my buckets are too tall (or my freezer is too short)

[kanta]

Hiya all. I ended up getting a 2nd fermentation bucket from LHBS to be able to have 2 beers going at a time, but I ran into an issue. The hump in the bottom of the freezer is 9.25" tall and after building a little shelf to extend the hump far enough over, I found that the airlock is an inch or two too tall to shut the lid to the freezer. About the only thing I can think of is to put a hole in the side of the bucket at the top and have that bucket always use a blowoff tube. I was hoping some of you more experienced folks would have a more eloquent solution. Thanks for your time.

 

[twistr25]

You could try just setting the lid on top, not actually sealing it down. The CO2 will escape and if it's really that close to the lid, nothing should explode. Some people actually ferment with out a lid, so I don't think a non complete seal will hurt you.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

If it is just an inch or two too short, can you just shove the airlock further into the bucket? Have you tried a three piece airlock? They are much shorter. Those seem like the easiest solutions.

 

[broadbill]

How about getting a piece of racking cane, lightly heating it and bending it to a 90 degree elbow, then attaching the blow off hose to that...the racking can will fit right in the airlock grommet (please confirm it will be a good fit there...I don't know for sure).

That way the blow off hose will lay flat on the bucket top, instead of making an arc in the air over it.

 

[kanta]

I am using 3 piece airlocks, and there isn't much clearance above the lid...mostly due to airlock height and the bung sticking up above the lid an inch or so. The loose lid approach sounds doable as does making a flat blowoff hose out of a racking cane and some tubing. You guys are like Macgyver lol

 

[Bronco1500]

im in the same boat. here is the post I did, along with the expert responses
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/got-short-fridge-need-short-blow-off-tube-345808/

 

[kanta]

dude at the LHBS pointed me to the 3/8" tubing that fits perfectly into the hole of the rubber stopper. I got enough of that to do fermentations in both buckets simultaneously and a pair of yeast starters in my 2000 ml flasks (although only one stir plate and one stir stick, so I'm not quite set yet)

 

[ArcLight]

>>You could try just setting the lid on top, not actually sealing it down. The CO2 will escape and if it's really that close to the lid, nothing should explode.

I agree, just don't forget to plug the bung hold.
Make sure the sides of the bucket and lid is sanitized.

 

[BradleyBrew]

yeah I have the same problem. Just use a 3/8" id tubing with the airlock grommet into a blow off container.