HELP! Do I need a blowoff tube?

in my 6gal brew bucket i did a 5 gal batch of belgian dark strong.

pitched a 1 quart starter from 2 wyeast smack packs of the belgian strong yeast 1388

8 hours later the S type airlock had a bunch of crud inside, so i took it off and rinsed it out, came back and foam was starting to ooze out of the hole where the rubber stopper jams into.

am i going to need an airlock? and can I use my siphon hose to jam into the rubber stopper my airlock goes into? If not I was thinking to flip the S airlock upside down, and have the bottom of the airlock stem coming out the top of the rubber stopper, attach my siphon hose to that and have the S airlock inside the brew bucket upside down.

5 gallon batch, but maybe went over 5 gallons by a a quart or so since i filled to my 5gal mark before adding my starter!

stick your racking tube in the hole, stick the other end in a gallon jug filled with sanitized water (san star + water). That will help deal with blow off if you have any more.

sweed said:

stick your racking tube in the hole, stick the other end in a gallon jug filled with sanitized water (san star + water). That will help deal with blow off if you have any more.

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awesome, thats what I was thinking, didnt know if the racking tube was wide enough but Ill give it a shot

Thread here about blow off tubes and buckets. Pics inside thread of examples.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/blow-off-tube-bucket-178567/

ThomperYT said:

Thread here about blow off tubes and buckets. Pics inside thread of examples.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/blow-off-tube-bucket-178567/

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I pitched my starter at 76 degrees, i think this may be too high since its a belgian.. could this be why I have so much foam activity?

the closet its in is faily cool with temp in the low 60's so maybe it will settle down?

mullenium said:

I pitched my starter at 76 degrees, i think this may be too high since its a belgian.. could this be why I have so much foam activity?

the closet its in is faily cool with temp in the low 60's so maybe it will settle down?

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I'm making a Belgian right now and the wyeast I'm using has a max temp of 78 degrees. Belgians like warm fermentation. I do pitch on the low end and let the temp rise naturally over the course of a week or so.

As for blow off tubes...it's a good idea to have one set up for any beer with an OG of 1.045 or higher. After initial fermentation (4 days or so) you can replace with an airlock.