kyleobie

Recipes 

Hey all,

So I took the plunge and bought a homebrew kit from my local store and...the lid with the kit won't fit snugly on the plastic fermenter. After measuring the lid with a tape, it appears to be very slightly smaller than the fermenter.

Any suggestions on how to seal this once I'm ready to ferment? Can I wrap it with tape or foil or something? Or do I need to go complain to my homebrew store?

llazy_llama

Recipes 

Personally, I'd take it back and get a proper lid. Tinfoil will work as long as you don't have insects, but since it's still brand new you might as well get your money's worth.

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kyleobie

Recipes 

Wow, that was quick. Thanks.

tireater

Recipes 

Last time I was at the HBS, they had several kinds of lids...you probably got the wrong one...
Some take ALOT of force to seal...If a hardware store is closer, you can probably get the right one for $3...
Lids w/o o rings won't work on buckets that take an o ring lid...and visa versa...

beersydoesit

Recipes 

I agree with LazyLlama you might as well get what you paid for. Or if the lid remains a pain in the neck, you could go the Quebecois route.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/primary-bucket-quebec-style-100428/?highlight=fermentor+quebec

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Dave in Madison

Yooper

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This sounds silly, but are you sure it won't fit? My lids are super, super tight, and take quite a bit of pushing to get them on. Once they are on, they take some finger strength to pull them off. The first time I brewed, I didn't think my lid fit. But I kind of did a "tupperware" seal, pushing it on around the outside, and it snapped right on. I thought to myself, "Aha!" Maybe yours is the same way?

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

D1sorder

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Yea mine was they same way as Yoopers, I spent like 10 minutes thinking that I had the wrong lid and out of frustration I slammed a lot of my weight on it when I was trying to put it on and what do you know it snapped right on. Can be a pain to get off as well because of the tight fit.

kyleobie

Recipes 

Thanks - I'll give that a try. I've put a lot of weight down on it, but maybe it's not enough?

kyleobie

Recipes 

And...there we go. All that aggravation and a very simple solution. Thanks, ya'll!

Yooper

Recipes 

You're very welcome. It's better to learn from our experience, rather than going back to the store and complaining and have them tell you that you're crazy- it does fit! And then show you how.

Now, I hope you have extraordinary finger strength to get it off!!!




Actually, one of those "paint can openers" opens them easily, but I just go to one side and "peel" up one spot and then pull it all the way open.

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006