Blow off bucket

I've been reading through some of the forums and I'm Farley new to brewing. Is it ok if there is no water or sanitizer in my blow off bucket or will this cause air to get into my carboy and contaminate my mix?

It allows a means for air to get in and contaminate but it doesn't *cause* the contamination. Your tube is completely open to the air now and is no longer sanitized. It's a risk. You don't need much sanitizer. I don't use a blow off bucket; I just stick the (sanitized) blow off tube into a cup containing sanitizer.

A small jug will do fine. I use a plastic half gallon vodka jug 1/3 full of water with a splash of Starsan.

Thanks for the advice. Just realized I didn't do it when I checked it this morning.

cphit said:

Thanks for the advice. Just realized I didn't do it when I checked it this morning.

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You'll be fine. This is one of those "you should have done it but since you didn't you you might as well not worry about it" things.

woozy said:

You'll be fine. This is one of those "you should have done it but since you didn't you you might as well not worry about it" things.

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Ok. I'm just going to make a new batch and see what the difference is in taste.

I understand taking precautions and being safe with sanitation, but just to play devil's advocate, I will share my experiences. I have never used StarSan in any of my blowoff water and I normally do not pour the krausen diluted water out for several days until fermentation is complete. Sanitation is important, but anything can be overdone IMO. I have never had an infection in my 25 or so batches and I use blowoff for all my beers. You could ferment without a lid or airlock and still likely be fine. I understand mitigating risk, but do not assume the worse simply because there is a small chance.

BlindFaith said:

I understand taking precautions and being safe with sanitation, but just to play devil's advocate, I will share my experiences. I have never used StarSan in any of my blowoff water and I normally do not pour the krausen diluted water out for several days until fermentation is complete. Sanitation is important, but anything can be overdone IMO. I have never had an infection in my 25 or so batches and I use blowoff for all my beers. You could ferment without a lid or airlock and still likely be fine. I understand mitigating risk, but do not assume the worse simply because there is a small chance.

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there is a term called "best practices". you can do what you say, and get by with it for weeks, month, years. someday your blowoff water WILL get contaminated if it's just water, and get sucked back in, and could have been handled with a few cents worth of starsan. best to get used to doing it right from the start, and avoiding that 1 time 3 years down the road when the lack of doing it bites you in the ass

lumpher said:

there is a term called "best practices". you can do what you say, and get by with it for weeks, month, years. someday your blowoff water WILL get contaminated if it's just water, and get sucked back in, and could have been handled with a few cents worth of starsan. best to get used to doing it right from the start, and avoiding that 1 time 3 years down the road when the lack of doing it bites you in the ass

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I completely understand your point, I was just pointing out that there is no need to panic if there is a seemingly disastrous contamination incident. Consistent sanitation practices are essential, but the chances of infection are so low that there is no need to stress over the healthiness of your beer as long as you weren't completely careless and/or irresponsible. I agree it is always nice to cover one's a$$.

BlindFaith said:

I completely understand your point, I was just pointing out that there is no need to panic if there is a seemingly disastrous contamination incident. Consistent sanitation practices are essential, but the chances of infection are so low that there is no need to stress over the healthiness of your beer as long as you weren't completely careless and/or irresponsible. I agree it is always nice to cover one's a$$.

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i hear you , my friend. "rdwhahb, don't panic, just don't do it again" type thing is what you're saying.

Honestly there isn't much chance anything can get into your blow off tube during active fermentation because there is so much coming out the tube. Before fermentation begins and after it ends you are at risk, but it's still pretty small. Things tend to fall down, not up. The spore would have to travel up into your tube and then back down into your beer, it's just not likely. Still best to use some water/starsan to be on the safe side.

That's what I was thinking. For sure here on out I will remember the sanitation in the blow off. I'm going to make the same batch and taste the two an see If there is a difference.

Hmmm. I'm glad I read this thread. It's been my understanding that sanitation is absolutely necessary n that without it my beer would become contaminated. Then again I am extremely new to home brewing. I love HBT!!

I use water in my blow off jug with a splash of Starsan. No infections yet.

Gary22 said:

It's been my understanding that sanitation is absolutely necessary n that without it my beer would become contaminated.

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It's a matter of linguistics. Take the following sentence:

"Wearing a bike helmet is absolutely necessary and if you don't wear one you will get a head injury"

What does it mean and is it true?

A question on Blow off bucket/bottles:

Should the carboy and BOB be on the same level (i.e., both sitting on the floor?) or should they be at different levels (one elevated on, say, an overturned milk crate or plastic bucket?)

Gracias.

I have the blow off jug sitting right next to the fermenter. But it's smaller/shorter than the fermenter,& it's water level is lower than the level of the beer in the fermenter.

If you get a chance, google Pasteur flask. That is essentially what you re making with a blowoff tube. Going in the air is ok, under water is better. With the right size tube it's no big deal either way. I have hundreds of gallons under my belt and so it's just MHO. Some sanitizer is prob. better, but one time without is fine.

A while back I brewed a porter in a bucket. My bucket is 7 gallons, but I didn't get the boil off I was hoping. So I put 6 gallons of liquid goodness in he bucket, pitched and sealed, and woke up to a bulging bucket. The CO2 could not leave the bucket quick enough. I tried a blowoff tube but my bucket system has a small airlock. So, I took off h lid and did "open bucket fermentation" for a day or so. Long enough to allow the pressure to subside but short enough so that there was still positive pressure when I put the lid back on.

It was a great brew. And I think it had nothing to do with that method

Good luck