Tales of another Stout

You won't need a blow off tube until you do. With 19L
batches you'll be fine with an airlock most of the time but as
mentioned it depends on the specifics of the batch. Anyway, as Denis
says, you're not a real home brewer until you have cleaned the ceiling
with a mop. Down the track, make sure to post the inevitably hilarious
pictures of the batch where your airlock blocked up and in hindsight
you should have used a large diameter blow off tube instead.

Anthony Wilson, on the MontreAlers mailing list

Brewing is full of challenges. Among other things, you have to deal
with organic ingredients with relatively short shelf life and
with qualities that varies from one harvest to the other, you need to move
large volumes of hot liquid, and you have to handle sticky fluids
under high pressure.

While patience is a virtue when brewing, it happens that you have to
rush a batch a bit because you want it ready for a particular event.
That's when being part of a club is very helpful. Experienced brewers
know tricks that are not written in books and they will readily share
then when you ask the right questions.

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