I MIGHT be an idiot but..

I have one of the bubbler air locks (clear and conical shaped with water in it-its 3 pieces. But are you supposed to leave the lid piece on during fermentation??

Yes, and make sure you fill it up with water or better yet vodka. And no you're not an idiot.

Yes...............

Yes. You don't have to but it does keep the bugs out.

ahh crap. ok thanks guys. its on! pitched yeast 6 hours ago and nothing thus far...

JMU_Alumn08 said:

ahh crap. ok thanks guys. its on! pitched yeast 6 hours ago and nothing thus far...

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Well, wait another 66 hours before worrying!

And I use the airlock cap. Unless I've lost it. So, don't sweat it too much either way. It does keep the fruitflies out if you have that kind of issue in the summer/fall. But if the lid is inexplicably missing, that's ok too. I have 1,000,000 airlocks. And three lids. I think the kids hide them to make me crazy (er).

haha. sounds good.

JMU_Alumn08 said:

ahh crap. ok thanks guys. its on! pitched yeast 6 hours ago and nothing thus far...

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I've pitched yeast 52 hours ago and I have no bubbles but I can smell the sweet scent of fermentation. In my 5 batches only my first batch had airlock activity (when I pitched hot wort and had it standing in 75-80F), 2 of my batches had blow off tube but a familiar sweet smell

Airlock is not a sign of fermentation! I did see some of the water being pushed from one side of the airlock to the other but I just dont see actual bubbling. Maybe I have got temperature control and keep it in the 60's.

JMU_Alumn08 said:

I have one of the bubbler air locks (clear and conical shaped with water in it-its 3 pieces. But are you supposed to leave the lid piece on during fermentation??

Click to expand...

You're not an idiot. We've all been down the airlock path. Dropped it in the fermenter...never put any liquid in it...never even knew I owned a airlock...some of my airlock liquid spilled into the fermenter...can I use urine in the airlock instead of water...

No my friend...you're just a homebrewer traveling down homebrew boulevard.