Started with 1Kg of Morgans Body Blend and 408g of a 1kg bag (which turned out to be 880g.. *******s!) of LDME from the LHBS... ............
I totally filled the airlock with vodka... after doing further research it sounds like I overfilled it so emptied half of it out. There isn't any bubbling to speak of, but I can see it's pushing the vodka along in the airlock and there's a smell of yeast in the laundry.
Won't check the gravity again until Thursday giving it the suggested 5days to ferment.
point 1 - when i used to weigh stuff, every hbs loads full weight and a few extra grams cos every brewer has got a set of scales to check it. so either your hbs is a half witted drop kick or your scales are out. if your scales are good, go to a proper hbs.
point 2 - vodka??? you're supposed to drink it - not throw it down an airlock. airlock works like this - yeast creatures pass wind and push their bum vapours through airlock for home brewer to sniff and say 'cool - that smells really good'. nothing pushes air into the fermenter through an airlock except an occasional suck on a freezing cold night when everything's contracting faster than your little friends can fart against it.,,.. so you only need water in the airlock. a sniff slipping through on a freezing night is no more dangerous than any air that might have gotten into the fermenter while you were putting the lid on it and loading up the airlock.
pont 3 - beware the 5 day to ferment. that's only a guide, and not a very good one. there's plenty of advice around forum on how to check if your beer has fermented, often around gravity not changing for 2-3 days, denoting a cessation of conversion activity. my personal rule of thumb is 7 days (coincides with the weekend) minimum. if i ferment for 7 days, i don't age it too much as it could still be fermenting. fermenting in the bottle cos you've dragged the brew out of the fermenter too early is the major cause of exploding bottles. it's still expanding but there's no airlock to relieve the pressure.
if i want to age the beer out more than 6-8 weeks, it ferments for 14 days, coinciding with the next weekend. again, pretty simple. occasionally i'll do a big alcohol beer and it ferments for 3 weeks. and if it's in the fermenter with an airlock and reasonable temperature range, then there's no great likelihood that something bad's going to happen.
ps on the scales - electronic scales need to be on a hard surface. if your scales are on a tea-towel on the bench, they'll read lighter than they should.