Do I need to change the blow off tube?

billyf111 · Apr 10, 2012

I started using a blow off tube after having to clean some beer off my ceiling. I am fermenting in one carboy between three weeks to a month, then kegging/bottling.

There is some krausen (sp?) caked in the blow off tube. Do I need to change tubes or clean it at all? The tube is going into a bottle of Star San sanitizer.
Full disclosure: I have taken the tube out of the Star San solution once and put it into a new, clean solution of Star San.

Thanks for the help, you guys have helped me tremendously over the last couple months!

bbbblaine · Apr 10, 2012

Beer on the ceiling? I'm curious... How did this happen?

Whenever I have used a blow off tube, I have not bothered removing it and cleaning it out during fermentation. I just let it run its course until the fermentation is complete. It shouldn't really matter that there is some gunk in the tube. If you are worried about the stuff blocking the CO2 leaving the beer, I don't think that is an issue. The CO2 pressure will just push its way through to the Star San solution anyway.

I have seen on some brewery tours the blowoff tubes full of all kinds of stuff in multi-barrel fermenters and I could be wrong, but I don't believe they bother cleaning them out at all (at least not until fermentation is done and they are doing some cleanup before the next beer).

mjmac85 · Apr 10, 2012

The way I see it is whatever is in the tube is in the beer. If the other end is submerged under clean water or sanitizer then you should be fine. Now if the water is poluted from something else I would change it. If the particles came FROM the beer it's already in your beer and should not cause any problems.

william_shakes_beer · Apr 10, 2012

As long as the bloworff tube is not clogged and sealing pressure in the fermenter its doing its job. Check by pressing gently on the fermenter lid. If it yeilds it's good. If it'd rock hard its holding pressure and the blowoff needs to be uncloggged.

Pintabone · Nov 21, 2017

Trying to revive this thread a bit. I used 3944 Witbier for the first time and within a day it was blowing off significantly into a small mason jar with starsan. I took a gravity reading with my refractometer and it looks like it may have already fermented down to 1.008. Anyway, I'm going on a trip for a week and wondering if I should replace the mason jar with a clean thing of sanitizer or if it will even make a difference leaving the yeasty sanitizer jar as is. Any additional thoughts other than the 5 year old thoughts above?

flars · Nov 21, 2017

The blow off tube could be removed when the most active part of the fermentation is over. After the first few days the krausen should be at a steady height or diminishing.