Blow Off or Let Blow Over?

First time posting, mainly because I'm facing my first blow over. I brewed a dunkel yesterday and pitched Wyeast 3068. Fermentation took off within 8 hours. 24 hours later I'm getting yeast coming up through and overflowing the airlock (which is going crazy). Not too bad yet, but I'm not sure what to expect...

I knew I didn't leave enough headspace in my fermenter, so this isn't 100% unexpected, but now I'm faced with a dilemma: should I hook up a blow off tube or just let it overflow the airlock? I have it in a cool brewing bag, so I'm not worried about the mess; I'm mostly worried about blowing the lid.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

I assume you're using a bucket with the terminology you used of lid, I would get a hose.

Yeah, using an ale pail.

Hose one end in the bucket other end in a glass or jar with starsan solution in it.

I just use foil on all my beers thru karausen . With airlocks when plugged create back pressure and yeast switch modes from creating alcohol and co2 to just co2 . Not including possible undesirable esters and the risk of having an airlock hit the ceiling .
Now while using a blowoff tube works . I'm too lazy to clean one .

Petedadink said:

I just use foil on all my beers thru karausen . With airlocks when plugged create back pressure and yeast switch modes from creating alcohol and co2 to just co2 . Not including possible undesirable esters and the risk of having an airlock hit the ceiling .
Now while using a blowoff tube works . I'm too lazy to clean one .

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So on a big beer you'd rather clean the mess of a overflowing bucket rather than a single hose? I use blow off hoses because I'm too lazy to clean up the other mess.. lol

Blow off. Less mess

tone_s said:

Blow off. Less mess

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Same here.

As soon as I see krausen coming through the airlock it's time to switch to a blowoff hose, to prevent an explosion. Spray all around the lid grommet with pre mixed star San. Sanitize (inside and out) a length of regular racking hose. Remove the airlock and spray the lid grommet again. The 5/16x7/16 racking hose will fit perfectly in a standard lid grommet. Only put it in a half inch (remember that headspace is full of krausen that will eventually settle back into your beer.). The other end goes into a reservoir with sanitizer in it (doesn't need to be full). Problem solved.

eyedoctodd said:

As soon as I see krausen coming through the airlock it's time to switch to a blowoff hose, to prevent an explosion. Spray all around the lid grommet with pre mixed star San. Sanitize (inside and out) a length of regular racking hose. Remove the airlock and spray the lid grommet again. The 5/16x7/16 racking hose will fit perfectly in a standard lid grommet. Only put it in a half inch (remember that headspace is full of krausen that will eventually settle back into your beer.). The other end goes into a reservoir with sanitizer in it (doesn't need to be full). Problem solved.

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Cliff notes: Sanitize, stick tube in hole, stick other end in sanitizer.


Work done. Be lazy.

Never been accused of being not wordy enough.

Translation: what he said.

^ LOL me neither actually. It was ironic I could even think of a cliff notes version. I do think your answer was far more informative and technically superior. But OP DID say he was lazy!

I just start with blow off tube...no worries.

For Eyedoc:

LOL..I just had a thought. Our posts are kinda like Palmer's book. One part basic steps, other part technical goldmine.

Yeah, I've been drinking my 9.5% DIPA tonight too.

NivekD said:

I just start with blow off tube...no worries.

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This
Hook up the blow off from the start=no worries throughout fermentation!

Ha, I like how my question implies that I'm lazy! It's more of an issue of space (brewing in a cool brewing bag in a tiny closet in a tiny apartment) than of time/effort. I just let it blow out the air lock and it stopped after 24 hours. Crisis averted, all good now.

Is there truth to the quote that increased pressure promotes C02 development over alcohol development? I'd never heard that before, but I learn new things every time I brew.

You are simultaneously producing CO2 and C2H5OH (ethanol). Those are the products of alcoholic fermentation. You cannot do one without the other or change the ratio. If you're talking about fusel alcohols, that's a different question.

Can a blow off tube for a carboy fit in a one piece air lock? I don't have one to check it out. I've seen pictures of plastic fermentors with a 1" ID hose but wasn't sure how they were connected. I used 3/8" hose last time on a big beer and was worried it was going to stop up.

Gaswaf said:

Can a blow off tube for a carboy fit in a one piece air lock?

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I just had to do this for the first time.

I went to the LHBS and told them I needed a blowoff tube for my carboy and they sold me a three piece airlock and (I think) 7/16" ID tubing. I heated up the tubing end and slipped it over the interior post of the airlock. The other two pieces are not used. Tubing is relatively stiff and doesn't kink at the bend. It's bubbling away right now.

A bigger ID tubing would probably work for the one piece airlock.

Petedadink said:

I just use foil on all my beers thru karausen . With airlocks when plugged create back pressure and yeast switch modes from creating alcohol and co2 to just co2 . Not including possible undesirable esters and the risk of having an airlock hit the ceiling .
Now while using a blowoff tube works . I'm too lazy to clean one .

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I'm guessing wortmonger would beg to differ with you. Have you read his thread on "Pressurized Fermentation?" Lots of people do it.

I've done some searching and can't seem to find an answer to this. I've seen many pictures of people's blow off setups and some have the container with the sanitizer solution above the fermentation bucket and some have it the other way around. Which is the correct way to have this set up?

DC_Steve said:

I've done some searching and can't seem to find an answer to this. I've seen many pictures of people's blow off setups and some have the container with the sanitizer solution above the fermentation bucket and some have it the other way around. Which is the correct way to have this set up?

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You should not have it above. If it sucks back (change in temps or pressure) you could siphon blowoff junk back into the fermenter.

pabloj13 said:

You should not have it above. If it sucks back (change in temps or pressure) you could siphon blowoff junk back into the fermenter.

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Great. Thanks! That's what I thought made sense, but I've seen some pictures posted by some reputable people on here that have the sanitizer solution sitting on top of the buckets lid.