Last night I brewed an imperial red rye IPA, cooled it to pitching temp and pitched the white labs wlp090 San Diego super. I did brew a yeast starter one day prior, used yeast nutrient in both the starter and the full batch and I use O2 for oxygenation. I normally use a blow off tube but for some reason I went with a regular airlock last night. I had an 8gal batch of IIPA still in the fermentation chamber last night, so I just left the new batch sitting on a bench in the basement. The basement sits around 63-65* unless it's really super hot outside.
Went downstairs this morning, the krausen was really getting high (used a better bottle for this batch, the temp strip on the side read 70*). I transferred it into the fermentation chamber, and set the Johnson control at 67*. Just went down to see how it's doing, and I believe I caught it just as the krausen was really getting into the airlock. Three minutes later I had my blowoff tube installed and it was blowing co2 bubbles in my bucket of star-San, sounding like a motor boat. Whew, that was close! Another hour and I'd be mopping up the bottom of my converted chest freezer.
So I'm wondering, does anyone not use a blow off tube during primary? I suppose if you have a couple gals of headroom in your fermentation bucket then you could conceivably get away without one, but it just seems to me to be an unnecessary risk.
Went downstairs this morning, the krausen was really getting high (used a better bottle for this batch, the temp strip on the side read 70*). I transferred it into the fermentation chamber, and set the Johnson control at 67*. Just went down to see how it's doing, and I believe I caught it just as the krausen was really getting into the airlock. Three minutes later I had my blowoff tube installed and it was blowing co2 bubbles in my bucket of star-San, sounding like a motor boat. Whew, that was close! Another hour and I'd be mopping up the bottom of my converted chest freezer.
So I'm wondering, does anyone not use a blow off tube during primary? I suppose if you have a couple gals of headroom in your fermentation bucket then you could conceivably get away without one, but it just seems to me to be an unnecessary risk.