Checking krausen in a plastic fermenter

Newbie question...

I am brewing my first batch this week - extract plus bittering hops - and will be using a two-stage fermentation. The primary fermenter is the common 7 gallon plastic bucket w/airlock and valve, part of a home brew kit.

I understand that I should move it from this primary fermenter to the secondary (a 5 gal carboy) when the krausen begins to shrink (or as others note, perhaps when it is gone).

The plastic bucket is, as you would imagine, translucent, so I need to open the lid to check the krausen. Assuming I do this fairly quickly, are there any issues with this? I just want to ensure that the wort/beer remains sanitized.

Thanks!

remove the airlock and peek through the hole.


-walker

Rather than pulling the lid, you could just pull the cork/airlock and look in...much less risk that way.

Yep, a lot easier to peek through the hole than try to pry that lid off. I'll also say there's no real point in checking until your bubbling has really tapered off.

Yeah, I wait till I've got one bubble every 45 - 60 seconds, then transfer to secondary.

Thor, I don't have an airlock on my primary - just a loose fitting overhang lid. I pop it once a day after about the third day, to see what's going on. What I get is a big faceful of C02 so I'm not worried about aerating the beer, and I don't really take the lid off, so I'm not worried about contamination. I've tried to listen to the thing, but I can't tell a damn thing from that alone.

Relax. If it goes in clean, it'll stay clean if you're reasonably careful.

Conversely, a guy could just put the stuff in to ferment, and check in 7 days.

The thing is, you've got a big layer of C02 on top of the beer... that positive pressure is your friend this week.