Blow off tube?

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mot

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I am brewing my first time ever next weekend with my new kit. I have a 6 gallon primary and a 5 gallon secondary both are better bottles. My noob question is should I just put the airlock on the primary is there enough room for feremntation or should I get a hose and use a blow off?

If I do use a blow off, how long do I keep it on for before I put the airlock back on? Just by sight of how the fermenting is going?
For the blow off I just run it into another bottle with some water correct?

Thanks in advance
 
I would definitely recommend a blow-off; even 6.5 gallon fermenters have blow-outs.

Once the activity starts to diminish you can switch to an airlock, typically after the krausen has fallen (as that's what is blowing off in many cases).

Make sure your blow-off tube is sanitized before jamming it in the fermenter and I usually put the other end in a bucket of water with some sanitizer in it just to be sure.

Welcome to the obsession.
 
personal opinion....you dont need a blow off tube on a 6.5 gal fermenter. The 1-1.5 gals of air space is adequate. Ive never used one on my 6.5 gal fermenter, even when pitching on a yeast cake (but i was decently nervous about that)
 
Yeast Infection said:
personal opinion....you dont need a blow off tube on a 6.5 gal fermenter. The 1-1.5 gals of air space is adequate. Ive never used one on my 6.5 gal fermenter, even when pitching on a yeast cake (but i was decently nervous about that)

My latest oatmeal cream stout that I pitched on a big yeastcake would tell you something different!!!!

I was REALLY glad I used my 1" blowoff tube.
 
thanks for the tips guys, I will have to make a trip to the brew store again and get a few more things before I start.

Do I have to worry about getting the airlock on in time after fermenting starts to slow down? Like if it looks fine with the blow tube on and then thenext day or so it looks pretty much done do I have to worry about anything bad getting back into the beer or will the water that the other end of the blow tube is in take care of not letting any air or any other contanminents getting back in the wort
 
I wouldn't worry about it too much, but I would try to get an airlock on as soon as you can. Once fermentation is starting there should be enough CO2 in top of the fermenter to keep any nasties out but I always like to be anal when it comes to sanitation; no need to risk it.
 
TheJadedDog said:
I wouldn't worry about it too much, but I would try to get an airlock on as soon as you can. Once fermentation is starting there should be enough CO2 in top of the fermenter to keep any nasties out but I always like to be anal when it comes to sanitation; no need to risk it.

sounds good thanks man!
 
Two days ago I blew off my blow-off tube (literally, it shot across the room) on a 6.5 gal bucket, with a washed yeast cake that I had thrown into a starter for about 18 hours. Granted, that's a lot of yeast, but still, no harm in using a blow-off tube with less yeast.
 
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