With regards to fermenters, which is better – to use a blow off or an airlock?
• A: The question is whether it is better to ferment in a 6.5 gallon carboy or bucket where you have an airlock and there is no blow off versus fermenting in a 5 gallon carboy with a tube attached to the top of the carboy that goes into a jar of water that acts as a blowoff and airlock. With the blow off method most of the krausen gets blown out the top. With the non-blow off method the krausen settles back into the beer after fermentation. In the past homebrewers thought that if you blew this gunk off you would profit from cleaner beer. Some people feel that the blow off beers lose some degree of bitterness, as the oils are lost with the krausen, but it might not matter so much in the long run.
