So I got one of these the other day and am using it for the first time. It is in three parts, the body, the inverted bit and a cap. The cap has very small holes and I am concerned will restrict the off gassing to the point where it might make a mess. Should I ditch it or is it necessary? Perhaps I could enlarge the holes in the cap?
Senior airlock
- Thread starter Milhouse
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smertin
Well-Known Member
They have been working well for me for a while, used to use the old school airlocks for a while and had a bit of krasuen get in there was very difficult to clean out. Only time ive had a problem with them is last weekend when i used an aggressive IPA yeast in a DIPA and a strawberry milkshake IPA, 1st kilo of strawberry puree has exploded, if its gonna be a bit violent id suggest a blowoff instead.
The three piece or silent versions of a Senior Airlock have a floating cap inside, when the flow of CO2 is too much for the little holes the cap floats up and lets a lot of gas through, much more in fact than most other types of airlock.
I would leave it alone.
smertin, could raise a fair argument anyone making a strawberry milkshake beer deserves what ever happens to them... but that's probably just a matter of personal taste.
Its a good rule of thumb when you are making a wheat beer or anything with fruit in it to have your fermenter only 2/3 full. Usually gets messy if you go past 2/3 (some textbooks recommend 1/2 full for big wheat beers). The other side of the blow-off tube debate is that there is a finite amount of head building ingredients in any beer. Krausen is very rich in these head building fractions, any you loose wont be in the finished beer, also part of the argument in the kettle skimming debate for exactly the same reasons.
Mark
PS mostly joking about the strawberry milkshake beer (mostly)
M
I would leave it alone.
smertin, could raise a fair argument anyone making a strawberry milkshake beer deserves what ever happens to them... but that's probably just a matter of personal taste.
Its a good rule of thumb when you are making a wheat beer or anything with fruit in it to have your fermenter only 2/3 full. Usually gets messy if you go past 2/3 (some textbooks recommend 1/2 full for big wheat beers). The other side of the blow-off tube debate is that there is a finite amount of head building ingredients in any beer. Krausen is very rich in these head building fractions, any you loose wont be in the finished beer, also part of the argument in the kettle skimming debate for exactly the same reasons.
Mark
PS mostly joking about the strawberry milkshake beer (mostly)
M
Do you have a pic of one of the three piece airlocks? The one google results I can find are the type I have.
The main reason I got one of these is to for certain yeasts I have had problems with as I had read elsewhere these types of airlocks flow more as you said. I don't really want to go down the path of a blow off tube and a bigger fermenter would probably mean I can only fit one in my fermenting fridge
The main reason I got one of these is to for certain yeasts I have had problems with as I had read elsewhere these types of airlocks flow more as you said. I don't really want to go down the path of a blow off tube and a bigger fermenter would probably mean I can only fit one in my fermenting fridge
Thanks, yeah that's exactly what I've got. My concern is the top cap, that's sort of dull has got really small holes in it. I'm concerned this will restrict the off gassing to the point where goop (krausen/yeast) will overflow. Have has situations in the past similar to smertins image. Less the strawberry milkshake that is.
They will handle an extraordinary amount of gas, I suspect all you are going to get from a 23L brew (larger models are available sometimes), if the airlock isn't keeping up lower your fermentation temperature a bit. Or just leave the soft plastic cap off (the bit with the small holes) for the first couple of days. Wouldn't do any harm if you reamed the holes in the cap out a bit but I suspect its unnecessary.
Mark
Mark
They are a good airlock. Never had it blow apart like the two piece one did that one time bry-97 came to town. I don't use any of the old classic style airlocks I have. I find most of them are poorly manufactured because of the excessive flashing and the parting line shows that they can't even align the moulds. Although I would not mind getting hold of a glass one as impractical as they look.
Thanks for the replies. Will see how things go as I currently have a batch fementing with M15 which I have had this issue with in the past.
Noted as well Mark your comments regarding wheat beers (after re reading the thread). My biggest overflow was a recipe with ~25% wheat and ~25% Rye, 23l in a 30l fermenter.
Although yeast seems to definetely have a big part to play, I have never had a batch fermented with us05 have this issue. Including the same wheat/Rye recipe. Does it have a particularly small krausen?
Noted as well Mark your comments regarding wheat beers (after re reading the thread). My biggest overflow was a recipe with ~25% wheat and ~25% Rye, 23l in a 30l fermenter.
Although yeast seems to definetely have a big part to play, I have never had a batch fermented with us05 have this issue. Including the same wheat/Rye recipe. Does it have a particularly small krausen?
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