Lars13

Recipes 

Hello,

I brewed my first batch of beer yesterday. I had no idea I needed to add water or vodka to my airlock. Should I go back and do this today or just leave it??

Thanks for any advice!

Smokeater233

Recipes 

So the airlock is on top, but it's dry? Whatever the case, yes - add water now...all should be fine.

Revvy

Recipes 

The thing to remember is, even with a dry airlock is that the bad stuff are not ninja acrobats....whether it is a 3 piece or an s type, they would have to get through the cap at the top, then either negotiate a series of twist and turns through an S shaped "track" OR have to dive down, then climb up the center post under the plastic bubbler, then lift said bubbler up enough to the make it into the center post and dive into your fermenter....and STILL have to negotiate the rising co2 current pushing out of the fermenter itself....Think about it...Even without water in there, do you think a piece of dust can make this journey?





Needless to say a piece of dust ain't gonna make it. And not much else either. Relax

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Ace_Club

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Go back and add water to the airlock. It is unobtrusive enough to the fermenting process to go over, open the top of the airlock and dribble some water to the proper level.

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Lars13

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Thanks!!!!

Rev2010

Recipes 

If I were you I'd use vodka instead of water, I see you're aware about using it. As a new brewer we tend to forget that things like simply moving the fermenter can cause pressure changes and suck the water into the beer - luckily this happened to me on my very first day so it's not like it was stale old water. However, when I took my first gravity reading I forgot to take out the airlock (my fermenter has a spigot built in) and when I turned the tap the water, this time 6 day old water, got sucked in as well lol. So, it's not like you're instantly gonna get infected or anything sucking the old water in, but why not be safe and go with some cheapo vodka anyway?


Rev.

castlefreak

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I need you to package all beer and ship it to me for testing. It's the only way I can be absolutely sure that there is no contamination.

weirdboy

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Yeah I use vodka usually in my airlock.

Speaking of which, I need to buy more vodka.

poley

Recipes 

I use distilled water, or sometimes distilled water with star-san in it, which keeps it sterile and is way cheaper than even cheap vodka, plus it doesn't evaporate like vodka does.

Also, if you use the triple-ripple airlock, it won't suck anything back through due to the nature of the design.

weirdboy

Recipes 

You, sir, are mistaken.