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10-13-2010, 04:48 AM
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#1
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Feedback Score: 0 reviews
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 5
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Carboy Beer Level Dropping?
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Hi,
Call me crazy ( please don't  ) but I swear the level of my beer in my glass carboy is dropping everyday. Also, there are sticky trails/runs running down the outside of the craboy. I haven't had an issue with foam coming out the air lock and my airlock and plug are air tight. Is there something else that can be causing this (perceived) drop in beer volume?
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10-13-2010, 05:22 AM
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#2
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Fremont, CA
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Maybe your kids are sampling??? That's really weird man.
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10-13-2010, 05:30 AM
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#3
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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Posts: 301
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Are the trails coming from the top? If they aren't, maybe your carboy has a crack small enough not to notice but big enough to leak. If that's the case, I would carefully drain it and never, EVER use it again, in case of it shattering.
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10-13-2010, 12:51 PM
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#4
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Location: Joliet, IL
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+1 to what both of the previous posters said. There's either a leak or some sampling going on.
__________________
Fermenting: Nothing
Secondary: Nothing
Bottled: Oatmeal Porter, Double Chocolate Chipotle Porter
Kegged: IPA, Red Rye
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10-13-2010, 01:11 PM
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#5
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Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
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Location: "Detroitish" Michigan
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You've heard of the "Angel's Share" right?
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"Angels' share" is a term for the portion (share) of a wine or distilled spirit's volume that is lost to evaporation during aging in oak barrels.
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It's clear that you have something similar happening, only in homebrewing we don't have angels, we sadly have "Evil Beer Gnomes" and they are mean bastards.
And ugly too....
You really need to cultivate some beer fairies to protect your stuff. You do that by leave a bottle capful of wort for them, as tribute. (They like sweet stuff.) You do that and they will keep the beergnomes at bay.
I'm lucky, mine are hot....
Seriously, something's swiping your stash, man.
__________________
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Revvy's one of the cool reverends. He has a Harley and a t-shirt that says on the back "If you can read this, the bitch was Raptured. - Madman
I gotta tell ya, just between us girls, that Revvy is HOT. Very tall, gorgeous grey hair and a terrific smile. He's very good looking in person, with a charismatic personality... he drives like a ****ing maniac! - YooperBrew
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10-13-2010, 01:30 PM
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#6
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: illinois
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We had a similar problem, with our whisky bottles. The level kept dropping, especially on weekends. We started marking the bottles, and the level stopped dropping. But the whisky started getting weaker instead. Weird.
__________________
~
"Anything worth doing, is worth doing slowly." ~~ Mae West
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10-13-2010, 02:11 PM
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#7
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 5
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Haha Beer Gnomes eh? Well, I live alone, have no pets,no kids, no one has been over and my GF knows better. I didn't notice any cracks but like you said they could be hairline/ not noticeable. Yes, The streaks are coming from the top down to the bottom. Could an increase in CO2 pressure forces some foam out through the cap seal or even where the airlock fits into the plug? Ive had a pesky fruit fly crawling around my airlock and plug so I'm thinking if he cant find a way in, it should be sealed pretty good.
Is there a possibility or the glass sweating during temperature changes (fluxes anywhere from 70 to 76deg)? There seems to be some condensation on the inside of the carboy at the top. Then again the level drop could just be the foam layer at the top dissipating.I'll mark it when I get home and see what happens.
Last edited by TheIrishStout; 10-13-2010 at 02:13 PM.
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10-13-2010, 02:40 PM
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#8
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Indianapolis, IN
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheIrishStout
Haha Beer Gnomes eh? Well, I live alone, have no pets,no kids, no one has been over and my GF knows better. I didn't notice any cracks but like you said they could be hairline/ not noticeable. Yes, The streaks are coming from the top down to the bottom. Could an increase in CO2 pressure forces some foam out through the cap seal or even where the airlock fits into the plug? Ive had a pesky fruit fly crawling around my airlock and plug so I'm thinking if he cant find a way in, it should be sealed pretty good.
Is there a possibility or the glass sweating during temperature changes (fluxes anywhere from 70 to 76deg)? There seems to be some condensation on the inside of the carboy at the top. Then again the level drop could just be the foam layer at the top dissipating.I'll mark it when I get home and see what happens.
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With those kinds of temp fluctuations, I believe your beer could be in trouble taste-wise.  |
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10-13-2010, 06:28 PM
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#9
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Fremont, CA
Posts: 2,089
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Revvy
You've heard of the "Angel's Share" right?
And ugly too....
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Revvy, it's really not nice to post pictures of me without asking.
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