Switch to airlock

[BrooZer]

I just brewed a batch yesterday and everything went so well it was kinda concerning (minus a turkey fryer boil over!). I attached a blow off hose to the primary because last time I made this beer it needed one.

Here is my question, I know fermentation can take days to start. Should i put an airlock on until it starts or just leave it be? In other words, since there is no Krausen yet and may not be for a while, is an Airlock safer than a blow off tube? I am using a 6.5 gal carboy with 1 1/4 outside diameter hose.

Thanks!

 

[Soulive]

Don't ever put an airlock on it. If you really must, wait until the krausen starts dropping...

 

[BrooZer]

Don't ever put an airlock on it. If you really must, wait until the krausen starts dropping...

You are not a fan of the airlock I see. Do you think a blow off tube is just as safe?

 

[Soulive]

You are not a fan of the airlock I see. Do you think a blow off tube is just as safe?

Yes, but I'm in the minority. Just for reference, I left a stout in primary for over a month with a blowoff and had no problem...

 

[Joker]

Blowoff tube is just a really big airlock and will prevent brew geysers.

 

[cheezydemon]

A blow off is an airlock. It is just a big one. You can leave it on for ever. Just don't lift the hose and dump buxcket water back into the fermenter.

 

[Bobby_M]

There's no harm in a blowoff. Since the end is submerged in water, it's exactly the same concept as the smaller scale airlock. Leave it alone. There is only one reason I can think of to switch over to an airlock and that's after you've had a crazy ferment and now there's all kind of yeast gunk in the hose and in the water. You might want to switch over now to clean up the mess.

 

[BrooZer]

Awesome, what do you all use in the water for sanitation. I have star san in it but its getting cloudy and based on another thread I started here it seems that may mean it is bad.

I also have easy clean by ld carlson and bleach. Should I switch out the water?

 

[Joker]

You really don't need anything in the water. Nothing nasty is going to go up the blowoff tube and no critters are going to swim into the water to climb up the tube.

On a side note those of us who do you airlock typically us Vodka so if it happens to get sucked into the brew there is no ill effects.

 

[Soulive]

Awesome, what do you all use in the water for sanitation. I have star san in it but its getting cloudy and based on another thread I started here it seems that may mean it is bad.

I also have easy clean by ld carlson and bleach. Should I switch out the water?

I use iodophor solution that I have left over from sanitizing other things. Not necessarily though...