Lager Contamination Question

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bulleitb

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So Ive had a lager in the fridge at 35 degrees for about 2 weeks now. I just checked it for the first time a couple days ago and saw that a lot of the water in the airlock (3 piece) had disappeared making the airlock pretty ineffective. So I put a little more water in and checked the next day and it had all disappeared again making me think that its getting sucked into the carboy. Why is it doing this, and what can I do? I am worried that my beer is contaminated because air can freely get in there and theres nothing I can think to do to fix it. SOmebody please help me. Im like 5 weeks into brewing and Id really hate to have a bad batch after all this time.
 
negative pressure creates a vaccum that sucks it back in. but it should not keep doing this unless your lager fridge is experiencing wide temp ranges.

Also, you should really put NO-RINSE sanitizer in the airlock, or vodka. Water won't kill any bugs that get in like 40% ABV vodka, or some star san solution.

don't fill your airlock with bleach water!
 
malkore said:
negative pressure creates a vaccum that sucks it back in. but it should not keep doing this unless your lager fridge is experiencing wide temp ranges.

Also, you should really put NO-RINSE sanitizer in the airlock, or vodka. Water won't kill any bugs that get in like 40% ABV vodka, or some star san solution.

don't fill your airlock with bleach water!

Having done that once I'd recommend the non-foaming version of star san...:drunk:

GT
 
malkore said:
negative pressure creates a vaccum that sucks it back in. but it should not keep doing this unless your lager fridge is experiencing wide temp ranges.

Also, you should really put NO-RINSE sanitizer in the airlock, or vodka. Water won't kill any bugs that get in like 40% ABV vodka, or some star san solution.

don't fill your airlock with bleach water!

I have a thermometer mounted on the fridge. The temp ranges from 37 degrees to 34 derees, not a huge range so I dont see the beer varying by more than 1 degree or so. Thats why Im so confused as to why this is happening. I have some One-Step... can I put that into the airlock or should I buy some vodka?
 
or one-step sanitizer too.
I am using the one piece airlock, didn't have any problems with the water being sucked in. perhaps the one piece airlock is different?
 
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