best time to swap blowoff tube out for airlock

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doublehaul

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I have a blowoff tube setup - and have had no blowoff at 15 hours in, with a 6.5 gallon carboy. I would like to swap it out for an airlock so I don't have to listen to it going bloop...bloop. Is there an ideal time to do this?
 
I would wait until you were absolutely sure the krausen will not reach the airlock.

You must have really good hearing, or the carboy is in your bedroom, if that little bloop bloop bothers you.

The last time I traded out my blowoff tube was because I needed for the next batch, otherwise I would have left it.
 
whenever your fermenter stops erupting with the fury of Vesuvius. I take the blow off tube out when vigourous fermentation stops but co2 is still being released.
 
I ferment 5 gallon batches in 6.5 gallon carboys. Been doing so for 6 years. Probably a couple hundred batches.

Never used a "blow off", just use an airlock every time. In that time there has been only one time where the fermentation was so strong that the airlock couldn't handle it and the stopper got blown out of the carboy. And on that occasion I just squirted it down with star san, stuck it back in, and the beer came out fine.

Blow offs are a waste. Only the paranoid people use them. There's really no need. Airlocks do the job just fine. All you have to do is make sure to use a large enough container for your primary.

IMHO, blow offs are sort of a noob thing. If you hit your gravity right, and have the proper container for a primary, then an airlock is all you really need.

Blow offs are something you use on special occasions, when you're making an extra special, super-high-gravity brew.

You don't have to use them every time.
 
I ferment in 6.5 gallon carboys. Been doing so for 6 years. Probably a couple hundred batches.

Never used a "blow off", just use an airlock every time. In that time there has been only one time where the fermentation was so strong that the airlock couldn't handle it and the stopper got blown out of the carboy.

Blow offs are a waste. Only the paranoid people use them. There's really no need. Airlocks do the job just fine. All you have to do is make sure to use a large enough container for your primary.

IMHO, blow offs are sort of a noob thing. If you hit your gravity right, and have the proper container for a primary, then an airlock is all you really need.

Blow offs are something you use on special occasions, when you're making and extra special, super-high-gravity brew.

You don't have to use them every time.

judgey wudgey was a bear.

that was harsh.

I wish I had the final volume accuracy to do this but even when I ferment in 6 gallon carboys ( fermenting a 5.5 gallon batch) I still fear blowoff.

I don't think blowoff tubes a waste at all for myself, it gives me peace of mind to know if I happen to get a mondo fermentation I don't have a bunch of splooge to clean up.
 
I dont think blow offs are a waste of time. I do 5 1/5 gallon batches in 6 1/2 gallon carboy and about half the time it spews out the tube. I leave mine on the whole time.
 
subliminalurge said:
Blow offs are a waste. Only the paranoid people use them.
Blow offs are something you use on special occasions, when you're making an extra special, super-high-gravity brew.
Well, which is it... noob?
 
rossi46 said:
I dont think blow offs are a waste of time. I do 5 1/5 gallon batches in 6 1/2 gallon carboy and about half the time it spews out the tube. I leave mine on the whole time.

+1 on this. I usually get some pretty active fermentation and the krauzen marches about 3" up the blow off tube. But back to the OP, just wait til the fermentation slows and then replace the air lock
 
I ferment 5 gallon batches in 6.5 gallon carboys. Been doing so for 6 years. Probably a couple hundred batches.

Never used a "blow off", just use an airlock every time. In that time there has been only one time where the fermentation was so strong that the airlock couldn't handle it and the stopper got blown out of the carboy. And on that occasion I just squirted it down with star san, stuck it back in, and the beer came out fine.

Blow offs are a waste. Only the paranoid people use them. There's really no need. Airlocks do the job just fine. All you have to do is make sure to use a large enough container for your primary.

IMHO, blow offs are sort of a noob thing. If you hit your gravity right, and have the proper container for a primary, then an airlock is all you really need.

Blow offs are something you use on special occasions, when you're making an extra special, super-high-gravity brew.

You don't have to use them every time.

Technically, 3 piece airlocks, bubblers, and blow-off tubes are all a variation of the same device. A blow-off tube just provides more volume for venting CO2. You could say an airlock is a small blow-off or a blow-off is a large airlock.

There are a lot of variables that can affect fermentation from brewery to brewery: yeast strain, yeast pitch rates, beer style, gravity, aeration, your water, your local altitude, using fermcap, etc. I'd guess that most folks that have brewed enough wheat beers or imperial stouts have had a blow-off, near miss, or a yeasty krausen bubble over/out. Whereas someone that brews session beers or uses mostly english yeasts, maybe never has.

Personally, I get vigorous enough ferments that I need a blow-off every third batch or so using 6.5 carboys.

For doublehaul, as others have said, you can leave the tube on until the end of ferment or remove it once you are certain you aren't going to blowoff and replace with airlock.
 
I wait till initial fermentation slows enough where it takes a while for the tube to make a bubble,Then remove the dirty tube &toss on a clean,sanitized airlock. I use a cooper's micro brew FV,at some 7.5G,& a BB ale pale at some 6.5G. And need a blow off some 8 times out of ten. Re-hydrate yeast,or use a starter,& you'll need a blow off. Nothing noob or paranoid about krausen & big chili & beer fueled dinosaur farts in the blow off jug. For our 2 current ales,we went through 3 blow off jugs. & that was only using a 3/8" tube. Quite a bit of krausen blew out of them with all those beer soaked yeast farts.
 
I ferment 5 gallon batches in 6.5 gallon carboys. Been doing so for 6 years. Probably a couple hundred batches.

Never used a "blow off", just use an airlock every time. In that time there has been only one time where the fermentation was so strong that the airlock couldn't handle it and the stopper got blown out of the carboy. And on that occasion I just squirted it down with star san, stuck it back in, and the beer came out fine.

Blow offs are a waste. Only the paranoid people use them. There's really no need. Airlocks do the job just fine. All you have to do is make sure to use a large enough container for your primary.

IMHO, blow offs are sort of a noob thing. If you hit your gravity right, and have the proper container for a primary, then an airlock is all you really need.

Blow offs are something you use on special occasions, when you're making an extra special, super-high-gravity brew.

You don't have to use them every time.

This is the worst advice I've seen on this forum. This seems like borderline trolling!

edit: forgot to answer the OPs question. I always rig a blowoff. sometimes I need it, sometimes I don't, but I never have to worry about krausen all over my kitchen. I usually leave the blowoff in for at least 10 days, then replace it with your standard airlock.
 
For me,initial fermentation blow off time is typically 3 or 4 days. When that slows,down,dirty blow off rig goes into sink & PBW.
 
one bit of advice: do not leave the blow off tube in during a cold crash - I did that with a saison and it sucked all the water from the blow off tube vessel into the carboy. a sad and cringe worthy day.
 
runningweird said:
one bit of advice: do not leave the blow off tube in during a cold crash - I did that with a saison and it sucked all the water from the blow off tube vessel into the carboy. a sad and cringe worthy day.

Why would it not do the same with an airlock?
 
Why would it not do the same with an airlock?

Because when an airlock goes into reverse, you're still basically pulling gas into the outlet past a liquid barrier. In a blowoff tube with the end in liquid, you don't have air coming in the outlet, you have liquid.

Although certainly you could pull the airlock liquid into the carboy under the right circumstances. Would definitely be less liquid, tho. :D
 
I brewed for the first time in forever and I'm ENJOYING hearing the bloop-bloop of my blow off tube. It says, "You didn't screw up (yet)!" ;-)
 
I have begun using fermcap. It eliminates the need for a blowoff tube.
 
ozzy1038 said:
I have begun using fermcap. It eliminates the need for a blowoff tube.

Doesn't that stuff contain silicone though? It always seemed kind of chemi to me... I've honestly never used it though
 
I leave the blow off on the entire fermentation; no need to swap it unless you need it for another batch. However, I would recommend switching it for an airlock before cold crashing or as others said it will suck back into the fermenter DOH lesson learned.
 
thanks for all the responses. the bloop bloop noise doesn't really bother me, it bothers my wife... I am half deaf but I can hear it in the kitchen from our bedroom - probably the tile floor in the kitchen intensifies it. but you talked me into it - i'm not touching it. at least for 2 1/2 weeks, and then I will rack to a secondary (if the specific gravity has not changed for several days) for dry hopping for 3-5 days, and then bottle, ideally at 3 weeks. i am just trying to go off of all of the great advice I've received off of this forum. I want to try a secondary this time because shoving hops into the primary last time was a mess. does this sound like an alright plan?
 
I've never used a blow-off, though I did make a batch of barley wine once that could really have benefited by it.
 
thanks for all the responses. the bloop bloop noise doesn't really bother me, it bothers my wife... I am half deaf but I can hear it in the kitchen from our bedroom - probably the tile floor in the kitchen intensifies it. but you talked me into it - i'm not touching it. at least for 2 1/2 weeks, and then I will rack to a secondary (if the specific gravity has not changed for several days) for dry hopping for 3-5 days, and then bottle, ideally at 3 weeks. i am just trying to go off of all of the great advice I've received off of this forum. I want to try a secondary this time because shoving hops into the primary last time was a mess. does this sound like an alright plan?

Once "high krausen" has come and gone, you can safely switch from a blowoff to an airlock. The "danger zone" has passed by then.
 
I always use a blowoff. No extra effort, and all the extra security in the world. They are different versions of the same concept, and I can't figure out why one is "nooby" and the other isn't. Every fermentation is different, and I refuse to run the risk of having to wash krausen spackle off my ceiling, when it is SO easy to prevent.
 
I cold crashed once with an airlock on and still had liquid pulled into the fermenter, though it's a small amount. I haven't tried cold crashing since then, but when I do it again, I'm only using sanitized foil over the carboy mouth from here on out. Bactera and wild yeast just aren't going to crawl up and around the foil to get into your beer, possibly a fruit fly could I guess.

I always leave my blow-off on for the duration of the brew. There's really no reason to change it out for an airlock, unless it's something that you're bulk aging / lagering for a really long time.
 
I just brewed a hefeweizen that was at valconic levels. 2 days straight of heavy bubbling that could be heard two rooms away! Thank god I had a bow off tube on it or it would have been all over the walls and SWMBO would not have been happy at all. I can not believe that some one would say that they should neer be used. Thumbs down on that guy's comments. He must have not ever brewed a wheat beer. And this was in a 7.5 gallon bucket with a 5 gallon batch.
 
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