Blow-off Cap

[Wolfy]

Woke up this morning to find the yeast (pitched 12 hours ago) crawling out of the top of the jerry-fermentor and making a mess of the fridge:

Theakston Old Peculier clone/Brewlab F40 yeast.

... so I figured it was time to make a 'proper' blow-off cap.
More details/pictues on my Blog ... if you need them.

Cap from cube or jerry, plus a 13mm barb to 15mm BSP poly elbow or director:

Drill a very-slightly too small hole in the middle of the cap, the 20mm hole saw is ideal, but a step-bit will work too.
Cut a thread with a 1/2 inch stainless nipple (or similar).
Screw in the elbow/barb:

... and we're done:

Would be much nicer if we could embed video, but here it is in action less than 5 mins later:


... takes long to clean up the mess in the fridge than to make the blow-off-cap.

If you wanted to get pedantic and make a totally air tight seal, you could use a 15mm F-F Coupling and silicon washer to screw the barb into:

... or use a stainless barb and nut (but since everything else is plastic ....).

 

[Feldon]

Or could use one of these...

 

[Charst]

are they just garden bits from the big green shed? ive been looking for extra lids but they are not located in the same section as the cubes I guess.

 

[Wolfy]

Feldon, yep but the poly barb costs about 50c - and I have an abundance of normal-lids.
Charst, the poly barb/elbow are from the irrigation section of the big green shed.

 

[tiprya]

Irrigation section at Bunnings?

Also, is that just vinyl hose?

 

[donburke]

an alternative is to use a senior airlock, you leave the top bit off it, and a length of silicone hose fits straight onto the shaft


photo from
http://www.homebru.com.au/images/BEQAIRSENM.jpg



then, after the krausen has subsided, you can remove the silicon hose, and then insert the top bit, add some sanitised water and it's functioning as a normal airlock, handy if you are then cold crashing etc

 

[Wolfy]

tiprya, yep garden/irregation section and yep some old vinyl hose I found laying around, silicon hose would fit/work just as well, but I don't plan to re-use the yeast so didn't see the point.

donburke using the airlock without the top is a good idea. I did try one of those in the cap of the jerry, but (even when the hole was just the right size) it tended to leak a bit, so fiddling with airlocks is not something I bother with now. The blow-off is required since cling-wrap can't contain the yeasty-mess!

 

[donburke]

donburke using the airlock without the top is a good idea. I did try one of those in the cap of the jerry, but (even when the hole was just the right size) it tended to leak a bit, so fiddling with airlocks is not something I bother with now. The blow-off is required since cling-wrap can't contain the yeasty-mess!

the hole for the rubber grommet can be drilled a millimetre smaller, makes fitting the airlock a little tighter, but after everything gets soaked in starsan it tends to be slippery enough to fit and makes the sealing nice and air-tight

 

[Charst]

Feldon, yep but the poly barb costs about 50c - and I have an abundance of normal-lids.
Charst, the poly barb/elbow are from the irrigation section of the big green shed.

sorry wolfy and the caps? also the irrigation section?

 

[Wolfy]

sorry wolfy and the caps? also the irrigation section?

Not sure if they sell them sorry, I got a stack (cheaply) last time I visited Crown Concepts (or somewhere like that), think most LHB's have them too (but you tend to pay more).

 

[Wolfy]

About 6 hours after attaching the blow-off, seems there is more than enough yeast collected to pitch into a new batch:

F40 is not on Brewlab's retail list, but they suggested it for a clone of Theakston Old Peculier saying: "yeast is clean and allows the malt and hop characters to totally dominate". Likely useful in similar beers, Scottish/Irish Ales, and probably (according to the AABC guidelines) an Australian Bitter Ale.