When to use a blow-off

[infielders3]

Hi everyone,

I'm new and I am sure this is answered elsewhere but I haven't been able to find it. I am starting my second batch and expect it to have some serious fermenting as I used a little (3/4 cup) honey and a cup of brown sugar . I was wondering if I should start with an airlock and then switch to a blow-off set up to prevent losing my airlock. The gravity when I pitched this morning was 1.060 (a little higher than I would like but it should be ok).

Should I start with an airlock and see how it does or should I start with the safety measure of the blowoff? Also, when should I go back to the airlock?

thanks!

my recipe is http://www.beertools.com/html/recipe.php?view=6321
except I used Palisades and Safale s-04 Dry Ale Yeast, as well as the addition of one cup of light brown sugar as I mentioned above.

Any thoughts?

 

[buffalobrewer]

Welcome to the forum and the hobby!

What are you fermenting in and how much headspace do you have? There's really no downside to using the blowoff tube, but i've only needed it when I had little headspace in the fermenter.

 

[infielders3]

Thanks for the welcome- so far this has been great! I am waiting on a stout that I bottled last week- and when my buckets were free I decided I wanted to get something else rolling.

I am using a 6 1/2 gallon bucket with probably 5 1/2 gallons filled- so there is a fair amount of headspace. I just wasn't sure how volatile it could get and have read a few horror stories of exploding airlocks that I didn't want to be my fate as well.

 

[Jewrican]

i always use a blow off for the first several days and then switch to an airlock. While most will not clog and blow an airlock with that much headspace, you wont want to clean up the one that does LOL.

Use the blow off for a few days then switch to the airlock when things start calming back down.

 

[marubozo]

It also depends on the fermentation temps and whether your'e using a bucket or carboy. If you're doing a 5 gallon batch in a standard 6.5 gallon bucket and ferment in the mid-60s you'll probably never need to use a blowoff. But if you're fermenting in the 70s and/or using a smaller bucket or carboy, then a blowoff for the first week or so is a cheap and easy safety net.

 

[infielders3]

Thanks- this has been a lot of help. I also have read a lot of debate about conditioning into a second bucket/carboy- what do you guys do? Do you put a stopper or an airlock on the second conditioner if you go that route?

I am trying to keep the temp in the mid to low 60s although it was about 74 when i pitched

 

[crammer]

I learned my lesson the hard-way and now I always use the blow-off tube for the first few days of active fermentation.

 

[Oldyote]

I started out using a stopper/airlock in my bucket but quickly moved to carboys and blow off tubes. I think you can use the blow off tube right away as you would almost have to babysit your carboy to know exaclty when to switch. You will know when you can switch back to a typical airlock just by periodically checking how your fermentation is going.

I've been using a secondary but am really thinking (based on a lot of comments in this forum) of just skipping that idea in most cases and just letting it go in the primary longer. If you do use a secondary you can just use the typical stopper/airlock as you will have very little activity but still need a lock to keep problems out.

 

[Jewrican]

I dont use a secondary for anything unless i am adding fruits or something.

 

[JJL]

I've never used one myself. I haven't had a need. The guys above have pretty much explained the decision process. It's all about headspace. But, I think you might have things a little backwards based on your post. If you are going to use a blowoff, you just put it on from the beginning. There's no advantage to using an airlock and then switching to a blowoff. Normally you would start with the blowoff in place and then switch to the airloock once the krausen falls back.

 

[tvtoms]

While I cant contribute advice since I've never had a blowout yet.. I can say that I have a 1060 ale in a 6.5 gallon bucket now and it's fermenting so vigorously that when I put my nose to the airlock, I can hear and feel the co2 shooting out the little holes in the airlock lid!

I'm trying to keep it cool in a swamp cooler, but I tell ya, I can sense that I'm tempting fate. I've hung an old shower curtain around the whole area in the basement just in case. It's been at it for 4 days now with me cheering it on, but next time.. a tube is going in there until after the initial yeast frenzy!

 

[glenn514]

After seeing pics of horror stories from clogged airlocks, I begin ALL fermentations with a blow-off tube in a Better Bottle. After 48-72 hours, when the initial "rush" of fermentation settles down, I replace the blow-off with the customary airlock filled with vodka. This way, I avoid any possible eruption problems.

glenn514