Well ... Hi(gh) Krausen! Meet my new best friend, Blow-off Tube!

A friend warned me to always use a blow off tube. I hadn't needed one, I didn't think, until today.

Sunday afternoon I brewed Midwest's Chocolate Covered BEAVR Nuts extract kit. This kit comes with alot of grains, I hadn't had to sparge grains before this one. Came out around 1.085 OG. Did full boil, starter on a stir plate, oxygenation with O2.

Woke up this morning (Tuesday), went down to check on activity. The airlock was brownish and foamed up, still bubbling. I changed the airlock out with a clean one, and went to work.

Got a call from the wife this afternoon, she heard a gunshot sound in the basement! The lid was on the floor, luckily the splatter mess wasn't too bad.

The lid was off a few hours - hopefully it doesn't get an infection. Anyone else had a problem like this and had an infection after a few hours? Had I known that my siphon tubing fit perfectly in that airlock hole, I would've setup the blow off this morning.

 

Looks yummy! If it was only a few hours, I bet you are okay. Especially if whatever settled on the beer flowed over the sides. Many people have their beer exposed to air 30 minutes or more while chilling with an immersion chiller or ice bath.

A bonus would be if your basement is clean with little dust or pets running around.

Good luck

 

why doesn't the pressure escape through the airlock?

 

A million bucks you don't get an infection.... The airlock gets clogged easily, especially with a fermentation like that.

 

The krausen clogs the airlock.

 

Or chunks of other stuff like dry hops. It may not completely block it, but the rate of off gassing can be pretty amazing especially when using starters.

Some people just spray starsan on tin foil and cover the carboy with that for the first few days and then use an airlock after things settle down a bit.

 

This happened with my brew a few weeks ago. I'm drinking a pint of it now and there is no infection. Guess what I did with my last brew...blow off!

 

I've never not used a blowoff tube. Only time i didn't get some krausen ejecting through it was the time i underpitched.

just got a 6.5g carboy that holds 7 gallons at the base of the neck. I expect that bigger beers will still eject some krausen, but i might not have a dark soup in the blowoff vessel.

 

I used blow off valves all over time. I don't run the risk. They are not any cheaper or more expensive then the airlocks. I just use 6.5 gallon carboys and blow offs and don't worry about it

 

It SMELLED wonderful!!