Fermenting bucket w/ or w/o airlock?

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SudsyPaul

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I bought a beer kit from my LHBS, and I didn't know that the bucket lid didn't have an airlock hole until brew-day (didn't look all that closely, beforehand)

I called the store and they said "it's better without an airlock for primary". I assume it's not much worse than a bucket with a lid, but is it better?

I definitely don't like the lack of airlock since I can't see the CO2 bubbling away in an airlock, which makes me nervous that it's not fermenting properly (i quickly peaked after 20hrs, and there was about 3" of krausen, so it's fermenting)

Anybody have experience with both with and without an airlock? What did you prefer? And why? (this reminds me of high school essays)
 
Pretty sure the LHBS guy is full of it. Fermenting beer produces a lot of CO2, which has to get out. Otherwise the bucket explodes. Crack the lid a bit for now but put a proper lif and an airlock on there ASAP. Cheers!
 
Wow that is some crap information from a LHBS.

Go get a 6.5 bung and an airlock then use a 1.25 hole saw and cut yourself a hole. Just hit the lid and have a piece of aluminum with some star san,pop the lid and cover the bucket with the foil. Or do what suorangeguy advised and go for the small hole and gasket.

Depending on how well you lid seals you can literally blow the top off.
 
I'm not sure how much beer the guy at the local brew store has made?? Maybe he just likes to leave the lid loose? You need the airlock and you will often need a blowoff tube in it's place for a while.

Even if you just left the lid loose, ( I hope he told you not to put it on tight) with vigorous fermentation you will have a mess on your hands.
 
You don't need an airlock for that style of fermenrer, it's pretty common. You're just meant not to snap the lid on it, that's all.

An airlock is one of the most overated by new brewers, yet most superfluous piece of equiptment there is. Folks give it way too much importance. It's not a fermentation gauge, nor is it something mechanical that helps a beer ferment.

An airlock is simply a vent, a VALVE to release the buildup of excess co2, to keep your beer off the ceiling. Whatever means used to achieve that end is fine. The yeast don't care.

In this case, all you're supposed to do is leave the lid on loosely....if you're paranoid, stick a brick on top for weight, but it doesn't matter.

In fact many folks with arthitis and other issues don't snap the lid down on their buckets anyway, and may folks just put tinfoil, plastic wrap, metal cookie sheets or even plexiglass sheets on top of the bucket instead. It's really not crucial to be tight.
 
Sorry, I should have been more clear. Revvy has it on the mark, the lid is not snapped on. It has a rubber gasket going around the rim of it which rests on the top of the bucket. There's a light seal with lid on the bucket, but a good burp of co2 will escape, without any problem.

I just like to see things work... but I think fermentation is one of those things where I'll just have to trust that things are working. I can see the kreusen, so I know it's fermenting... just gotta sit back and wait, now :|
 
I've read of people fermenting in trash bins. To me this sounds absurd but I can only imagine that the krausen protects the beer, as long as someone doesn't come by and urinate in the beer.

I also believe that people get too carried away with airlocks. To me, it's just a valve.
 
Well since my first beer doesn't need to do a secondary fermentation, I have a free-carboy w/ airlock that's about to get used for a second batch, so we'll see which version of brewing I like best (I'm leaning towards the carboy since I like to see what's going on)

Once I get good enough and know that I'm doing a good job and haven't messed anything up, I'll probably be indifferent as to whether the the beer is fermenting in a bucket w/o airlock or in a carboy.
 
Well since my first beer doesn't need to do a secondary fermentation

You'll find out very quickly on here that many of us do not transfer to secondary unless the beer is very big and needs to condition for a while.

Personally I love Yeast Voyeuring, that's why I usually ferment in glass carboys for small batches. For my bigger batches I ferment in 15gal Sanke's.

Good luck!
 
SudsyPaul said:
Well since my first beer doesn't need to do a secondary fermentation, I have a free-carboy w/ airlock that's about to get used for a second batch, so we'll see which version of brewing I like best (I'm leaning towards the carboy since I like to see what's going on)

The loose lid on the bucket is how I fermented many batches, but only left in there for 1 week. After that, I moved to a carboy and used an airlock since most of the heavy activity had subsided by that point.

These days I just leave in carboy with airlock for 3 weeks.
 
I started out as Revvy described, with a "beer bucket" with a lid without a hole in it. As described, I just set the lid on top (NOT snapping it tightly on) and place a somewhat heavy object on top (I use an old phone book). This worked well when I was just getting started homebrewing, and I've even had to use it like this recently when I ran out of fermenters, but I don't like it. It's not a perfect seal, and theoretically, things can get in. I had a batch once where I found an earwig in my beer when I took the lid off, so it's definitely not a perfect system. However, it most certainly isn't going to result in an explosion and "painting your room with beer" (unless, of course, you snap the lid on tight).

Recently, I even asked the guy at the LHBS if they had any replacement lids with a hold already drilled in it for an airlock, and he told me no, they don't carry such things. All their lids have solid tops, no holes.
 
I also believe that people get too carried away with airlocks. To me, it's just a valve.

I have not used an airlock in years. All my beers go straight to kegs within 7-14 days. JMO, airlocks are really designed for extended aging, certainly not initial fermentation / high kreusen.
 
It's not just that things might get in because it's a perfect seal, it's that it doesn't sound stable. With my fermenters, I can shake them up, carry them around, bump into them while drunk, shoot hockey pucks at them, and not worry about the lid falling off.

Given enough parallel universes and/or time, the if the lid isn't snapped on, it will come off, get dirty, and infect your beer.
 
It's not just that things might get in because it's a perfect seal, it's that it doesn't sound stable. With my fermenters, I can shake them up, carry them around, bump into them while drunk, shoot hockey pucks at them, and not worry about the lid falling off.

Given enough parallel universes and/or time, the if the lid isn't snapped on, it will come off, get dirty, and infect your beer.

Tell that to the folks who've been using them for decades....Winemakers especially use them.



Guys, just because you folks aren't familiar with them, doesn't mean that folks don't use these things EVERYDAY.

I love how people feel the need to knock how these things "just don't work".....when they've been around forever.
 
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I put a textbook on top of the lid, just to stop any bugs or whatever from getting in... and to remind myself to NOT peek at the beer (not easy)

The fermenting bucket is in the back of my basement's unfinished area, on an old desk. It won't have to move at all until I pour out the beer into the priming bucket :) It's also sitting on a towel, in case if an earthquake hits or something, it won't slide off the desk and ruin my day. My daughter is 4 months old, we have no pets and the wife doesn't go into the unfinished area (we also keep monsters and zombies back there, apparently) so it's perfectly safe where it's at.
 
I'm not saying they don't work, but I do a lot of stupid things with beer. For me, after having at least one infected batch this year, it's important to limit the ways that my beer can be contaminated. I assume most other people on this forum are more careful than I am.
 
50 some odd batches for me, every last one was in a bucket that had no airlock, with the lid just on there not snapped down. I peek ALL the time, I take gratuitous samples...ALL the time. Like daily from 1 week in usually. I have left a few fermenters like this for a month or so.

I have never once had an infected batch of beer (Cider, yes...and it was under...gasp...an AIRLOCK!), never once had bugs crawl/fly in, never once had oxidized beer.

All the dire warnings found here with cursory searches are just ridiculous, if you're not a slob and have decent sanitation, you're fine. It's probably like kids, they can fall down and not break themselves and are better off for it ;) Now I just relax, brew in my loose lidded buckets, leave it there for a month on the yeast and enjoy delicious beer. And I only own one airlock because I figured I needed it initially ;)
 
Interesting stuff, I've always brewed with lid snapped and an airlock. I knew people brewed in trash cans with bags back in the day, and that the 'wine' buckets don't have holes and grommets but never put the 2 together for beer.

Cool!
 
Interesting stuff, I've always brewed with lid snapped and an airlock. I knew people brewed in trash cans with bags back in the day, and that the 'wine' buckets don't have holes and grommets but never put the 2 together for beer.

Cool!

Fermentation is fermentation, it doesn't matter if it's beer, or wine or mead or cider or prison hooch, it's Yeast and sugar becoming alcohol, there's no differences.
 
Fermentation is fermentation, it doesn't matter if it's beer, or wine or mead or cider or prison hooch, it's Yeast and sugar becoming alcohol, there's no differences.

Very well Put. If I could talk to yeast I would say... Thank you!
 
Revvy said:
Fermentation is fermentation, it doesn't matter if it's beer, or wine or mead or cider or prison hooch, it's Yeast and sugar becoming alcohol, there's no differences.

Absolutely, I love it when a connection between two seemingly separate pieces of information appears! Its so obvious I'm almost ashamed to admit I never made the connection haha!
 
Just to clarify, are we talking about 1st few days/week for open/loose lid during high krausen, or do some leave their beer open for the entire time (3 weeks or whatever time is needed for the brew)? It sounded like some previous posters did.
 
Just to clarify, are we talking about 1st few days/week for open/loose lid during high krausen, or do some leave their beer open for the entire time (3 weeks or whatever time is needed for the brew)? It sounded like some previous posters did.
Some people do open fermentation. What grows in the wort grows. That includes things like acetobacter or lactobacillus. Not my cup of tea, but to each there own.

To be frank, it just didn't occur to me that you just wouldn't snap the lid tight. It makes sense, but I've been using airlocks since day 1 so the option hadn't presented it's self.

As far as open fermentation goes, I will say I don't go to the lengths that lots of people do to sanitize. Everything I use is washed and rinsed in straight hot water before I use it, but I don't use a commercial sanitizer. I've not have an infected batch in 20+ batches.
 
Actually the primary bucket I got in my first kit (aaaahhhh if I knew how much gear I'd have amassed only 9 months later... :D) had a reallllly neat feature: a kind of airlock lid. It's a semi-clear PP bucket with a lid very similar to paint buckets but when the bucket fills with co2, it expands out and co2 can escape.

I think it's made by Logan or something - maybe that's what you have.
 
This is NOT open fermentation, it's fermentation with a loose lid on it, with co2 coming out where the lid, or plexiglass, or cafeteria tray or plastic wrap meets the lip of the fermenter, and ONLY co2 is escaping, and nothing is getting it, there IS a difference.

THIS, is open fermentation;

IMG_0005-RS.jpg
 
Yeah. The lid is on at all times. I wanna try open fermentation, some day, but not until I know what I'm doing a bit more :/
 
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