Blow out tube. Am i doing this correctly?

[Chris_The_Rogue]

Started my second ever batch of cider this afternoon. I went out to check on it an hour ago and found the foam had blown up threw the airlock. So I cleaned up the mess and attempted to make a blow out tube. I have not however, actually seen one set up before.

In case the photo doesnt load properly:
I removed the bubbler from the bung and inserted the tubing from my auto-siphon in its place. The other end of the tube is in a one gallon growler filed with star-san in the sink.

 

[MarkKF]

Looks good. Shorter tubing might be better. What yeast did you use?

And what's the red stuff in the mason jar with an airlock? Curious I am.

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

The yeast was Nottingham.

The Mason Jar is Pepper Mash for hot sauce. Lactic acid fermentation. Didn't even realize it was in frame.

 

[AidanSavage]

What size fermentor are you using? From the looks of it, and from my own experience with nottingham, you may have gotten about the max the yeast will "vomit" in the early fermentation. It'll just leave some crud on the sides/neck and settle down.

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

3 gallon carboy. Yeah the foaming seemed to have droped off significantly when I got up this morning. But man did it make a mess last night.
When I put the bubbler back on will I need to clean the crud out of the neck? Or is it one of those "cleaning it is more of an infection risk than leaving it" situations?

 

[AidanSavage]

I've had no issues with leaving the crud on the neck. You could also swirl the carboy just enough to knock it down and the stuff will settle into the lees.

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

Thanks for the info all. Got home today and the foaming ( I really don't wanna call it "yeast vomit" ) Had died down to a half inch around the edges. Bubbler is back in place and its fermenting away nicely.

 

[D-west]

My experience with notty is that happens once and its done. Next batch, I suggest getting a shorter length of tube and just stick it in a quart mason jar half full of starsan solution to start off.

This overflow is really common, I have been tempted to start a batch in my garage that is about 50deg F and see if the temp makes a difference with the Krausen.

 

[AidanSavage]

My experience with notty is that happens once and its done. Next batch, I suggest getting a shorter length of tube and just stick it in a quart mason jar half full of starsan solution to start off.

This overflow is really common, I have been tempted to start a batch in my garage that is about 50deg F and see if the temp makes a difference with the Krausen.

Too cold I think. Nottingham will either not ferment at all or be so slow it'd take months to ferment. If you want to see if temp has any effect, then use the bottom end of the yeast's tolerance, which is about 59 *F for nottingham.

 

[wtaylor3]

My first experience with notty is fermenting now and I lost at least a half gallon of beer through the blowoff tube, im not very happy about that

 

[D-west]

Too cold I think. Nottingham will either not ferment at all or be so slow it'd take months to ferment. If you want to see if temp has any effect, then use the bottom end of the yeast's tolerance, which is about 59 *F for nottingham.

That was my plan, I have a heating pad and a cold garage, should work out great

 

[D-west]

My first experience with notty is fermenting now and I lost at least a half gallon of beer through the blowoff tube, im not very happy about that

What quantity of wort are you using in what size fermenter?

 

[wtaylor3]

Roughly 5.5 gallons in a 6 gallon fermenter...the one on the right is it before the loss occurred

Maybe I shouldn't have stuck the blowoff tube halfway down into the wort

View attachment 1419986110864.jpg

 

[kgressler]

I just finished a batch using Notty temps were in the mid to upper 50's sometime hitting 60 and it took 16 days to go from 1.058 till I cold crashed at 1.008. So while it may take longer to ferment you arent looking at months maybe a few extra days.
I've got a second batch going since Xmas eve and it been even colder during fermentation. Took
An extra day to get going but it is cruising right along and I expect it to be in a similar time frame.

 

[phug]

Roughly 5.5 gallons in a 6 gallon fermenter...the one on the right is it before the loss occurred

Maybe I shouldn't have stuck the blowoff tube halfway down into the wort

You, sir, successfully started a syphon by fermentation alone. Always keep the blowoff tube out of the beer.

 

[D-west]

You, sir, successfully started a syphon by fermentation alone. Always keep the blowoff tube out of the beer.

Yeah, the tube should not be in the beer, its just meant to catch the krausen that overflows out of the primary.

I guess you discovered a new way to rack into secondary, just a little too early

 

[wtaylor3]

Well that explains a lot....thanks guys hopefully ill stop losing beer now

 

[Psylocide]

Notty takes off like a rocket it would seem... my initial fermentation kicked off around hour 34 (probably earlier, while I slept), huge off-gassing, blow-off tube full of krausen, and 2 days later the krausen is gone, beer seems to have started clearing.

Crazy.

As for starting a siphon with fermentation... I'll not be trying that.

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

Yeah Notti takes off fast. My cider was bubbling away like crazy in less than 5 hours after pitching. The foam over happened around hour 8.

 

[D-west]

I always put my primary in a a Rubbermaid storage tote just in case it decides to get crazy.

 

[Mirilis]

you can get some PVC tube.. i think its 1.25 inch OD, and a few feet long (3-5) and if it happens again in the future just pull out the bung and stuff the hose in there. I keep a tube like that on hand for very vigorous ferments.