Blowoff tube help

[JollyMon]

I recently had a batch that was overflowing my 3 piece airlock. I caught it in time and threw a blowoff tube right onto the inner part of the 3 piece. Today I bottled (barleywine gonna age for 12 months) but I can't for the life of me get this blowoff tube off of the 3 piece. Anyone ever have this problem and know how I can free up this hose?

I appreciate the help.

 

[ncbrewer]

You could try twisting while pushing the tube back on. It seems like the opposite of what you should do, but it helps a lot in removing tubing from a racking cane. The action of pushing it back on helps to break it loose.

 

[okiedog]

That's the same problem I've had. I finally had to soak the tube and airlock in hot water. The wort sugars do harden like glue, cementing the whole thing together. Now when I use a blow off tube, I keep it set up on a separate airlock, so I can quickly switch over when needed. I just give it a quick spray of Star San, shake off the excess, then into the stopper it goes.

 

[Zepth]

I snapped 2 airlocks in the same day attempting to remove them. If you can give it a quick soak in hot water it will both soften the sugars (glue) and make the tubing a little more pliable. Since it was only the "cup" on the airlock that broke and the tube is in tact I now have dedicated blow off inserts.

 

[JollyMon]

Long soak in blazing hot water did nothing. Follow up long soak in oxy-water solution got it to finally break free. Still had to tug like hell, but it's free.

 

[ibrewmyown]

I know it wont help your issue now but do away with the 3 piece airlocks. I don't use the 3 piece airlocks at all any longer. Go to Home Depot, get a length (I do 12 gallon batches so I use 2 for 2 two 6 gal carboys) of large diameter clear hose that fit snug into the carboy. Soak it in sanitizer while your sanitizing your other things on brew day and it fits perfect into the carboy opening. Its snug enough that it pushes into the opening with no chance of leaking. The hose does get a little stuck when the sanitizer dries up but it is soft enough to squeeze easily and break the seal when it comes time to remove it and it pulls out without a problem. Stick the other end in a small bowl or bucket of leftover sanitizer from the brew day and your down. You never have to worry about blowing an air lock off or worse (which happened to a buddy twice) breaking a carboy from a clogged airlock that was stuck in the carboy. I've been using this method for several years and it works every time. When i get a really active batch and it pushes up into the hose, no big deal.