fermentation pic

[danno]

I guess one can't post pics into the bb, so below is a link...

In case any of you newer brewers are wondering why you might want to use a blowoff tube instead of a 1 piece or 3 piece airlock, here's why... The front carboy is a Belgian Strong Ale I started Tuesday night, OG was 1.083, I made a starter, and for the first time, I used my Oxygenator... It appears to have worked... :D I ran my blowoff tube into my starter flask, three days ago it was just water...

http://www.boomspeed.com/danno/ferment.jpg

[paul84043]

That's cool!! That oxygen is a real kick in tha pants, isn't it!!

I have an extra 1.5 gallons of freespace in my fermentors and even with that I have had to clean out the airlock several times!

Your batch is going to be some fine beer, you can count on that!

Your O.G., is that adjusted, or at room temp?

My Belgian Dubbel was 1.062 which adjusts to 1.074.
Yours is a beefy reading!! Even with the active ferment, it's probably going to take a while to finish!

[danno]

I took the reading as the wort came out of my CFC, it was 60º, according to the fermometer on the side of my carboy...

it's about 7.5 lbs of DME, 2 lbs of Belgian Candi sugar, so I'm hoping for 8-9% by the time it's done. I'm gonna bottle half and keg half when it's finished...

[YamahaXS]

nice pic!

that is a bigass beer you got going... :D

i think i will stop by the brewshop on my way home to get another batch going...

[paul84043]

My Dubbel was 6.6 pounds of Malt Extract, 1 pound of DME (light) and 1 pound of Belgian candi sugar. Very similar to yours...but I'm not expecting much more than about 6%.

It was the strongest brew I have done yet, the Wort was like syrup and the hop additions were very potent, they had my son gagging and asking what that smell was!!

It was 2 ounces (I think....it was bigger than the finishing addition) Syrian Goldings for 1 hr, and one ounce of Saaz for one minute. It was very strong and smelled fantastic!!

Looks like our batches ought to be finishing up at about the same time...mine is bubbling at about 2 seconds now, I expect to bottle it next weekend...

[BucksBrew]

I made two batches of lagers so far and my first batch of Ale. I used a plastic primary fermenter which I'm guessing is 6.5 gallons. I have the Italian double bubble airlock. Should I worry that it will come up thru?

Thanks, first time Ale maker!

Joe

[b3s]

buck, i have the same setup...my first ale did...and if i had not been awake and staring right at the fermenter (at 0200, no less) i would have awoke to both a mess and a moderately irate fiancee ;)

i'm not messing around with my second, i went right to the blow off tube until the krausen falls. the bucket is kind of in the way, but it should only take a few days (i hope). there wasn't room for my secondary and primary in the closet, so the bucket is outside of the closet.

[BucksBrew]

I think I will do a blow off line tonite. I don't want an explosion in the middle of the nite!

Thanks!

I think I'll have to use my siphon hose into a old glass milk jug.

Will 3/8'' line work? I hope. To do this you just put hose into fluid to prevent any contamination.

Also, my plastic fermenter has a small hole with a rubber gasket for the airlock. Now that I think of it, I may have to transfer into carboy! Anybody ever hook up a blow off line to a plastic fermenter?

Thanks,

joe

[paul84043]

The blowoff is typically a hose, or purpose made curved peice of plastic tubing that fits into the same hole that the airlock goes into. You just use it instead of the airlock until the kreusen has fallen.
Any container with a sanitizing solution will work fine for the other end to go into, you just want to keep wild yeast and microbeasties from creeping back up the hose.

I have a 6.5 gallon primary and have run stuff into my airlock only once so far....

[b3s]

Originally posted by BucksBrew
Will 3/8'' line work? I hope. To do this you just put hose into fluid to prevent any contamination.


3/8" line and a #2 stopper will work with your setup. i put the free end of mine in a pot with water + bleach.


Also, my plastic fermenter has a small hole with a rubber gasket for the airlock. Now that I think of it, I may have to transfer into carboy! Anybody ever hook up a blow off line to a plastic fermenter?


yep, same setup as you, and i use a stopper with 3/8" tube. works great.

[BucksBrew]

Thanks! B3

[toneyc]

I've had several batches that tried to turn my plastic bucket into a basketball when the airlock fouled. When that happened, I just used my racking cane in place of the airlock into an extract bucket half full of water.

:) Toney.