blowoff tube question...

[fretlessman71]

After 24 hours I checked my sweet stout and it's CRUISING! The airlock was even full of krausen when I checked it. So I grabbed my little siphon hose, pulled out the airlock, inserted the hose (after sanitizing) in the hole on top and put the other end into a large pot. Is there anything else I should do? I've heard conflicting stories on whether I should put the pot higher or lower than the beer (I guess this is to either save or discard the krausen). Thoughts?

[YamahaXS]

doesn't matter as long as the end of the tube is submerged.

[fretlessman71]

"Submerged...." Which end submerged where? Not quite sure I get you...

[mmmBeer...]

You’ll want to put the end in the pot under water or sanitizing solution to keep out the creepies. Just like you fill the airlock with water.

[Jughead]

And,
You may want to upgrade the little siphon hose to a 1" hose that fits directly into the carboy. If the little hose gets clogged with gunk, it can still cause the carboy to blow the rubber stopper out.

[fretlessman71]

Unfortunately, my "carboy" is a white bucket with a lid from a kit still. The little one is the only one that fits in there!

Pour some sanitizing solution into the blowoff pot? Makes sense... I'm off to do that.

[YamahaXS]

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like this. :D

[fretlessman71]

Holy Krausen Batman! That looks just like a oversized airlock! DUH.... ;)

My beer isn't going to blow my tube up and out of the beer, is it? Should I do anything in preparation for that?

[bigmf]

It shouldn't blow it out but if some gunk gets stuck in the tube and blocks the airway it will. There's nothing you can do about it, just don't leave the primary on top of the good carpet.

M.

[barley ben]

I would just like to say that is a quite nice picture. And I'm not being a smart a$$. Pretty clever!!

[fretlessman71]

I agree! And thanks for everyone putting in their $.02 worth so fast!

[brewmonkey]

It should always be lower then the level of the fermenting wort and you should never put an airlock/blow off on until the temp of the wort has dropped to ambient temps(+/- a few degrees). Remember that as your wort cools in the carboy a vacuum is created and can suck the liquid out of the airlock or blow off bucket.

[fretlessman71]

Wort's hovering at about 69 degrees. Perfect!

Now, how do I know when it's okay to reinstall the airlock? The tube has some gunk in it, but nowhere near enough to block airflow. Getting very consistent bubbles; just over one a second. Not seeing bubbles "flowing" out of the tube, like overcarbonated homebrew. Only seeing bubbles coming up out of the overflow pot. That's the story! Now what?

[Tweek]

wait for it to slow a it then you can put hte airlock back on. There is no harm in having the blowoff on it the whole time either.

[paul84043]

I think it was me that said something about having a high enough arc to the hose that the "gunk" falls back into the beer rather than just all pouring out into a blowoff bucket.
It's extremely important to clean your blowoff hose asap after removing it from the fermenter, and sanitize it just as well as you would a spoon that you were going to put directly into the wort.
I have had several batches that I lost an unacceptable amount of beer (in excess of a full gallon) to blowoff before I stumbled across this little trick.

The 1" tube is definitely the only way to do a blowoff tube correctly. Check with your local HB store, or look online for 1"OD tygon. It's not expensive and the peace of mind is well worth it.
(Thanks again Tweek)

[mmmBeer...]

My carboys sit on a workbench and I string the blowoff tube through the rafters…the ceiling in my storage room (or as my wife calls it the brewery) is only about 6.5 feet so this creates a really nice arc.

For 1”OD tubing try your local hardware store in the plumbing section it is usually cheaper than the LBHS due to the amount of tubing they sell…plus you can get any length you want.

[fretlessman71]

Is it possible to use a 1" tube on a little plastic pail with a 1/4" hole in it? There's just room for my airlock, really.....

[paul84043]

Typically the hole that the airlock stopper fits into will accomodate the 1" tygon tubing perfectly...

[fretlessman71]

Not me... I've got a little bitty one. It's a Brewer's Best kit, and the airlock insert is about 1/4" in diameter.

[Jughead]

a 1" hole saw will fix this in a jiffy ;)

I've got a plastic carboy with the same kind of hole for the air lock. It's bigger than a normal carboy to handle the gunk without a blowoff. You just have to be careful not to put too much in it.

[fretlessman71]

I think as long as I'm not brewing HUGE beers or dry-hopping I shouldn't have a problem for now. At some point I'm going to bite the bullet and buy a 6.5 gal. carboy and make my life easier.

I've seen rubber nipples that fit over carboys, too... they have TWO holes! For a blowoff tube and an airlock at the same time? This seems like overkill...

[toneyc]

I dunno if the extra tube is for blowoff, or not, it is much smaller than the airlock tube. I've only ever used it to blow into to start a siphon before I got my autosiphon. Have I mentioned how wonderful a tool the autosiphon is? Get one if you don't have one! It is also helpful to remove the cap on the smaller tube when removing the whole cap or the airlock from the cap to prevent airlock solution from being sucked back into the carboy.

:)
Toney.

[fretlessman71]

Got an autosiphon for Christmas! (Muchas Gracias mi tesoro! :D) They are everything you've been raving about and MORE!