Invest in a blow off tube!

[pc_trott]

The home brew setup my wife bought me last Christmas included a blow-off tube, which, after nine batches of beer, was still unused. I was beginning to think Northern Brewer had taken my wife for a sucker and sold her an unnecessary item. But Monday I started a Porter kit with Nottingham yeast, which I had never used before. (Is Nottingham more likely to foam over than, say, US-05?)

Tuesday morning I came down to my basement brewing room to find the airlock full of foam. We were leaving for a beach trip, so I quickly sanitized and attached the blow-off tube, terminating in a small bucket of starsan. When we got back home that afternoon, there was a steady stream of foam coming from the fermenter, already overflowing the bucket. I had to transfer in a larger bucket to hold the overflow. Just a small mess to clean up, thanks to all you pro brewers who'd recommended constantly watching the fermenter during the early stages.

Moral: Have a blow off tube on hand.

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

You're lucky to have caught it in time! One of my very first batches was a high gravity saison and I didn't leave nearly enough headspace in the bucket.. My wife and I just moved into our last apartment at the time and since it was a Saison I just let it do it's thing at room temp in the corner of the living room. We both went to work for the day and when I came home I was welcomed with krausen sludge painted up both walls, the ceiling and the carpet. I tried cleaning it before my wife came home, which was a futile effort. She gets home, laughs at me, HELPS ME CLEAN IT, laughs at me some more and still allowed me to brew in the apartment (with a blowoff tube). We did not get our security deposit back...

Now I use a blowoff tube on everything. Cheers!

 

[AJinJacksonville]

I typically use an airlock, but have been leaning towards going to a blow-off tube recently due to me finding dry airlocks from fermentation eruptions in the bucket. You can't go wrong with a blow-off tube...that's for sure.

 

[pc_trott]

I'm using a six-gallon carboy as the fermenter, and up to now the gallon of headspace has been plenty. But all of the other brews were done when my basement was at around 60-62 degrees F. We've had a warm spell here, and the basement is currently at 71F, and as I said, I used a new (to me) yeast (Nottingham). I wonder which had the most influence on the blow-off, the temperature or the yeast?

 

[Alex4mula]

Or use better size carboy. I brew 5gals and never had a problem with my 6.5 gal carboys. Plenty of space and no worries. But I know not all may do the same.

 

[Lefou]

First time I brewed with WLP300 it was an experience. Just after pitching I use and airlock, then switch off to the orange carboy cap and blowoff tube. The guy at the brewshop asked me what yeast I planned to use, so I told him.
"You're definitely going to need this," he said. Boy was he right.
It was a constant "bloop bloop bloop" of gas and yeast for two solid days. Fun stuff.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

An example of mine from another thread
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads...e-blow-off-tube-hooked-up.682480/post-8929473

 

[Dancy]

I tried cleaning it before my wife came home, which was a futile effort. She gets home, laughs at me, HELPS ME CLEAN IT, laughs at me some more and still allowed me to brew in the apartment (with a blowoff tube). We did not get our security deposit back...

Now I use a blowoff tube on everything. Cheers!

She sounds like one of the good ones!