Blow off to airlock switch

[mdawson9]

I have the silliest questions. Thanks for humoring a newbie like me.
So I brewed a dogfish 60 min clone this weekend. Used my 5 gal carboy as primary because that's the only thins that fits in my mini fridge. I used a blow off tube for the first time. Glad I did! I would've had a mess. Once it's ready for airlock, what are my options to do it safely? I'm out of starsan. Can I soak the airlock and plug in vodka? Should I use something else?
Thanks for the help!

 

[Pezman1]

The easiest thing to do is just leave the blowoff tube in there. Keep in mind that the blowoff tube IS an airlock. If you need to switch and don't have sanitizer I would go the vodka route you mentioned.

Pez.

 

[BryceL]

I recently just started leaving the blowoff assembly in for the entire fermentation. Like mentioned above, it's essentially the same thing...no point to switch it, especially is you don't have sanitizer. If I do something like transfer it to secondary, I will usually go ahead and do the normal airlock then.

 

[mdawson9]

Ok cool. The only thing I plan to do before kegging is that I'm going to dry hop at the 2 week mark. I guess I can put the tube back in once I drop the hops in. Planning the dry hop in primary.

 

[hefehawk]

The easiest thing to do is just leave the blowoff tube in there. Keep in mind that the blowoff tube IS an airlock. If you need to switch and don't have sanitizer I would go the vodka route you mentioned.

Pez.

Ditto. I always keep my blowoff tube on the whole time.

 

[Kingfish]

Ok cool. The only thing I plan to do before kegging is that I'm going to dry hop at the 2 week mark. I guess I can put the tube back in once I drop the hops in. Planning the dry hop in primary.

Good plan.