Airlock Problem

Hi! I read that it is a good idea to use vodka in an airlock to keep it sanitary, and we had grain alcohol (95% vol) so I figured that I could also use it in my airlock instead of water.

Of course the alcohol evaporated and when I put vodka in the airlock, it started bubbling again but it did not seem to be bubbling as fast as it was the last time I had checked on it.

My question is that, since the fluid in my airlock dried up, do I need to add more yeast to get the proper level of fermentation? Is there any chance I ruined this batch?

Thanks!

Relax! It will be fine. Ive had my airlock hit the ceiling and the carboy open for 8 hours while i was at work, no problems. The fermentation is producing co2 and keeping anything out of there. RDWHAHB!

your beer is fine. put sanitizer in your airlock, it won't evaporate nearly as fast

Did you fill to the fill line? I use starsan in my airlocks to the fill line. During main fermentation it will bubble a lot and i lose about half, but it does the job fine.

Or ditch the airlock entirely and look into a blowoff tube, this makes it harder to run dry, and in the event of a blowoff, you don't spray the ceiling when your airlock plugs up with krausen and launches like a Saturn rocket.

Your beer will be fine, no worries! as long as the batch is still outgassing, it is very difficult for anything nasty to get in to jack up your beer.

Thank you everyone!

Brasco20 said:

Did you fill to the fill line? I use starsan in my airlocks to the fill line. During main fermentation it will bubble a lot and i lose about half, but it does the job fine.

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Yes, I filled to the fill line, but all or almost all of the alcohol evaporated. Using sanitizer in the airlock is a good idea.

For what it's worth, I didn't add water or vodka or ANYTHING in my airlock. Each batch turned out fine. Don't worry about it at all.

+1 on not adding anything. its an airlock and beer it will be fine.

no the yeast are not ninjas. they do not scale the side of your carboy and escape through the airlock (unless the karusen carries them). your probably just past the most active phase of fermentation and its slowing down naturally.