Carboy Question

[mdd71699]

I received a Carboy for Christmas and will be using it for the first time later this week. I've been reading up on them and was curious as to the difference between a blow-off tube and an air-lock or do they serve the same basic purpose? As always......thanks for helping out a newbie!

 

[badbrew]

If you get the three piece airlock, then you may be able to add a transfer hose to it for a temporary blow off. The blow off is a good idea for the first ~4 days while stuff is erupting. They both serve the same purpose though, which is to keep air out.

 

[HerbieHowells]

An airlock is a specially designed two or three piece plastic chamber which you stick into the top of your carboy, to allow carbon dioxide out and to keep air and other nasty things away from your beer.

When you get a particularly active fermentation, beer and hop particles will push into the airlock, sometimes clogging the small tubing and creating enough pressure in the carboy to blow off the lid. to prevent clogging, you replace the airlock with regular sanitized plastic tubing, leading to a jar of sanitized water. This is a blowoff tube. Because it is wider than the airlock, it will not clog, and you prevent a huge mess.