3 piece airlock blowoff problems

I have seen several posts where people have their blowoff tube get clogged when using the 3 piece airlock and 1/2 inch tube. As seen in the picture my airlocks had extra material at the bottom that would easily clog up when krausen got into it and you end up with the mess you were hoping to avoid. I simply cut away that plastic and cleaned up the end with an exacto knife and now have a nice opening for everything to flow through.



Happy Brewing

 

I gotta break out the dremel & do that on all of mine.

 

Ya that was a dang good idea. I ended up just getting the big blowoff hose that fits right in the neck of the carboy. I stopped using the 3 piece airlock for blowoff after mine got clogged. I will go and cut all mine also and revisit this airlock with a blowoff hose attached. Thanks for the idea!!!

 

A dremel with a cutoff wheel,then a tear drop shaped router bit will make short work of this job.

 

Yea my dremel was out in the shed and it was cold out there and the exacto was just sitting on a shelf right in front of me. The strange thing is my original one did not have that extra material but the ones I ordered online all had it.

 

Depends where you get your airlocks from. Some have the little + at the bottom, others come without it just like you show on your left.

The bigger problem I face is having the 1/2" tube kink as it arcs down into the blowoff bottle. This significantly impedes flow. Anyone have a solution for this?

 

Leave more of a bow where the tube arcs out of the airlock area. Your tubes too short if it kinks.

 

My tube seems to thicker walled than some i have seen. I accually had trouble with it being to stiff.

 

Some of the home depot ones are kinda thick walled.

 

Nothing a hot air gun cant fix

 

Thanks, I'll check out some of the thick walled variety

Check it, my hose is long enough, just always kinks right at the top

 

1" tubing fits right in the 6.5 gallon carboy, it really give a big avenue for the blow. Never had a problem with the 1."

 

I don't use carboys so the one inch does me no good

 

If your vinyl tube is stiff or you have difficulty forcing onto the rather fragile airlock piece then you can put the tube in the dryer for 10 minutes or so on high heat. This will straighten the tube and make the end soft enough to push more easily onto the airlock.

You'll then need to sanitize the tube and airlock together before use.

 

I broke the airlock the first time i tried to take the blowoff hose off so i just broke off the rest of the plastic and use the center tube piece and hose as a dedicated blowoff rig. Easier to just pull it out and stick a freshly sanitized airlock in place.

 

That's kinda what I did. I cut the grommet end of an "S" type airlock from my Cooper's micro brew kit off. Cleaned the cut end & inserted it into a length of 3/8" tubing long enough to go into a 1/2 gallon plastic vodka jug 1/3 full of water & a splash of starsan. At the right time,I can pull it & toss on a clean airlock filled with cheap vodka.

 

This is the problem I had two weeks ago. However, my airlock didn't have the cross in the bottom. Mine clogged in the tapered part and blew the whole bung out. I wrapped the kinked area in duct tape to strengthen it. My solution.....
1" blow off tube.

 

I did that to all of mine a while back, but I still had a clogging issue with a milk stout fermenting with US04. That yeast went nuts and the krausen made its way up to the airlock and jammed it like cement. While it certainly helps, it's by no means a perfect solution.

 

If the jimmy-rigged blow off tube clogs enough to bullet it towards the ceiling, when is it likely to happen? I imagine it's between about 24-72 hours after the yeast is pitched? Would that be fairly accurate, and if so is there a way to pin it down more accurately if you know your volumes, temperatures and ingredients?

 

Not really. It'll happen if & when it happens. It's not very predictable. Just keep everything clean & free flowing as possible.

 

I find that a 1 inch tube fits perfectly inside the three piece airlock. I use it in my buckets. I would post a pic, but it is not handy right now. 5 ft of 1 inch tube is about right to go up and down into a bucket next to the ferm bucket. anything shorter may stress the airlock/lid to much.

 

One of my latest brews was a Belgian Dark Strong with an OG of 1.099. I needed to ferment in a bucket since my 6.5g carboy won't hold the krausen. I got a 7 gallon wine fermenter and drilled the lid for a 1" MPTx1" hose barb fiting. I secured it to the lid with a 1" FPT coupler. I used the 1/4" grommet for my thermowell.

You could certainly do the same thing for a smaller bucket.

If you hose kinks, use a nylon hose barb 90 like this: http://www.pepplastic.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=10305