Blow-off connector for fermenter buckets

[Joerg]

Just wanted to share this. I found a bulkhead connector that is meant to
mount a faucet to a thin wall and then connect a garden hose to it. I
used it "in reverse":

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RAINPAL-BBF020-Brass-Bulkhead-Tank-Fitting-1-2-inch-Female-Pipe-and-3-4-male-GH-/122159859014?hash=item1c714b8546:g:PgYAAOSwLF1X7rXo

I made a large enough hole in the middle of the bucket lid and mounted
it so the threaded part sticks out the top. To that I can connect a
piece of garden hose or in my case an old washing machine hose I had
laying around. Then the usual, other end goes into a bucket with water
from where bubbles and frothy stuff emerge. That should take care of big
beers like Belgian Tripel where the racking hose turned out to be too
small for proper blow-off. Hopefully without anything hissing through
the lip of the lid.

For regular beers I just screw on a garden hose thread cap to seal it.

[baloonon]

Post by Joerg
Just wanted to share this. I found a bulkhead connector that is meant
to mount a faucet to a thin wall and then connect a garden hose to it.

Just FYI, not all garden hoses are rated as food safe and some have tested
positive for unsafe levels of lead.

That's not likely to be a problem if you're tossing the yeast, but might be
worth considering if you're planning on reusing it.

[Joerg]

Post by baloonon

Post by Joerg
Just wanted to share this. I found a bulkhead connector that is meant
to mount a faucet to a thin wall and then connect a garden hose to it.

Just FYI, not all garden hoses are rated as food safe and some have tested
positive for unsafe levels of lead.
That's not likely to be a problem if you're tossing the yeast, but might be
worth considering if you're planning on reusing it.

I use some of the trub to harvest yeast for the next batch and then the
whole rest of it for making bread. Sometimes all of it if the yeast has
completed three rounds of beer which I think is a deserved retirement
age. The yeast for Belgian is all used in the bread after fermentation
because BE-256 probably can't be used for other beers.

However, the garden hose is only to vent off the copious amounts of CO2
that Belgian Tripel and BE-256 yeast let off and also the kraeusen that
would otherwise want to grenade the lid off of the fermenter. That
frothy stuff coming out ends up in the water bucket into which the hose
is dunked to provide a giant air lock. The contents of this bucket are
discarded. I will spray StarSan solution into the fermenter end of the
hose though.