Blow-off tube - 8mm internal diameter - big enough

[Foggy Scruggs]

Hey All,

Just about to do my second brew ever.

Sadly the first was a disaster, turned wickedly sour, ended up down the sink straight from the fermenter.

This time I intend to use a blow-off tube with an internal diameter of 8mm straight into the lid grommet, I'll be brewing a golden ale kit 4.5%.

I want to avoid the problems I had with my first brew - a german weiss highly vigorous ferment without a blow-off tube, just an airlock, which blew the lid and I suspect resulted in poor sanitary conditions.

What I'm wondering is will this blow-off tube likely cope with the fermentation, rising krausen?. Also my lid forms a VERY tight seal, should I just let it sit on top for the first coupla days and then seal it properly? Or seal tightly from the outset and allow the blow-off tube to do its job? Is underfilling from the recommended 23 litres a further precaution I should take to allow addition head room?

Sorry for so many (probably silly) questions but I am determined to do everything I can to get it right this time.

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks

FoggyScruggs

 

[smcc]

Weißbier yeast is always like that your best to have an open ferment for the initial stages just cover with sanitised cloth, I rarely brew them as I live in Bayern and can buy 500ml for 80cents, if you are using something neutral like SAF-05 usually if you have reasonable headspace an air lock will suffice for most yeasts 8mm is quite narrow, the point of a blow off is that its sufficiently wide to allow a lot of CO2 to escape.

Just make sure you switch to airlock before you cold crash as it will suck most of whatever the hose is in back into your beer

 

[Foggy Scruggs]

Weißbier yeast is always like that your best to have an open ferment for the initial stages just cover with sanitised cloth, I rarely brew them as I live in Bayern and can buy 500ml for 80cents, if you are using something neutral like SAF-05 usually if you have reasonable headspace an air lock will suffice for most yeasts 8mm is quite narrow, the point of a blow off is that its sufficiently wide to allow a lot of CO2 to escape.

Just make sure you switch to airlock before you cold crash as it will suck most of whatever the hose is in back into your beer

I'm hoping this time with a golden ale, it'll be a less vigorous ferment and the blow off tube will suffice.

If i try the german weiss again I now know a little more about what to expect, thanks for your advice.

If I don't start doing things right it'll be cheaper to move to Bayern and buy 80cents beer over there.