Sterilock Airlock

[Black Devil Dog]

Just bought a couple of these from Full Pint, haven't used them yet but they look like a pretty good bit of gear especially when chilling your beer once fermentation is done.

I've got blow off tubes on both my fermenters, but my set up for chilling, even though it seemed to work, it was a bit of stuffing around. Hopefully these will be an easy and safe solution.

 

[crowmanz]

$9 - that's a lot of cling wrap http://shop.coles.com.au/online/national/coles-smart-buy-wrap-cling-5896659p

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Cling wrap isn't going anywhere near my stainless steel conicals.

 

[GalBrew]

They are great for conicals. I do the exact same thing.

 

[fraser_john]

so what happens with one of these when you have a yeast that cannot help itself buy climb through the airlock?

But yeah, be handy for my conical ...

 

[Black Devil Dog]

I'd say that unless you have plenty of head space, they might not be the best option when the ferment is active.

 

[Camo6]

Have used these for the last couple of brews. First batches were 1469 in a 20l batch so used blow off tubes thankfully, as the yeast climbed out of the buckets. Used the steri locks to cold crash with great success.

The last two batches are fermenting atm. Only 17l cubes using wlp090 so thought I'd trial the steri locks during fermentation. The only problem with these is knowing whether your beer is fermenting! Luckily I didn't use the odour capsule and the sweet smell of fermenting wort was a giveaway.
The only thing I've noticed with these is they have more resistance than a typical HB airlock. This has created a tad more carbonation in my fermenting beer and also means a slower transfer is necessary to avoid a reduction in flow from the tap.

That being said, these are a neat, cheap addition to the brewery.

Noticed on the Steri-Lock website there is a CO2 indicator coming soon. This would be a reassuring substitute for a bubbling airlock or condensating glad wrap.

****. Almost forgot....

"And that's why I use Steri-Lock everyday!"

 

[huez]

So after 2 brews i think i've given up on mine, i keep finding it pushed out of the bung and on the ground. Is it possible for these things to get blocked? After it happened just now i tried to blow through it and no amount of air was getting through that sucker. Whats up with that, have i got a dud? i've gone back to a normal airlock for now until i can figure it out

 

[Spiesy]

So after 2 brews i think i've given up on mine, i keep finding it pushed out of the bung and on the ground. Is it possible for these things to get blocked? After it happened just now i tried to blow through it and no amount of air was getting through that sucker. Whats up with that, have i got a dud? i've gone back to a normal airlock for now until i can figure it out

Sure, it's possible for anything with a membrane to get blocked... have you had yeast/wort/beer/hop debris climb through your fermenter into one which could have blocked it? Maybe it's not a snug enough fit in grommet/bung?

Or maybe it is faulty.

I've only used the Sterilock during active fermentation a few times, I mostly use it during the chilling/cooling/crash-chilling phase.

 

[Spiesy]

My 2c of the Sterilock:

LOVE them... love them, love them, love them.

I never use it during the initial stages of fermentation. My Brewbucket or Chronical are always running on dangerously low headspace, so I prefer the reassurance of a blow-off tube setup, also helps let me know when I have an active fermentation underway. But when it comes time to lower the ferment temp and/or crash chill, it's blow-off tube off and Sterilock in. The fact that it filters incoming air during the cooling process is a massive win over a conventional airlock.

 

[huez]

I only really got it for cold crashing anyway to stop the suck back through to airlock. Hasn't had anything through it, just a soak in starsan. Possible it's faulty i spose.

 

[blotto]

I opened mine today and found that it seems very hard to push or suck air through it. When I opened the tap on my brew bucket the flow of starsan stopped until air was sucked in through the tap, it's not working well at all and I can totally see it getting spat out after I remove the blow off tube. It might be because it was wet tho.

 

[huez]

I opened mine today and found that it seems very hard to push or suck air through it. When I opened the tap on my brew bucket the flow of starsan stopped until air was sucked in through the tap, it's not working well at all and I can totally see it getting spat out after I remove the blow off tube. It might be because it was wet tho.

glad i'm not the only one having issues! It's possible you're not even meant to be able to blow air through it, until i figure the thing out i might just stick to the old school airlock!

 

[Black Devil Dog]

The flow of air back through must be pretty restricted, I had to take mine out when transferring to keg because it was creating quite a vacuum.

Definitely reckon it's a good thing when chilling, but a bit of p.i.t.a when transferring. Next time I might remove the little domed cap.

 

[Camo6]

I transferred to kegs the other day and just let the steri lock maintain the flow rate. Left the tap fully open and transferred over about 15 mins for each 17l batch. Still **** myself when the brewbucket lids pop in though.

 

[Spiesy]

Hey guys, yes the flow rate will be restricted. In order to filter out all impurities from the air, the filter needs to be super fine - but it should still breathe.

 

[Spiesy]

And I should add, when transferring I remove mine. I used to remove my airlock when transferring, so nothing lost there for me. Depends on what flow rate you're after.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Tried this on my Chronical over the past 3 days. Is a 12L batch lager at 10C (cold pitched) so was not worried about krausen. I was spraying the outside with starsan to see if I got bubbles showing the CO2 flow out of the sterilock, but nothing visual and was not game to open the chronical lid. Upon returning home from the case swap today I pulled the sterilcok out of the grommet and it released a LOT of gas pressure.

It seems these things cannot pass the CO2 generated from active fermentation, how useless. Blow off tube installed now. One bonus is I have done my first pressurised fermentation, albeit it completely by accident. Cheaper than a WW I spose... lol

 

[Bribie G]

Anything's cheaper than a williamswarn :lol:

Hijacking thread but my brew bucket sort of seals but not an official kittens seal, is there something I'm doing wrong with the silicone lid gasket?

 

[barls]

take it to a separate thread bribie don't hijack this one.
as for the sterilocks i found that i could get about 2/3s of the volume out and then it slowed to a trickle.