Beer Forum

Hey Guys!

Just brewed my first batch in about 5 years. It's a stout. My starting gravity is about 1.050 which seems about right. Since it's a little higher gravity beer do you think I should use a blowoff tube? I'm using a 6.5 gallon bucket as a primary.

Thanks!

1.050 is not THAT big, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. However, if it makes you sleep better, though, by all means do it. It certainly won't hurt at all.

(If this was the Wyeast 3068, or a 1.070+ beer, then my answer would have been a definite yes).

Welcome back to the hobby!
Good Luck!

So why does a high gravity beer benefit from a blowoff tube? I certainly understand it with the wheats where the krausen goes crazy and overwhelms the airlock.

In an attempt to answer my own question... Brewing a Scottish that should end up around 8% abv. I have had pullback on it once or twice once it was in secondary. I would assume this is less likely in a blowoff tube since the liquid would have to travel so far.

Are there other reasons that a high gravity beer would benefit from a tube instead of an airlock?

Mostly, as you pointed out, it's because there's so much for the yeast to eat, they go crazy and overflow the airlock. Otherwise, no difference.

(I guess purists might comment about the pressure it takes to "burp" a blowoff tube. I'm not sure that's measurable at homebrew batch size levels. Just my opinion. I've personally never had an off flavor due to a blowoff tube.)

I use blow off tubes on every batch.

^^My first attempt at an English Barleywine recently...wish I would remembered the blowoff tube!

I recently brewed about 5.5 gallons of a 1.062 beer in a 6.5 gallon bucket and a couple days into fermentation I found the airlock had a bunch of gunk in it. I was lucky I didn't have an explosion like rhino777's (my wife probably would have probably put an end to my brewing career right there!). A blow off tube never hurts. If you're really concerned, you can add an anti-foaming agent like Fermcap-S and that will keep everything in check, and maybe even improve head retention.

Slightly OT, but I was listening recently to the old Jamil Show saison episode where they talked to Chris White at the end of the show. Chris mentioned that he thought airlocks were way overused, and it's really better to just use foil to cover the hole in the first few days of fermentation. Airlocks should be used after things settle down.

rhino777 wrote:

^^My first attempt at an English Barleywine recently...wish I would remembered the blowoff tube!