does everyone use an airlock on primary?

Hey guys,

Ive been making wine for several years now and have never had any issues with fermentation. Im getting ready to start my first batch of beer, and reading through these forums it seems like everyone puts an airlock on their primary during primary fermentation. When i make wine, i get everything in the bucket, stir it up, toss on the yeast, and lay the bucket lid on top. i dont even clamp it down, and dont put an airlock on. From what i was taught, yeast need air to really get going. My wine is usually down to my target SG within 5-7 days. At that time, i transfer to secondary and let everything settle out for 2 weeks, before racking to another carboy.

Seems like most people here put in their yeast, clamp down a lid and put an airlock on and leave it for about 3-4 weeks. Just wondering about the pros/cons to each method. Is it beneficial for the beer to sit on the trub for a longer period of time? When making wine, i was always told to transfer to secondary as soon as fermentation was done.

Adam

I drilled 1 1/4 inch holes in all my lids to add airlocks.

It was easier than burping the primary and more sanitary than leaving the lid loose.

+ 1 on Airlocks

Nope. I don't even use a blow off. I just lay the lid on gently and walk away.

I think every beginners's brew kit comes with an airlock for the primary, so most people start off with one, and never have a reason to quit. Plus they are fun to watch, bubbling away. Just a theory.

I get air into my beer by pouring it back and forth between my bucket and kettle.
For my fermentor I made a blow off tube. Some people have extremely active fermentation and it might be messy if you just place the lid on it. I've never had any fermentations that would even come close to going up into an airlock. I like some sort of airlock because it will tell you that fermentation is going. It's nice to pitch yeast and hear bubbling in the morning.

IceFisherChris said:

I get air into my beer by pouring it back and forth between my bucket and kettle.
For my fermentor I made a blow off tube. Some people have extremely active fermentation and it might be messy if you just place the lid on it. I've never had any fermentations that would even come close to going up into an airlock.

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Yup. I place my fermenter in a bus bin and just let the krausen do what it will. If it flows over, I rinse it.

I use a blow-off tube till about day 3-4, whenever the bottle stops bubbling like crazy.

I get blow-off on every batch I make...some people tell me it's because I don't have temp control (everything is around 65* ambient for the duration and rarely fluctuates) but I believe its cause I shove 10# of crap in a 5# bag [IE 5.5 Gallons of beer into a 6 Gallon Better Bottle]

I've ordered an 8 Gallon Vittles Vault to see how they look and I may switch to that, which I expect will save me a alot of headache.



But anyway...after those 3-4 days, I put a stopper and airlock on there, just cause I have 5 of them and only one blow-off tube and stopper for it

Beer and wine yeast are two different animals. I don't know about wine yeast, but most of my beer batches have required blowoff tubes during the most active phase of fermentation (day 2-4). If the lid is sealed tight and there is no vent, there will be a lot of pressure pushing against that seal. It doesn't happen with every recipe/yeast combo, but an airlock risks getting blown off or jammed up to overflowing with foaming krausen and a mess to clean up.
The initial reproduction phase of the yeast cycle is aerobic, but I wasn't able to find a website quickly, that I could link here that proves how much air is needed. one broke the reaction down as follows:
C6H12O6 ====> 2(CH3CH2OH) + 2(CO2)
Sugar ====> Alcohol + Carbon dioxide gas
(Glucose) (Ethyl alcohol)

There are equal numbers of O2 (6) on both sides, and the input O2 is from the sugar?? We aerate wort prior to pitching so I suspect that is an oversimplification.
Using a starter (recommended for liquid yeast) moves the reproduction phase to a flask or liter size container, and many do that with a foil cover, which allows air in.
There may be something to leaving the lid ajar until the krausen is fully forming up.
After reproduction, the yeast begins consuming sugar and outputs CO2. This covers the top of the wort displacing the O2 (CO2 being denser) no matter what you do to a lid or seal on your fermenter. I'd like to see definitive numbers on that.

Your other question "is it beneficial to leave it sitting on the trub for a longer period" There is a general feeling here is yes, it helps to leave it a while in primary. This allows the yeast to do more cleanup during flocculation. Many are moving away from secondary unless adding something like flavoring, or adding fruit.

I use a blow-off tube till about day 3-4, whenever the bottle stops bubbling like crazy.

+1 I do the same thing

I used an airlock on my first 2 batches (they were recipe kits) on my current batch I had to switch to a blow-off because my airlock was bubbling over. This is my first time i had to use a blow off.

I started out making wine as well (and am still very active with at least half a dozen batches in fermenters/barrels/carboys right now). If you have a 10 gallon wine primary with a loose fitting lid, you can use it just fine for beer (be warned--beer will stain your primary if it is one of those softer plastic ones). If you have a smaller primary (like 6 or 7 gallons) and just set the lid on top you risk having krausen all over the place because beer often ferments much more vigorously than wine.

If you are doing five gallon batches of beer and have a six-gallon glass secondary, it will work fine for a fermenter and then you can affix an airlock. But you will want to start off with a blowoff tube (the bigger the better, I use a tube that just fits snugly into the mouth of my carboy) or else you will blow the airlock right out of your carboy.

Other important differences between making wine and making beer based on my experience:
1) fermentation temperature--with wine higher temperature is good, with beer it is bad. You want to ferment much cooler with beer and slow the process down almost as much as you can. Often it is beneficial to raise the temperature at/near the end of fermentation to do a diacetyl rest.
2) sanitation--important to both, but much moreso with beer because of the lower alcohol content. It's much easier to get an infected batch of beer than an infected batch of wine
3) use of secondary--with wine most of us rack to a secondary after anywhere from a week to as much as 16 or 17 days. Lots and lots of people don't use a secondary at all with beer. It is generally considered beneficial to leave beer on the yeast cake for extended periods, although there are exceptions to this. Three weeks or a month in the primary then straight to bottling is quite common.

For years and years people made beer in their basements or root cellars using nothing more than large crockery covered by a cheesecloth. There is no hard and fast rule on air locks, it just increases security.

I usually use an airlock, unless I think it is going to blow off, then I use a blowoff tube. I guess I don't see why you wouldn't use one. They are SUPERCHEAP and SUPEREASY. It's not like they cost much or are a pain to install.

Plus, I usually have my beer in the primary for 3 weeks or more, so except for when I need a blowoff tube, I don't have to do mess with anything after the lid is on. Come back in 3 weeks and take a sample.

Thanks for all the posts!

I have several primary buckets, all are 8 gallons i believe. Ive never had to use a blow off tube or had wine ferment in to the air lock and they are all 6 gallon batches. I figure with a 5 gallon batch, i shouldnt have any issues, but the fact that beer ferments more vigorously i suppose could lead to the need of a blow off valve. Anyone else have a 5 gallon batch of beer in an 8 gallon bucket that had overflow issues?

Well i just looked at my buckets and they are actually 6.5 gallon buckets. Think ill have overflow with a 6.5 gallon bucket?

nootay said:

Well i just looked at my buckets and they are actually 6.5 gallon buckets. Think ill have overflow with a 6.5 gallon bucket?

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It's possible. I just did a cream ale in a 6.5 gallon bucket and the krausen got into the airlock. After that my practice is now to rig a blowoff for the first 3-4 days and then put an airlock on after initial fermentation has slowed.

my primary bucket has a grommeted that an airlock fits in. seems like most of the blowoffs use a larger hole. did you all cut a bigger hole in the primary to do it?

I would think you could cut the hole at 1 1/4" diameter, then use a 1 1/4" O.D. blowoff tube, then when the majority of fermentation is done use a carboy bung with your airlock in that.

Or use 3/8" siphon tubing for the blowoff hose. A piece of metal or plastic tubing of the type that is used as supply tubing for faucets will slide inside the 3/8" tubing and the rubber grommet in the lid.

Wellshooter said:

For years and years people made beer in their basements or root cellars using nothing more than large crockery covered by a cheesecloth. There is no hard and fast rule on air locks, it just increases security.

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For years and years people rode motorcycles without wearing helmets. 99.9% (just a guess) of the time you’ll be just fine, but I value my beer almost as much as I value my head.




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