Blow off tube lesson

[Sparger]

Pitched 2 packs of Saf 05 into a 6.5 gallon carboy, at 63 degrees for a Double IPA, OG ~1.72 (5.7 gallons of wort). Used a two-hole orange carboy cap with a temp probe and a mere fermentation airlock. Kreusen slowly rose to the neck, but I thought I was ok, especially at the low temp end for this yeast. By day 4, I came home to see the orange carboy cap blown off. Thankfully, I didn't lose much, as once the carboy could breathe, it didn't overflow.
I've never had this happen with average gravity beers <1.05 OG. I think I'll use a blow off tube for beers over 1.05 OG, even at low temps, for now on. Better safe than sorry. I'm sure glad this happened now, as my next brew was to be a Belgian quadruple. I think I'll go with a bucket for that one and a blow off tube. Then transfer to 5-gallon carboy for aging.

 

[jerbrew]

I had that happen to me with a a bung and a 3 piece airlock got stuff all over the ceiling didn't think anything of it really. Next batch, as i'm cooking breakfast, I see the krausen up the neck as you described. I thought "I should pull the bung off and relieve pressure. Naw, after breakfast." 30 seconds later my glass carboy became a grenade and 5 gallons of beer was everywhere. Green carpets, a beer smelling house, and danger glass everywhere taught me a lesson i'll never forget. ALWAYS use a blow off tube with anything that produces a high karausen. WLP090 was the culprit for me but i"ve been really glad I use on many more times. Any chico strain, hef strains, and saison yeast have all filled my blow off bucket with yeast and trub. Count yourself lucky it was just a little mess.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I guess I just don't see any reason NOT to use a blow-off tube for the first 3-ish days of fermentation with any beer?

 

[ncbrewer]

My excuses for not using a blow-off tube:
- In the past, I've had two blow-off's when using a blow-off tube due to clogging - once using 3/8" tube and once with 1" tube. Admittedly, I had too little headspace, and transferred wort with hops into the fermenter.
- I ferment in a bucket for safety reasons - not negotiable. I don't see an acceptable way (to me) to rig a large diameter tube on a bucket, and a 3/8" ID tube is very susceptible to clogging. Anything involving a tube going into the bucket without a really good seal is a real problem IMO.
- I've used a 7.9 gallon bucket with 5 gallons of wort for the last few years and have never even come close to blow-off. Temps are always controlled.

 

[Sparger]

Started brewing in 1990s for a while. Back then, it was always a bucket then transfer to a carboy. Even if you fermented first in a carboy, you would still transfer to a carboy. Just got back into brewing in the past 6 months and it seems yeast autolysis is not much of a concern.

 

[jerbrew]

I wouldn't say those are so much excuses not to use a blow off tube. Rather, alternate solutions to the same problem. Personally, I don't like buckets. I hate opening the lids (too much of a pain to take a sample and a lot more area to allow things to enter during sampling), it's easier to do a closed transfer form a carboy IMO, and I have had similar clogging issues not being able to use a proper 1" blow off tube. To each his own but I agree with Tasunkawitko, there really isn't a reason to not use one if you're using a carboy.

 

[ncbrewer]

My excuses for not using a blow-off tube:
- In the past, I've had two blow-off's when using a blow-off tube due to clogging - once using 3/8" tube and once with 1" tube. Admittedly, I had too little headspace, and transferred wort with hops into the fermenter.
- I ferment in a bucket for safety reasons - not negotiable. I don't see an acceptable way (to me) to rig a large diameter tube on a bucket, and a 3/8" ID tube is very susceptible to clogging. Anything involving a tube going into the bucket without a really good seal is a real problem IMO.
- I've used a 7.9 gallon bucket with 5 gallons of wort for the last few years and have never even come close to blow-off. Temps are always controlled.

I'll add another: Even with a carboy, the large 1" tube doesn't look like it seals all that well to me. I was getting bubbles coming out when I used that setup, so it sealed. But it just doesn't look good, and it would bother me to do it now. I guess it's just a personal quirk of mine, but I couldn't do it.

 

[kh54s10]

I use 6 gallon Better Bottles so I use a blow off tube every time. I have had all types of beers blow off. I have even had pretty low gravity brews blow off.

I usually don't even change it out to an airlock.

 

[petrolSpice]

I use a 1/2" hose for the blowoff tube which works well with the standard orange carboy caps. I do drill out the side tube on the cap to reduce the chances that it clogs. I've done this a few times and it works well.

I encourage blowoff because I harvest it and collect the yeast that comes out. It's usually very clean. If I trust my sanitation, I just decant the blowoff liquid back into the fermenter.

 

[PhillyBrewDoug]

If you take the cap off of an airlock (assuming it's a three-piece type), a 1 inch tube fits pretty snugly. That way, when you don't need the blowoff tube anymore, you can just pull it out of the airlock, fill it with sanitizer and put the middle piece and cap back on.

 

[jddevinn]

Got a kink in the blow off tube the other week and it came out of the blow off valve

 

[Nico93]

@ncbrewer you can simply apply a bigger tube to your bucket, this is mine