Question on airlock for beginner

I just brewed my first beer, a pumpkin ale, placed it in a plastic fermenter with a 3 piece airlock (starsan in the airlock). Room temp around 78 (proper temp for the yeast though on the high end). This morning when I woke up, the airlock was not bubbling and the liquid was a little low, I added water to the fill line and capped it. It then started bubbling like it was earlier. Do you think I messed something up? Do you think air was able to get in? The liquid did not look too low but again this is my first time

You are fine. How long ago did you pitch the yeast? Unless your airlock was empty I am sure you are fine.

What yeast did you use? 78* seems a bit warm.

Is 78* the beer's temp or the air temp? And are you keeping it in a water bath or just sitting out?

Do you have a fermometer on it?

At that temp, I bet it was fermenting like crazy and blew the water out of the airlock.

The yeast was safale us-05 ale yeast, the temp is the room temp, I live in Hawaii where many houses including my own have no ac I will be moving it up the mountain where it should be a bit cooler but I can not do that until tonight. It was brewed yesterday

You have enough positive pressure inside the fermenter nothing's going to get in. You'll be fine. 78F is a bit high for fermenting most ales. If that was room temp your beer was probably a few degrees warmer, yet. You might want to search this forum for "swamp cooler". That's what I use to drop the temps down a few degrees to get into the high 60's/very low 70's. It won't ruin your beer if it ferments a bit hot, but keeping the temps lower will make the flavor a bit smoother.

midyrvt said:

The yeast was safale us-05 ale yeast, the temp is the room temp, I live in Hawaii where many houses including my own have no ac I will be moving it up the mountain where it should be a bit cooler but I can not do that until tonight. It was brewed yesterday

Click to expand...

LMAO, Moving my beer up the mountain for lower fermentation temps. That is one of the best quotes I heard on this entire forum. Your beer should be fine as long as some liquid was in the airlock.

No worry at all. As long as the dome that covers the tube in the airlock is below the water level, then no O2 should get in.

Plus when you're fermenting, there is so much CO2 coming out that it will be very difficult for oxygen to get in an

The bigger issue is that at 78 with Safale S-05, you're going to be looking at some off-flavors. Hopefully it will just be mostly esters so it should stay drinkable.

Yeasts with higher temp ranges and/or less off-flavors at higher temps is what you need, something like a lot of saison yeasts, wyeast scottish ale (which has an upper range of 75, and is incredibly versatile) or for dry yeasts, I really like BRY-97 that seems to do much better in the 70's, leaving only minimal esters that can be masked... And I'm sure others he could offer some others if you're forced to hot temps like I am here in GA in the summer.

Awesome, thanks guys for all of your help! It's kind of funny how you need to modify things here in the islands. I will try to move the beer to the cooler location ASAP. I will try those different yeasts next time. Is there any issue with transporting the fermentor? Like it splashing around a little in the bucket?

What island are you on? I'll be on Kona in 3 weeks. Would love to meet other home brew enthusiasts.


Does gravity affect gravity? Would all beer be lite on the moon?

midyrvt said:

Awesome, thanks guys for all of your help! It's kind of funny how you need to modify things here in the islands. I will try to move the beer to the cooler location ASAP. I will try those different yeasts next time. Is there any issue with transporting the fermentor? Like it splashing around a little in the bucket?

Click to expand...

Don't let it tip over. The rocking might cause a bit more activity amongst the yeasties.

Oxygen is your other concern, transporting may agitate your brew creating bubbles. You may want to keep where it is and try to place some icepacks around your container.

Ok will do. Do you think the higher temp will affect the beer even though it will only be exposed to it for 24hrs?

Ok will do. Do you think the higher temp will affect the beer even though it will only be exposed to it for 24hrs

To a degree yes. How much I'm not sure. And I'm not sure at what temp you begin creating fusel alcohol, which is terrible stuff!

The first 3-5 days is the most important.

Should not be any problem moving it, but do it carefully so you don't splash. Slight gentle moving (even up or down stairs) shouldn't harm it as long as you're careful with it.

Otis1031 said:

Oxygen is your other concern, transporting may agitate your brew creating bubbles. You may want to keep where it is and try to place some icepacks around your container.

Click to expand...

The fermenter is full of CO2. There shouldn't be any oxygen to speak of in the head space. Besides which, this early in fermentation oxygen is a useful thing to have dissolved in the wort, anyway.

Ok so I have an update, the next day I put the fermentor in a swamp cooler. I now have a cool brew cooler that it is happily sitting in. Here Is the bad thing: I noticed that 3 days into the fermentation the airlock basically stopped. I didn't think much of this since I read on the forums about how this means nothing. When I went to rack the beer into a secondary is when I noticed a crack in the lid of the plastic fermentor. I had not previously noticed this because of the t-shirt over the fermentor in the swamp cooler. The beer smelled good, what are your thoughts? Do you think it's bad? Just wait and see, what do you think my chances are? Certainly learning a lot.

You are still OK.

The blanket of C02 on the beer protects it pretty well.
As long as the "crack" in the lid is not a gaping hole, you will most likely be fine.
Since you mentioned "learning a lot" in the conclusion of your last post, allow me to offer another bit of advice:
RDWHAHB / which is kind of a mantra here on HBT.
Relax, Don't Worry; Have A Home Brew


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Awesome!! That is exactly what I have been trying to do, lol. Hopefully if will be my own homebrew soon