Don't remove your blowoff tube based on bubbles

On Saturday I made a Belgian Tripel. It's fermenting with WY3787. I had a blowoff tube attached right after pitching. But once it stopped bubbling furiously (after 2 days) I assumed (wrongly) that the krausen had fallen. At that point none at all had come through the blowoff tube into the bucket. So I replaced the blowoff tube with an airlock. Bad move.

The krausen had actually risen. But I didn't check under the lid when I replaced the lock so I didn't realize it.

When I was at work today a bunch of foam erupted from my airlock. Luckily it did not clog and explode, but rather it got all over the top of the lid to my bucket, and some on the floor.

Anyway, what I learned here is NEVER replace your blowoff tube prematurely (heh that sounds funny). But seriously, leave it on until you are absolutely sure the high krausen is over.

That's one reason I like my better bottles so much. I can actually watch the krausen fall. Then I know its safe for the airlock. That, and watch the yeast zip around in clumps like they are having a party!

3787 is crazy yeast. I did a Belgian with that yeast and it blew off 3 times and bubbled away for 20 days before slowing down. It has been in the fermenter for almost 5 weeks now and looks great.

Yeah...I don't even use airlocks any more, unless I'm moving carboys around a whole lot. A blow off tube is a great airlock...I leave them on for 4+ weeks.

I've got a tripel with 3787, and it is raging away on day 3 in my 65 degree basement (the wort is at least 68). I used the blowoff tube with an airlock body method, and it clogged it up, the foam is so thick. I had to modify a blowoff tube to go directly into the lid of my 7.9 gallon fermenter and am crossing my fingers.

I've never experienced a fermentation this active. I hope all the foam blowoff while I've figured this out doesn't contaminate the batch.