What to do without an overflow tube

[lane19d]

So the beer flowed up thru the air lock, now what? Should I just leave it be? Clean it out?

As a second question, I've never brewed w temp control. Is it normal for the freezer to reek of alcohol! I put my head down by the bucket to check my thermo strip, and it takes my breath away!


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[duboman]

Your breath being taken away is a result if inhaling the co2 gas that is expelled through the airlock, don't do that!

As for the airlock filling up, yes, remove it, clean it and sanitize it and replace. You can also rig a blow off tube and forget about.

Its nothing more than a tube that comes out the primary and goes into a vessel of star San mix, you can search ways to make one

 

[lane19d]

I didn't expect the CO2 to be so strong! Having only fermented in the open air! Okay, so clean it out…. Will the beer be alright whilst I clean the airlock? And your right a blow off is exactly what I will do in the future. I bought a two piece air lock just for this. Does it have to be star San in the receiving end?



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[illinibrew04]

Iodophor or any diluted sanitizer mixture will do for the blow off bucket. Just make sure that when you cold crash the beer the liquid doesn't get sucked back into the fermenter from your airlock or blow off bucket. An easy way to ensure this is to just remove the tube or airlock and cover the carboy cap with sanitized foil before crashing.