Tag Archives: ale

Improvised Blow Off Tube

The quad is fermenting away nicely, and I was just thinking how smoothly everything’s going.  The brew went well and we hit our gravity right on the mark.  In fact, it went a little too well and we wound up with a little more than 5 gallons, but we figured there was enough head space in the fermenter, so why not keep it?

Now fermentation has started, and is going perhaps a bit too briskly — foaming up out the airlock and gumming it up.  I just cleaned out the airlock and two minutes later it was all gunky again.  So I rigged up a blow off tube.  Luckily, our normal tubing we use for siphoning is the same gauge as our airlock stem, so I just plugged it into the airlock hole and put the other end in a half-full gallon growler.  It’s bubbling very musically every minute or so.

What’s the difference?

Stewardess: What would you like to drink?
Guy in 23A: Beer.
Stewardess: Beer, or lager?
Guy in 23A: What’s the difference?
Stewardess: We have Heineken or Grolsch lager, and London Pride beer.

It would have been much better if the stewardess had asked “Ale or lager?” instead.  Though frankly, since they only had three kinds, I’m not sure why she didn’t just list them to start with.

Sigh…