Do you always have to use a blow-off tube?

[BadgerBrigade]

I think I'm in trouble!!! this is my first time brewing anything.. I'm doing cider not beer... and my airlock has completely overflown twice it's 8 o'clock at night and I have no access to rubber tubing... Am I screwed? the fermentation is looking so violently that it's just almost pouring out of the bunghole! I am tripping out right now what do I do? Should I jump in my truck and drive down and see if that Home Depot is open? I hope someone lets me know by then???

 

[bovineblitz]

Do you have any type of tubing? Vinyl, plastic, silicone... anything should work.

Home Depot should be open if you have no other options... you can check on their website to see the hours for the store near you.

 

[Seven]

I'd set the fermentor in the tub and let it overflow from the airlock until you can get some blow off tubing (tomorrow?)

 

[BadgerBrigade]

I have a dirty vaporizer tube that was used to smoke marijuana with... It would be perfect but again there's residue of marijuana resin and smoke inside it would work perfect though size wize... Can I pour vodka through it? Please don't take this the wrong way guys I'm in a party house & it's my roomates.... I have put the airlock back on without the cap and I'm using the middle piece of the airlock to kind of try to keep out any foreign anything... Should I just leave it like this until tomorrow after work or should I try the dirty tubing and poor alcohol through it or bleach water?,

 

[bottlebomber]

I have a dirty vaporizer tube that was used to smoke marijuana with... It would be perfect but again there's residue of marijuana resin and smoke inside it would work perfect though size wize... Can I pour vodka through it? Please don't take this the wrong way guys I'm in a party house & it's my roomates.... I have put the airlock back on without the cap and I'm using the middle piece of the airlock to kind of try to keep out any foreign anything... Should I just leave it like this until tomorrow after work or should I try the dirty tubing and poor alcohol through it or bleach water?,

I somehow knew you couldn't be too far from me when I read this.

 

[kh54s10]

You can put the carboy in a container to catch the overflow and just cover the top loosely with a piece of sanitized aluminum foil. After the fermentation slows you can re-install the airlock.

Get a blow off assembly made and always install it at the start and you will have a lot less worries.

 

[BadgerBrigade]

You can put the carboy in a container to catch the overflow and just cover the top loosely with a piece of sanitized aluminum foil. After the fermentation slows you can re-install the airlock.

Get a blow off assembly made and always install it at the start and you will have a lot less worries.

If I have it inside in the shower do I still need to put the aluminum foil over-the-top? Just to keep out bugs or to keep out air coming in? And is that tinfoil over the bung better than just putting the airlock on with the middle Kees inserted but not the cap isn't that kind of the same thing??
I'll do whatever you guys think is better I just kind of want to understand what I'm doing so I can learn...

 

[BadgerBrigade]

I think I understand now why you wanted me to bring it inside bottlebomber... from reading other post... Don't put the yeast back to sleep right?!?! I had it outside for about 30 minutes after I saw all this violent bubbling... It slowed way down and now I brought it back inside I hope I didn't put the yeast to sleep... I gave it a shake and put it back into the shower... I have no tubing but I have the airlock back on with no cap, but I do have the centerpiece of the airlock in too, to kind of try to keep out anything foreign from going back inside.. Is this all okay or should I do anything differently? Someone on the forem told me to just put foil over the bunghole... should I pull my airlock back out and just put foil over it or is what I'm doing okay?

 

[bottlebomber]

I think I understand now why you wanted me to bring it inside bottlebomber... from reading other post... Don't put the yeast back to sleep right?!?! I had it outside for about 30 minutes after I saw all this violent bubbling... It slowed way down and now I brought it back inside I hope I didn't put the yeast to sleep... I gave it a shake and put it back into the shower... I have no tubing but I have the airlock back on with no cap, but I do have the centerpiece of the airlock in too, to kind of try to keep out anything foreign from going back inside.. Is this all okay or should I do anything differently? Someone on the forem told me to just put foil over the bunghole... should I pull my airlock back out and just put foil over it or is what I'm doing okay?

Foil is fine, and your cider is fine. Do you have a hydrometer?

 

[neut2004]

Foil. No extra equipment to buy or take up space; co2 gets out, no air gets in. I ferment in a swamp cooler which catches any overflow. If you ferment at RT, put a towel underneath.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Disagree. when krasen rises in the airlock it foams through the vent holes in trhe cap and then hardens there, forming a plug where it is exposed to air. The blowoff tube moves the krausen further away from the fermenter and doesn't permit contact with air until it has exited the tube through the liquid, where it is much less likely to form a crust. I suspect a blowoff can also plug and allow pressure to build, but its much less likely.

 

[day_trippr]

[...] I suspect a blowoff can also plug and allow pressure to build, but its much less likely.

Highly unlikely if it's a 1" ID blow-off...

Cheers!

 

[JSGT09]

What is the best way to add a blowoff to a bucket fermenter that only has a small hole for the typical airlock? I was thinking I could remove the guts of the 3 piece airlock and just add a large tube to it and down to a blow off container.

 

[BadgerBrigade]

Foil. No extra equipment to buy or take up space; co2 gets out, no air gets in. I ferment in a swamp cooler which catches any overflow. If you ferment at RT, put a towel underneath.

What is RT? I'm totally new at this

 

[BadgerBrigade]

Okay so it's the morning after everything has completely overflowed I've taken the airlock off 3 or four times to clean it and finally I just put it on without the cap...
It seems now everything has settled way down so I am going to remove and clean the airlock one last time.. Pour alcohol over the bung first right? removed the airlock clean the airlock put the airlock back in and add fresh vodka...?

 

[Berock]

Never needed a Blow-off except on time I added strawberries in a carboy. Mostly use buckets and never had an issue.

 

[bovineblitz]

What is RT? I'm totally new at this

room temperature