beer in airlock

Just wondering what to do in case of beer bubbling through the airlock. Should it be sanitized and replaced? It doesn't appear that it'll reach all the way to the top and out, so I was wondering if I could just leave it as is, since I'll be transfering it to a bottling bucket anyways in a couple of days.

Just remove it, clean it, and replace.

homebrewer_99 said:

Just remove it, clean it, and replace.

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If its allot just run a blow off tube into a sanitary solution. If its just a little, I agree clean it sanitize it and replace it...This happend to me a few days ago, all I had to do is lift my airlock a bit, I had it stuffed too far down in the stopper

OSUmoney83 said:

Just wondering what to do in case of beer bubbling through the airlock. Should it be sanitized and replaced? It doesn't appear that it'll reach all the way to the top and out, so I was wondering if I could just leave it as is, since I'll be transfering it to a bottling bucket anyways in a couple of days.

Click to expand...

Hmm...if it's blowing off that vigorously now, I wouldn't be transferring to a bottling bucket in a couple of days...maybe a couple of weeks?

But to answer you question: As others have said, clean it, sanitize it, stick it back in.

Or you can leave it as is if you'll be racking soon. But if the ferment is going that strong, it is not close to time to bottle...

Thing is, it was in the secondary for about 3 weeks with no activity in the airlock, but some bubbles and foam on the top. Anyways, I moved the carboy over the heating vent to speed things up, and it heated up to say the least. Since the carboy was so full, A little foam made its way up the airlock. I've since moved the carboy from the vent, theres no activity now, so I'm waiting 5 more days, (1 week total since the incident), then I'm going to bottle. I haven't removed the airlock to clean it, and I don't think I will because there is no sediment or any activity for that matter. Everything is still clean and sanitary, But if someone highly reccomends it I remove, sanitize and replace I will

As long as it's still outgassing, at least a little, you should be cool. You can bet that the airlock water has nasties in it now, because the foam that got into it will invite them. You just need to make sure the airlock water doesn't get into the brew. So don't move it someplace too cold so that it sucks water back in. As long as it's just pressure coming out, never trying to get back in, you're cool.