Moving The Brew

[Yob]

Hello and thanx for the feedback/help thus far...

I am now the Proud father (we hope) of my 2nd brew, currently at a lovely 22'C and just starting to bubble/talk. I have it set in a fridge outside which I cooled 20L of water in last night and rose it to 18'C today before mixing my brew and adding it to the 20L giving me my 23L (Coopers Pale Ale)

I mixed it all outside next to the fridge and had a mosquito net cover to keep the bugs away during the critical period when the elements were exposed... its a tightish fit in the fridge and when I picked the container up to put it in the fridge it sucked a small amount of air and water from the airlock back into the chamber.. I know this is not really desirable but ell me Doc is my Baby gunna be OK?

Cheers All

 

[manticle]

Manticle says don't worry unless the water was from a nearby stagnant pond. Better to avoid in future but no major harm done.

 

[Brewman_]

Yeh, should be good.

I always use cooled boiled water in the air lock. That way if some does get drawn it for what ever reason, things should be OK.

Fear_n_Loath

 

[jkirky]

Yeh, should be good.

I always use cooled boiled water in the air lock. That way if some does get drawn it for what ever reason, things should be OK.

Fear_n_Loath

Mate your using tap water to top up your fermentor, so no difference if a little water sucks back from your airlock- happens to me all the time. No probs.

Sit back and dont worry, your brew will be fine..

 

[Brewman_]

Mate your using tap water to top up your fermentor, so no difference if a little water sucks back from your airlock- happens to me all the time. No probs.

Sit back and dont worry, your brew will be fine..

Yes, good point. At the start of your brew, what is in your fermenter is normally the same water as in your air lock.

Call me fussy, but I would encourage some attention to the water in the air lock. The reasons are for moving the fermenter after fermentation has finished, for racking, cold conditioning and so on. At that point the water may not be that flash. There is no guarantee that any water in the airlock may not become contaminated though, but I do my best. I have had the kids stick lollies into the air lock.

When brewing in the fridge at 10 Deg.C for lagers, I go to the extent of covering the air lock to prevent condensation from the fridge falling into and around the airlock which could cause contamination. When brewing in the fridgde without good housekeeping, mould will start to grow in about 2 or 3 days.

Fear_n_Loath.

 

[raven19]

If its a tight squeeze getting it into the fridge, simply use the Butters method of a clean shot glass over the airlock hole.

As per other posts, it shall be fine.

 

[stm]

Cling wrap is your friend! Chuck away the lid and airlock and just use the rubber seal to hold down the cling wrap. A very popular and effective method.

 

[WarmBeer]

Cling wrap is your friend! Chuck away the lid and airlock and just use the rubber seal to hold down the cling wrap. A very popular and effective method.

+1 on the Cling Wrap.

If you are going to persist with the airlock, substitute some cheap vodka for the boiled water. Will kill anything that drops into it, no chance of mould, and if any gets sucked back into your brew, no harm at all.

 

[Lachlan]

When i was using airlocks i would fill it with some sanitising solution eg: stasan and never had any problems.

I now use and recommed the cling wrap.

 

[ivanhoe]

What are the advantages of cling wrap? Certainly seems primitive when compared to the screwed lid and air lock!

I'm sure there are reason why though, please explain.

EDIT: i just thought of 1 reason, you could see the brew a lot better?

 

[WarmBeer]

What are the advantages of cling wrap? Certainly seems primitive when compared to the screwed lid and air lock!

I'm sure there are reason why though, please explain.

Firstly, you can easily see through it, so you can see whether you have a krausen, rather than relying on the bubbling of your airlock.

A huge number of posts are made by beginning brewers regarding the fact that their airlock is not bubbling yet. In most cases, this will not be due to a stalled ferment, but due to a microscopic air-leak in their seal. A bubbling air-lock, or lack thereof, is not a reliable indication of fermentation. Removing the reliance on the bubbling frees the brewer to understand the fundamentals of visually checking for condensation or krausen, and more reliably, checking for a drop in SG.

Finally, using fresh cling wrap, rather than a multi-piece bit of equipment (lid, grommet and airlock) removes one more vector to infection. The underside layer of your cling wrap roll should be "food grade" sanitary. The rubber ring is on the outside, so never comes in contact with your wort.

Hope this helps.