up a mess