blow off

I'm thinking of using a blow off tube for my next beer, a porter, and it will also be my first time using the glass carboy (I can't wait to watch my beer ferment ). How likely is it that the tube will clog and blow my beer to kingdom come, and is there anything else I need to think about that will be different from the bucket and airlock?

I just tried a blow off tube for the first time as well. I purchased a 6 gallon carboy & 4 ft. of tubing. this was after some frustration with my plastic fermenting buckets not sealing properly- so I thought I'd try a blow-off tube. I really enjoy watching my stout ferment. It was recomended that I put the end of the tube in a chlorox solution to prevent any nasties getting into the carboy. So far, nothing close to a clog, and it is burping like crazy!

A couple things I did notice/had trouble with:

-It is hard to aerate- make sure you have something sanitized that is long and skinny
-You might want to purchase a funnel if you don't have one to get all your liquids safely inside
-I forgot to put a temperature sticker on it- so I didn't know the actual temp when I pitched the yeast

So far, I think I do prefer the glass carboy and blowoff to the plastic bucket. We'll see how it goes! Let me know what you think

rewster451 said:

I'm thinking of using a blow off tube for my next beer, a porter, and it will also be my first time using the glass carboy (I can't wait to watch my beer ferment ). How likely is it that the tube will clog and blow my beer to kingdom come, and is there anything else I need to think about that will be different from the bucket and airlock?

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Clogging would only be a problem if you use a small tube. So far my 1" tubing hasn't clogged even once I just ram one end into the top of the carboy and run the other end into the bucket of star san solution I had used on that brew day.

I guess I should admit that I only want to use the blow off so that I can say I know how to do it. Why do people do it though, and are certain beers more appropriate for the blow off? Like the Porter, is that a beer that should be blown off?

rewster451 said:

I guess I should admit that I only want to use the blow off so that I can say I know how to do it. Why do people do it though, and are certain beers more appropriate for the blow off? Like the Porter, is that a beer that should be blown off?

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You said it yourself, so you don't blow up your brew - or more specifically, your airlock. If the krausen makes it to an airlock and clogs it, "bad things" may (and probably will) happen.

edit: de-typoed

So it has no effect on the taste?

I've had several brews blow off the bubbler, and so has my home brew store guy. Never had it affect the taste. The big Kruesen at the time tends to protect the beer from infection. What a mess though! So I got a blowoff tube myself. I use a 6.5 gal carboy for 5 gallon batches. I never know when that stuff will foam over so I'm starting to put it on there for a just in case - at least for a couple of days until the it all calms down.