Who else have given up on airlocks?

[springer]

Ya he did, I hear the toilet then little feet running and him calling "POP POP " he proudly shows me the thermapen in two pieces in the toilet. At least I got new water resistant one

 

[gabeweisz]

I use a wine fermenter rather than a regular bucket - it's just under 8 gallons rather than 6. Never had a problem with a clogged fermenter because of the extra space.

 

[MVKTR2]

Count me in the "I primary in a bucket and don't have blow-offs" group. I've done a couple dozen batches now, all in a bucket for primary with out even a sniff of a blow-off. Never even had krauzen get in my air lock. It doesn't hurt that my big biers are 4-4.5 gallon batches leaving me extra head space, however my regular strength ales including hefe's are usually 5.5 gallons.

Schlante,
Phillip

 

[DrinksWellWithOthers]

Make sure you break off or saw the little criss cross of plastic on the bottom of them if you are using 3-piecers. Hop pieces and other harder bits tend to get pushed up against them with rising karusen, and once they are blocked like that, it's more likely to build up pressure.

I was talking to my LHBS owner the other day and he said they stopped making them with that X shaped piece of plastic. I grabbed a couple of them and sure enough, no obstructions.

As for not using an airlock, well I do on every batch but I also use Fermcap. Its very unusual for me to have to add a blow off tube but when I do I just take off the airlock cap and bubbler and connect a 5/8 piece of tubing for a couple of days.