air leak in my carboy lid

Hi

I use glass carboys - 6G. One of my fermenter lids has an airleak, in that the airlock doesnt bubble on this one.

How long can I ferment in this one without worrying about oxidation?

Its in there 10 days now. I want to ferment in primary for 3 weeks.

Or shall I go and get a new lid right now.

Thanks

If you're not disturbing the beer (splashing, etc.), then I wouldn't worry about oxidation. It sounds like your airlock has a crack or your stopper isn't sealing properly. If you want to swap out the airlock and/or stopper, that's fine, but oxidation isn't really your problem. Some breweries even ferment in open style fermenters.

Primary fermentation will force all the oxygen out and replace all head space with CO2, since CO2 is denser than O2 it will likely stay only CO2 so long as it's not disturbed, ie no O2 will get in there and mix up and get at your beer

How do you get a leak in a carboy cap?

If it's the orange style, and its mouth is too large in diameter, you can fix that with a simple zip tie around it.

Or just stop by your LHBS and drop $2 for a drilled rubber stopper.

Hi Guys

thanks for the advice. I have a pretty funky carboy, I live in China, so its a type used to house liquors with funny stuff marinating...
photo attached.
I bought a new glass stopper but it still didn't seal, need to probably buy a whole new carboy.

in descending order the 3 most crazy things I have seen marinating in chinese liquor in these glass jars..

3. about 10 cobras
2. about 100 rat foetus's
3. about 1000 dog dicks.

These are all supposed to be good for you.

My friend tried the dog dick liquor, he swore he was quite excited for 2 days!

Dude that's friggin nut's, and your carboy is friggin awesome... The reason a good seal is important ( and the whole reason we use airlocks) is to let air out, not in, to keep things sanitary. You will probably be alright in all honesty, but air should only be going out, not in, and only through the airlock. As long as that carboy is not sealed correctly, you risk infection. I had Edworts haus pale in a fermenter, and the krausen looked good, and I knew it wasn't infected, but no bubbles. I let it ride, but I knew the thing should be blowin off. So long story short, switched the blow off tube, and finally saw some bubbles, and beer was fine even with a bad seal. Good luck. -Jake

If that's a glass lid sealing against a glass jar, I don't think you'll ever get that airtight.

Sweet Carboy!!!

Get a small container of food grade silicone grease and apply it in a thin layer where the glass pieces mate and where the stopper fits in. It should seal just fine then. You might look for "keg lube" as an alternative.

RM-MN said:

Get a small container of food grade silicone grease and apply it in a thin layer where the glass pieces mate and where the stopper fits in. It should seal just fine then. You might look for "keg lube" as an alternative.

Click to expand...

Great idea thanks!

For 10 dollars I can buy a new carboy anyhow also

PintOfPlain said:

Great idea thanks!

For 10 dollars I can buy a new carboy anyhow also

Click to expand...

Was also told you can use a bit of Vaseline