Mylar balloon. When to attach.

[olotti]

So I brewed yesterday. Fermentation has kicked off strong 12hrs later. I wanna try the mylar balloon technique to decrease o2 exposure as this is a NEIPA, when should I attach the blowoff and balloon, and will it deflate when I take the airlock off to dryhop. Plan on doing the first dh Tomm during the slowdown of fermentation and then another in prob 5 days. And I just bought the equipment to transfer under pressure to avoid o2 exposure there as well.

 

[brew703]

I only add the mylar balloon when i cold crash. I've seen people add the mylar balloon during active fermentation to capture the natural co2 but you would need a T splitter to route one tube to a bucket of starsan and the other to the balloon.

 

[olotti]

I only add the mylar balloon when i cold crash. I've seen people add the mylar balloon during active fermentation to capture the natural co2 but you would need a T splitter to route one tube to a bucket of starsan and the other to the balloon.

why the splitter. Couldn’t I spray the balloon with starsan or soak it in star San and then that would be good? Also do u think it works well when cold crashing, that’s one area I never paid attention to but now realise it was really shortening the shelf life of my ipas

 

[balrog]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...-fermonster-to-corny-keg.664270/#post-8559421

Want first gasses (which will have o2 in headspace when you start, to blow by the balloon, then into the balloon when it is hopefully mostly CO2.

 

[brew703]

why the splitter. Couldn’t I spray the balloon with starsan or soak it in star San and then that would be good? Also do u think it works well when cold crashing, that’s one area I never paid attention to but now realise it was really shortening the shelf life of my ipas

If you are going to add the balloon during active fermentation, there will probably be more pressure in your balloon than it can handle, which is why a splitter is added- one tube for the balloon and one to starsan.
I've never done it that way, go ahead and try it out to see if any issues.

I've never had an issued when I use it to cold crash. By the time it gets to temp, usually over a course of a few days there is very little co2 left in the balloon. I've never had an oxidation issue when cold crashing using a balloon.

 

[CodeSection]

why the splitter. Couldn’t I spray the balloon with starsan or soak it in star San and then that would be good? Also do u think it works well when cold crashing, that’s one area I never paid attention to but now realise it was really shortening the shelf life of my ipas

The purpose of the spliter is so you can control when and how the mylar balloon fills. When active fermentation first starts, you want the O2 purged from the fermenter. So you pinch the tube going to the mylar balloon closed. Then after about 12-24 hours you can release the "pinching" of the tube to the mylar balloon so as the balloon can fill up with the natural CO2.

Once fermentation is complete and you are ready to cold crash, first pinch the tubing going to your blowoff sanitizer closed before you start cold crashing. Now only the CO2 from the mylar balloon is sucked back into the fermenter.

I have refined my processes and no longer use mylar balloons. Now I use Spike Brewing's gas manifold and a CO2 tank.

Below is a picture showing a batch that I had just started to cold crash and as you can see, the tube to my Starsan solution is pinched closed.

Good luck!

 

[olotti]

Awesome info thanks people. I’m gonna go get the Mylar balloon and tubing later and I get what you guys are saying with the first purging of o2 then capturing the co2. I cold crash in a fridge I don’t have a ferm chamber so it just goes into the fridge. Last iPa I made last year I put a blowoff into a tub of starsan when cold crashing and it literally sucked in prob 1/2 gal of starsan, suckback is real!, so I now keg and wanna make my neipas worth the money by lasting longer than 2 weeks so figured I’d try this and I have the equipment to do co2 pressurized transfers to my kegs.

 

[olotti]

If you are going to add the balloon during active fermentation, there will probably be more pressure in your balloon than it can handle, which is why a splitter is added- one tube for the balloon and one to starsan.
I've never done it that way, go ahead and try it out to see if any issues.

I've never had an issued when I use it to cold crash. By the time it gets to temp, usually over a course of a few days there is very little co2 left in the balloon. I've never had an oxidation issue when cold crashing using a balloon.

ok where can I get a T adapter. Otherwise I’ll just hook up the balloon Tomm after first dryhop and see what happens.

 

[balrog]

SHould be able to find at hardware, plumbing, big box store. Just something to fit whatever tubing you are using.

 

[olotti]

SHould be able to find at hardware, plumbing, big box store. Just something to fit whatever tubing you are using.

ok I have to get a blowoff hose for the airlock so I’ll look for a “t” fitting and a hose to fit the airlock then a Mylar balloon and secure it with a hose clamp.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I use a cold crash guardian from Brewhardware.com, its been working well for me.

 

[CodeSection]

ok where can I get a T adapter. Otherwise I’ll just hook up the balloon Tomm after first dryhop and see what happens.

I bought mine on Amazon. I went with the brass tee, but they have plastic ones in the 5/8" size as well. I bought two tees as I was planning on using two balloons at once.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BMFWF4Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DHKTVVZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Too bad you don't live in my area, I would give you my left over mylar balloons.

 

[brew703]

this is what you need.

 

[olotti]

I bought mine on Amazon. I went with the brass tee, but they have plastic ones in the 5/8" size as well. I bought two tees as I was planning on using two balloons at once.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BMFWF4Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DHKTVVZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Too bad you don't live in my area, I would give you my left over mylar balloons.

do u consider the balloons one and done or can u reuse them.

 

[CodeSection]

do u consider the balloons one and done or can u reuse them.

One and done. They are so cheap...roughly .35 cents each....