The Great Airlock Poll

[Batz]

Take your airlock outside and chuck it!




Best thing brewers can do is use glad wrap,and see what your brew is up to.

"Air lock ,air smock" Taken from Darren some time back B)


Batz

 

[Screwtop]

I use em. With the fermenter lid unscrewed a little so there's no pressure on the ferment, once fermentation slows right down I tighten the lid when CO2 protection is reduced.

 

[winkle]

I use airlocks to avoid vinegar flys and the atmosphere in my mouldy fridge.
Never tried a bogan frangger (cling wrap & rubberband) as a seal

 

[microbe]

I use them - I'm reassured by the the bubbling. Ever since getting a new fermenter though, I don't stress if there's no bubbling 'cause it's pretty hard to seal properly.

microbe

 

[dr K]

I brew ales
I open (ish depending on season) ferment.
Generally I just toss a black garbage bag over the top, in the summer I sit a disused LP on top to make a slightly baby-bug seal (this is in my non sealing chest freezer).
Does it make a better beer, screwed if I know, probably not. Is it important, well perhaps but I can be fairly certain that temperature control is far more important and I dare say that if you fermented in a glass fronted fridge with decent temp control and open containers you would create a far better beer than sealing, airlocking and so on.
Its one of those old myths that granny used to tell us, "make sure that you have a tightly sealed drum, test it by pushing down on the lid to get some pressure to move the liquid in the airlock up and down", goodness me during the first stages of fermentation the yeast needs oxygen, by the time it does not its creating enough CO2 to blanket the krausen that blankets the wort.
Not a lot in it really, and I must admit that I sometimes long for the old fashioned blurp of an airlock, romantic that I am !!

K

 

[dr K]

I brew ales
I open (ish depending on season) ferment.
Generally I just toss a black garbage bag over the top, in the summer I sit a disused LP on top to make a slightly baby-bug seal (this is in my non sealing chest freezer).
Does it make a better beer, screwed if I know, probably not. Is it important, well perhaps but I can be fairly certain that temperature control is far more important and I dare say that if you fermented in a glass fronted fridge with decent temp control and open containers you would create a far better beer than sealing, airlocking and so on.
Its one of those old myths that granny used to tell us, "make sure that you have a tightly sealed drum, test it by pushing down on the lid to get some pressure to move the liquid in the airlock up and down", goodness me during the first stages of fermentation the yeast needs oxygen, by the time it does not its creating enough CO2 to blanket the krausen that blankets the wort.
Not a lot in it really, and I must admit that I sometimes long for the old fashioned blurp of an airlock, romantic that I am !!

K

 

[mika]

I just got the weirdest sense of Deja-vu :huh:

 

[Whistlingjack]

I'm an airlock man...just love the "bloop, bloop" sound.

I use blow-off tubes if I expect a vigorous ferment.

WJ

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Not a lot in it really, and I must admit that I sometimes long for the old fashioned blurp of an airlock, romantic that I am !!

What if you could buy a CD of the sound?

SpillsMostOfIt and his all Air-Lock Orchestra play the hits you love from the 70's, 80's and 90's... :blink: h34r:

 

[Fatgodzilla]

What if you could buy a CD of the sound?

SpillsMostOfIt and his all Air-Lock Orchestra play the hits you love from the 70's, 80's and 90's... :blink: h34r:

There is a cd going around of the sound various golf clubs make when hitting a golf ball. Extremely droll. Extremely dull.

Maybe we need something similiar here - everyone record the sound of their airlock blooping and send them all to SpillsMostOfIt who'll incorporate into various musical styles - country to clasical, grunge to trance. I want royalties for this idea !!

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Gladwrap here

Beats sanitising lid + airlock

Cheers

 

[KoNG]

coke cap

 

[warrenlw63]

+1 for the airlock.

Can't see what the big deal is sanitising such a tiny bit of gear. Good for peace of mind.

Warren -

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Maybe we need something similiar here - everyone record the sound of their airlock blooping and send them all to SpillsMostOfIt who'll incorporate into various musical styles - country to clasical, grunge to trance. I want royalties for this idea !!

I just had a vision of a bunch of young bucks driving down Lygon Street in their fully sick VL Commodore, bloop bloop music blaring from the stereo and the passengers all wearing Coopers' baseball caps the wrong way round...

 

[KoNG]

+1 for the airlock.

Can't see what the big deal is sanitising such a tiny bit of gear. Good for peace of mind.

Warren -

NO issue for me.... i've only changed over to the bottle cap in the last few months.
as my 30 litre ferm doesnt fit in the bar/fermenting fridge with an airlock.
(actually, the cap has to go on before i put it in its that tight)

 

[reVoxAHB]

Looking at the ratio of do's to do not's, do we need to start a new thread:

Users of The "no Airlock Method"... ? h34r:

Just in case there are some people who aren't getting enough abuse?

With great anticipation, I await the culmination thread:

"BIAB/No Mash-Straight To No Sparge/No Boil OR No Chill/No Airlock"
AKA The "Prison Beer" Thread.

reVox

 

[therook]

+1 for the airlock.

Can't see what the big deal is sanitising such a tiny bit of gear. Good for peace of mind.

Warren -

I'm with him

Rook

 

[Kleiny]

use one pretty much just to block the big hole but it also tells me if i have a good seal
dont rely on it to bubble and tell new brewers not to get obsessed with it

cheers

 

[SJW]

I use the airlock. Its a good guide as to how hard the ferment is going. I don't see a need to NOT use one.

 

[KoNG]

I don't see a need to NOT use one.

how bout this.....?

my 30 litre ferm doesnt fit in the bar/fermenting fridge with an airlock.