Mr Blowoff

I had an idea to make an airlock that was clog proof. I get paranoid I am not cleaning my blowoff tubes well enough and wanted something I could scrub well inside and out. I really enjoy all of the discussion on this forum and read it daily.

I would be interested in what you guys think.

Cheers!

 

Looks good! I would just want to make sure that the "floater" is not too heavy to not let out any gas!

I was about to make a comment before I saw where you are from because of the size of it, but I see that you ARE from Texas.

That is how we do things in Texas, make them bigger and better!

How funny!

 

As far as "clog-ability", that 1/2" PCV would be a downgrade from the 1" ID vinyl tubing that is a press-fit inside my carboy necks. Otoh, those tubes are a bit of a pita to clean (it takes a soak and using a four foot long, stainless steel handled 1" tubing brush) where your short tubing would be a lot easier...

Cheers!

 

Looks lik a neat idea. But, I guess it depends on what kinda blow off your getting. I've had some brews that would over fill that thing in a heartbeat. I clean my blow tubes with an old bottle brush. I cut off the 'bristle' part and crimped an old electrical cord to it. Soak the hose in hot water and Oxyclean, then snake the cord through the hose and pull. Voila!

 

Creative! Have you put it to use yet?

 

I am making my pumpkin ale this weekend. I will post pics or a movie if I can.

 

looks lovely, only suggestion/question i have is this: what about cutting some slits at the top or drilling some holes near the top of the 1" PVC so that if the blow-off is NOT super vigorous, it can still bubble out of your oversized bubbler without having to lift the bubbler... might solve RScottyL's concern.

would love to see pictures/video of it in action!

cheers,
Will

 

Did you by a bung with a 3/4 inch hole or do you have a solution that is as creative as this airlock to connect to your carboy? Good work, cheers.

 

Hooked it up today. Not a real vigorous fermentation but seems to be working well.

I just cut out a regular instilled stopper. A bug would probably be a better idea though. Do you have any ideas on how to drill it out?

 

throw the bung in the freezer (may help to soak it first, not sure), hopefully being frozen will help it retain its shape better and make it easier to bore while reducing tearing.
I'd also make a pair of "jaws" for the vice so you dont deform the bung too much ( cut a bung-sized hole in a chunk of wood, cut the piece of wood in half so you end up with jaw pads that have nice half-circles, the blade kerf should be enough for grip pressure. )

(ideally you could just chuck the frozen bung in a lathe and bore out using drill chucked in the tail stock... but we dont all have a lathe lying around...)

i bet a coring bit would work better than a drill bit (less tearing of the rubber), but other than using a hole saw, not sure you could find one small enough.

hope thats helpful.

 

It is. I have a lathe restoration project this winter but it is in no shape to make anything now.

 

ha, just thought of a bo-janged backwoods way to build a coring bit...

first, go find yourself a beer in a CAN and drink it.

use some scissors or whatever, and sacrifice the can to give you some nice thin sheet aluminium. now find yourself a 1/2" piece of dowel (could use some of your pvc, but best if its actually a tad smaller diameter) wrap some of your aluminum around the dowel, extend the aluminium past the tip so that the aluminium is flat at the bottom hollow end that sticks past the dowel.

secure aluminium to dowel with a handy hose clamp or two... chuck in drillpress or drill
(carefully shave down the dowel if your chuck cant handle the dowel...)
(or even better: use a drill bit as the dowel!)

presto, a corer!

i'd worry a bit about the can aluminium being too flimsy (our cans have a thicker wall up here in Canuckistan), but you get the idea. id be tempted to just extend the "blade" a 1/4" past the dowel so its nice and stiff, then core in short sections... either using a knife to pry/shave/pop out the newly drilled sections, or extending the blade bit by bit...

drill bits and even hole saws just have such a high chance of tearing the rubber, i really think going to the trouble of coring is going to give you your best result.
you could buy a 1/2 coring bit... we use them sometimes for punching EMT through concrete walls, but thats going to be pricey, one can of beer and a hose clamp is cheap...

 

this is just a massive 3 piece air lock no?

 

Yeah

 

When I've needed to drill out a bung or other type of stopper I have always had good just using a drill press and turn up the speed as high as you can. Then as you pull down let up every 1/4 of an inch then repeat until you are through. The high speed allows for a cleaner cut and the many pauses keep the bit & the bung from heating up.

 

I had a thought, and it may not cost you a dime. Go to the scrap bin for the hose section of your local hardware store, use an inch of 3/4" ID x1" OD tubing along with a piece of 1"ID x 1 1/4 OD tubing. Fit the airlock in the 3/4 tubing then put the 1" over the 3/4", then jam it into the carboy. It just may work and would be easier than trying to drill out a bung.

 

Looks like you could just put some silicone tubing over the end and run it to a jug, then switch over to the airlock after blowoff is over.

Cool design.