Blow-off tube frustration!

As I was sitting freaking out about how to keep my blow-off tube from popping out of the star-san solution over and over I noticed the solution was directly in front of me!

Does anyone else use a second rubber stopper on the end of there blow-off tube to weight the end of the tube in your blow-off bucket?

What other solutions would you recommend?

Thanks

A long enough blow off tube....

Never had a problem.

here. DO NOT tell my wife I posted a messy room picture.

By the way that is just plain water...with a Star San sanitized tube.

I remove the tubes after 2 days (or when the massive krausen settles) sanitize the bung again and a new airlock.

3PegBrew said:

here. DO NOT tell my wife I posted a messy room picture.

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Looks like my house.

I have heard a lot of stories of suck back so I always keep my catch vessel as low as possible. That way it should be harder to create a siphon back into the fermenter.

I have tied the hose to a hook on the wall so that the run to the catch vessel was smooth (no kinks) and positioned it so the end does not want to move. It has worked well so far. KNOCK ON WOOD!

3PegBrew said:

By the way that is just plain water...with a Star San sanitized tube.

I remove the tubes after 2 days (or when the massive krausen settles) sanitize the bung again and a new airlock.

Click to expand...

Could you zoom in on the carboy end? or is the tube just going straight into the bung?

The hose is pushed into an airlock. I removed the cap and the plastic cover piece that goes "Blip blip blip" during degassing of CO2.

I made a special trip into my fermentation room just for you

3PegBrew said:

here. DO NOT tell my wife I posted a messy room picture.

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tell her that i will help you out and take that 10g SS pot off your hands?!? LOL

Gear101 said:

tell her that i will help you out and take that 10g SS pot off your hands?!? LOL

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Haha Well I'm not using it...but I might....not sure. It's got a hole drilled in it for a ball valve before I converted to Keggles.

I might sell it....maybe.

3PegBrew said:

I made a special trip into my fermentation room just for you

Click to expand...

Awesome, much appreciated. Totally clicks now. Do you just re-sanitize that airlock if you are going to switch over to using no blow-off tube, or are you good to just add your sanitizer/vodka and put back together?

You can do 1 of 2 things:

1) Remove the tube and airlock+bung. Clean out airlock and bung, sanitize both, fill up and put it back on the fermenter. If you do that, I strongly urge you have everything on standby next to your fermenter.

2) Have another airlock and bung sanitized and ready to go for the switch out.

There's nothing wrong with option 1. Just make sure nothing falls into the fermenter while it is left open. If it's a plastic bucket you probably don't have to worry about that since it is a small hole. A carboy on the other hand....that's a bigger hole.

3PegBrew said:

Haha Well I'm not using it...but I might....not sure. It's got a hole drilled in it for a ball valve before I converted to Keggles.

I might sell it....maybe.

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what kind of number are you thinking about putting on that? how many holes and what size.. des moines iowa for shipping 50322.. but I will be at 3f tap room next week Saturday.. LOL

7/8 hole saw made hole. I'm leaning towards 100, but I'll pick up the shipping charge.

Now THAT is a blowoff tube! Nice!

Gary

For a glass carboy, if you get the right size tubing you can just push it into the neck. That gives a lot bigger passage for the blow off and less likely to clog up.

I might have to try this for my Better Bottles and bucket.

Airlocks are inexpensive. I have plenty of them so if I switch one out there is one always clean. A little Starsan and good to go.

+1 for Two Brothers Bitter End box. Good beer. I use a bunch of their boxes for bottle storage.
-1 for what looks like a Leinie summer shandy box? I just can't bring myself to drink that stuff.
EDIT: +1 for buying what SWMBO likes
+1 for helpful pictures, and good idea of blowoff tube into the airlock!

Overall +3 to you.

I just use a small bar clamp to hold the tube in the blowoff bucket (I use a small square tupperware about quart sized filled 1/3 of the way up with starsan solution).

Some tubing is very stiff too, so length is not the issue. I've used short tubes and long tubes that both want to curl up out of the blowoff bucket. I frequently soak the tube in hot water first to try and straighten it out.

I love that blowoff tube over the 3 piece airlock idea though. Might have to try that one out.

TyTanium said:

+1 for Two Brothers Bitter End box. Good beer. I use a bunch of their boxes for bottle storage.
-1 for what looks like a Leinie summer shandy box? I just can't bring myself to drink that stuff.
+1 for helpful pictures, and good idea of blowoff tube into the airlock!

Overall +1 to you.

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The wife drinks Leinies...not this guy. Can we make it a +0?

besides the boxes are excellent for aging bottles

3PegBrew said:

The wife drinks Leinies...not this guy. Can we make it a +0?

besides the boxes are excellent for aging bottles

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Haha... shoulda figured as much. Edited. Definitely agree on nice, sturdy aging boxes.

I put the business end of my blowoff tube in a half gallon growler and then use a strip of masking tape around the mouth to keep it from working its way out.

You guys and your riggings make my mind go

I must have the worlds perfect tube....I swear on the lives of my future children, who will one day drink beer and make beer, that the tube stays in place without me having to tape it or tie it up

and I got it at Lowes or Home Depot....god knows where because that was Summer of 2010.

Is there any particular type of tubing that should be purchased? In terms of the material that said tubing is made of.

Here is what you should do. Grab your airlock, get in the car, goto the hardware store. Goto the plumbing department and find their vinyl tubing. Find one that fits inside the airlock nice and tight like. Mine slides in and stays put.

Well I was figuring I should bring the airlock to get the proper size. Just wasn't sure if there were was a particular type of tubing that should be sought out over others. Like are there multiple types of vinyl tubing or does it not matter which type of vinyl tubing it is?

Back to the OP, I put a drilled stopper on the end o the low off tube. Works like a champ.

3PegBrew said:

I made a special trip into my fermentation room just for you

Click to expand...

I do something similar, but attach a smaller diameter tube to the middle stem of the airlock instead. When I'm ready to transfer over to an airlock, I just pour a little vodka into the reservoir before removing the tube, then remove the tube and quickly pop on the other sanitized pieces. A quick, simple transition.

The "exit" end of my blowoff tube goes into a 2000ml erlenmeyer flask with a little sanitizer in the bottom to prevent splatter during massive blowoffs.

jbaysurfer said:

I just use a small bar clamp to hold the tube in the blowoff bucket (I use a small square tupperware about quart sized filled 1/3 of the way up with starsan solution).

Some tubing is very stiff too, so length is not the issue. I've used short tubes and long tubes that both want to curl up out of the blowoff bucket. I frequently soak the tube in hot water first to try and straighten it out.

I love that blowoff tube over the 3 piece airlock idea though. Might have to try that one out.

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Thank you for being the only one to answer what I actually wanted to hear

JonM said:

Back to the OP, I put a drilled stopper on the end o the low off tube. Works like a champ.

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Thats what I have riggedu p right now,

Thanks