Heart Stopping Moment!

I almost gave myself a heart attack last night. I was fumbling around in the basement looking for something, not noticing the carboy full of BM's Centennial Blonde sitting next to me. I picked up a box and as I was swinging around to lay it down, I whacked the airlock on the carboy, cracking it all the way down to the tip - it's contents seeping into the beer! Thank goodness I had filled the airlock with vodka so no harm done!

Hell, even if it had been water, the possibility of anything terribly bad happening to your beer are close to nil (unless you had, for some reason, filled the airlock with lye). Especially with a beer like that American Blonde, which will get drunk up too soon for any possibility of infection to really make a difference.

secinarot said:

Thank goodness I had filled the airlock with vodka so no harm done!

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Great idea, since my first batch drunk the whole airlock water + sanitizer solution I always fill it with Vodka just in case.

Yep, me too. But next time I'm switching to really cheap vodka.

I always use star-san in the airlock, since whatever small amount is in there wouldn't make a difference if it got sucked into the beer.

Rick500 said:

Yep, me too. But next time I'm switching to really cheap vodka.

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Beer is our friend. Go ahead and use the Grey Goose or the Chopin.

+1. I use Absolute

justinh85 said:

+1. I use Absolute

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Ditto, I am using Absolute, only because I'm too lazy to pickup something cheaper and I'd rather sacrifice the Absolute over the Ketel One.

To makeup for my largess in this area, I've been recycling the vodka from batch to batch, only topping up. I do sanitize a new airlock each time, but I pour it from the old to the new and top up.



Edit: Nothing is wasted. If I don't have an opportunity to recycle, I make myself a drink.

Someone gave me a really awful bottle of whiskey. I wonder...No, it'd stink up the beer.

Rick500 said:

Someone gave me a really awful bottle of whiskey. I wonder...No, it'd stink up the beer.

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How would it stink up the beer? Air goes out the airlock

Stoli. Definitely. In fact, I think I may accidentally spill some while filling the airlock next time and I would have to drink it else jeopardize the beer. And then accidentally do a few more times. Wonder how many time I could get away with accidentally doing this before SWMBO wises up to me. If I time it right, and she's distracted, then I stand a decent chance of getting a quick buzz.

For I minute I thought you were going to say you cracked the neck on the carboy. A little bit of shmuck for the airlock is not going to make any difference.