Ol' Grog
Well-Known Member
I had surgery two weeks ago and let me stay home for a couple of weeks and finally got to catch up with my brewing. However, once I placed my fermenting 5 gal bucket too close to the banjo cooker to try and stop air drafts from it. Sure enough, wouldn't you know it, the side closes to the burner got a little "hot" and deformed it. Now, the lid, I thought, still sealed good. Noticed I wasn't getting any fermentor activity and I popped the lid. Got lots of krauzen and I could tell the wort was churning pretty good. Is an air tight lid really that essential? I mean, once fermenting takes place, your going to get a nice layer of CO2 on top and if the bucket is in a place where there is not a lot of air movement and is in a clean area, should I still need be worried? I'm not getting cocky here, but I feel I've done enough batches and my technique is sound enough that I know, unless the yeast is toast, I will get fermentation. I mean, I can just "smell" it with or without a bubbler.