I was thinking this morning, while cleaning up my most recent mess…
My cherry stout carboy blew out the bung connected to the blowoff tube and shot delicious beer foam around the room, is there such a thing as a clamp that attaches around the bottom lip of the carboy spout to the top of the bung to stop this from happening?
I was thinking of a hinged, grooved double ringed thingy that opens up (like a Pac Man) and screws together holding the top of the bung down to the lip of the carboy?
Hard to explain maybe, but I may have just made someone a million bucks if they can patent something like this, I am too busy with two jobs and kids.
That is a heavy duty blowoff system, I will be rigging that up for my next batches, thanks for the tip.
I use plastic carboys because I have small children and I don’t want them to shatter if one of them were to knock it over, it’s bad enough to lose the beer, but a trip to the ER would suck.
I plan to switch to glass as soon I can, cracking wouldn’t be an issue for plastic would it?
Plastic may not have an issue if the blow off tube is plugged.
Why go to glass? It’s heavy and like you mention, breaking is a huge danger. I’ve been luck and dropped a couple while cleaning them. Thankfully I was over the vinyl bath tub and nothing broke. Still scares the beggesses out of me.
So far I have only lost 1. My 5 gallon when I put to warm of water in a cold carboy. Still have 5 6g ones. And picked up 4 Better Bottles when NB had a BOGO sale.
Get on NB and MW’s email list to pick up a deal like this.
That’s the same way I lost my original 5 gal. Didn’t shatter, but the bottom cracked in a full circle. My wife and son tried to move a 6 gal. full of wine while I was out of town. They didn’t get hurt, but it took a while to get rid of the smell in my garage. I still use glass, but will buy plastic for a replacement.
I’ve used that type of blowoff for years. Easy to clean and you can buy everything at a hardware store.
[quote=“Hank Scorpio”]is there such a thing as a clamp that attaches around the bottom lip of the carboy spout to the top of the bung to stop this from happening?
I was thinking of a hinged, grooved double ringed thingy that opens up (like a Pac Man) and screws together holding the top of the bung down to the lip of the carboy? [/quote]
Sounds like what you want is a wire bale cap like some jelly jars, growlers, and swing cap bottles.
As others have posted, a better blow-off arrangement should make that unnecessary.
It would still look pretty cool though.
Forget the dangerous glass carboys and don’t bother with plastic - use buckets. Cheap, safe, light, easy to clean and store. And I haven’t needed to use a blow-off tube in years. But then again, I also ferment at cool temperature…
What kind of buckets do you use? I’ve only seen plastic for brewing. I guess I could get some steel paint cans. [/quote]
Plastic buckets work great for brewing. If you are really concerned about them getting stained or contaminated, you can always throw them away and replace them cheaply. But I’ve been using the same two buckets for over 5 years with no problems.
I generally use buckets myself for primary fermentation (ale pails or the similar) Make sure the lid snaps on tightly, and you don’t really have to worry about air getting in over the few weeks it’ll be in there. For long-term aging, I will transfer in to a carboy or better bottle. (i have both - glass for sours, either one that’s handy and clean for other styles.
