Airlock Questions

#1: What should I fill my airlock with? Water, vodka, or sani solution? I keep reading any of the three but which is actually best?

#2: Is an airlock enough or should I worry about needing a blow off tube?

#3: If I have a bit of a blow over will a basin underneath the fermentation vessel catch it or will it make a bit too large of a mess?

*Note: I plan to make a nice hearty pumpkin ale this up coming weekend! Hope to have it be very flavorful and malty.

Thank you all for the help!

V/R,
BrewTech

1. Some put vodka, some put water. For starters I would us a sani solution.
2. If you make a starter, then yes I would suggest using a blowoff tube. better safe than sorry.
3. It could, I have seen some violent ferments. When that happens it is going to go just about everywhere so a basin will do you no good.

1) Water never seemed like a good idea to me because it does not guarantee a bacteria free barrier. Vodka seems like a waste of a perfectly good shot. I use StarSan in my air lock. I keep a squirt bottle of it handy for sanitizing my equipment so it is easy to put a few squirts in the air lock and keep it topped off as it dries up over the weeks of bubbling. I would recommend only using one of the no rinse sanitizes.

2) In my experience if you have a good couple of inches of head space in your carboy you will be okay without a blow off tube if you are using normal yeast and a moderate gravity ale. For example I tend to use a 6 gallon carboy for a 5 gallon batch.

3) I've had one (gentle) eruption through my airlock an a shallow tray was sufficient for containing the mess. I have heard stories from people who have stuff in their fermentor (hops, fruit, pumpkin, etc) that clog the top, building up pressure and releasing spectacularly. This may be an issue for your pumpkin if you will have pumpkin chunks in your primary. Perhaps throw a towel over the top if you are worried. My friend told me about the time he had his fermentor in his closet and it sprayed beer all over his cloths. hahaha

1) I'd say use a sanitizer - easy enough and odds are you'll have leftovers from brewing (I also recommend a 3 piece air-lock if you're going this route

2) If you have under 20% open space in the fermenter, I would recommend a blow-off

3) Ceilings can suck to clean.

I too would go with rinse free sanitizer, star san.

With fermentation being a somewhat unpredictible event, a blow off tube the first few days is never a bad idea; it's not had to do and ensures you won't have a mess to clean. With that being said, not all blow outs stay to the fermenters walls. They can and will actually blow out on to walls and ceilings. so to answer your last questions see Squirrels answer.

1) Star san is cheep.

2) If you have a blow off tube. then use it. If you don't, and have a messy blow off, you will want to get one for the next batch. You will probably end up getting one eventually as, I agree, cleaning the ceiling sucks.

3) If you do #2 correctly, #3 is unnecessary.

So why does everyone make such a hype about airlocks if you could just use a blowoff tube as a safer alternative? I guess I should go out and but some tubing now... How do you clean the tube? Just forced water than soak in star San?

Jaehnig said:

So why does everyone make such a hype about airlocks if you could just use a blowoff tube as a safer alternative? I guess I should go out and but some tubing now... How do you clean the tube? Just forced water than soak in star San?

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I only have 5 gal carboys so I always use a blowoff tube. It's 50/50 whether I actually need it or not but it's always a safe bet if you don't have a lot of room in the top of the carboy.
To clean the tube I usually just soak it in warm water, run water through it, and then sanitize it. I've never had a problem.

To make it simple, I would always recommend a blow-off tube during the first phase of fermentation. After 3-4 days, or when the initial vigourous fermentation has subsided, you can switch it to an airlock. I'd recommend doing this, or at least replacing the blow-off tube, because if you let it sit longer you increase the chances of the blow-off drying in the tube. That will make it harder to clean. Tube is cheap, though, so I would replace it if it seems to be gunked up.

I normally use sanitizer in the blow-off jar and vodka in the airlock. I don't bother stocking cheap rotgut vodka, because it's what, a couple teaspoons of vodka in the airlock? I just pour half a shot into a glass, dribble enough to reach the fill line, and then drink the remaining stuff in the glass. Probably because of the hard water I use, my sanitizer doesn't stay sanitized for very long, so I trust the vodka to keep its antibacterial properties longer.

As for why to use an airlock, you don't need one. You could do just fine with a blow-off, but it's just a bit more convenient. It doesn't take up as much space with the jar of sanitizer, and if you have a glass carboy I guess you can just move it around. I use plastic Better Bottles, which deform when lifted and tend to suck back the sanitizer, so I have to pull the airlock out to move it. It's still easier than moving it with the blow-off tube, though.

To clean the tubes, I usually run hot water through the tube for a while, first in one direction then the other. Usually that cleans it, if not, I soak it in sanitizer or cleaner, making sure that the liquid fills the tube. After soaking a while, I run more water through and if it cleans up, I keep it. If it doesn't, I pitch it.

Then, like I do with all my hoses, I siphon some sanitizer through it and hang it to dry.

My LHBS recommended that I fill the air lock with vodka for sanitation reasons. This was all well and good, but due to the high alcohol content, it tends to evaporate pretty rapidly. Typically, I'd have to top it off twice during a normal fermentation. I'll be using star san for my future batches.

Huntinsoldier said:

My LHBS recommended that I fill the air lock with vodka for sanitation reasons. This was all well and good, but due to the high alcohol content, it tends to evaporate pretty rapidly. Typically, I'd have to top it off twice during a normal fermentation. I'll be using star san for my future batches.

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How long are we talking? I don't think I've ever had to refill one, except maybe on a mead that was fermenting for a couple months.

Star San all the way.
Cheap
Easy
Available
just the way I like my women!

I also use starsan in the airlock. I usually only have evaporation problems during the summer with my sours. I try to check on the airlocks every couple months just in case.

There are a few problems with not using a blow off tube when you need it because the fermentation is vigorous and/or there is not enough head space. You don't want to clean off dried wort from the paint on the ceiling. It isn't easy and it's a real pain in the ass. Even if the airlock just pops off, then you have an open vessel with no barrier to whatever is floating in the air, especially if fermentation has slowed enough the CO2 barrier isn't very thick since most of it was shot out of the fermenter when it popped the airlock. Additionally, if you have crap running down the sides of the fermenter that is a tasty ladder for wild yeast, bacteria and bugs to venture into your beer.

Also i will note when using starsan solution in an airlock, dont use a high starsan:water solution!

Once i put water into my air lock, and realized i should put some starsan in..so i literally put the smallest drizzle of starsan i possibly could in the top. 3 hours later all my liquid had bubbled up out of the air lock holes at the top because it was too concentrated with starsan. The starsan caused so many bubbles that carried all the water one tiny bit at a time up and out the airlock holes.

I have a 5 gallon bucket of StarSan on the floor as I prepare everything. The airlock gets soaked in it and then when it's time to put the airlock on the fermenting bucket it's full of StarSan as I pull it out of the bucket. Easy Squeezy or "Duck Soup" as we say in the islands.
Don't ask me why we say Duck Soup for something that's easy or a no brainer.

unionrdr said:

The vodka I use is cheaper & lasts a long time when buying a 5th of it to use.

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Starsan = 8 oz for 7.50, around $1/oz
Distilled water = $1/gallon

5 gallons of water + 1 oz starsan = 6 dollars for 5 gallons of starsan.

You get vodka cheaper than that?

I used to used vodka. Now i just store my airlocks in starsan, so when I go to plop one in the carboy, its conveniently full of starsan already.

I too use vodka in the airlock. I find it much more appealing to have some vodka go into my wort instead of star-san, if I happen to get some suck-back.

I use a blow off tube for the first few days of fermentation, like others have stated, but I just use plain old water in the jar where the tube empties at.

I appreciate the help. I guess my next move is to see if the LHBS in the area has the right size tubing!

I think I'll end up using some sanitizer in my airlock afterwards though. Cheaper than vodka and safer then water.

Doed said:

I too use vodka in the airlock. I find it much more appealing to have some vodka go into my wort instead of star-san, if I happen to get some suck-back.

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I drank a shot of diluted starsan, so i can tell you with a lot of confidence that you would not notice it in a 5-gallon batch of beer. but certainly if you feel more comfortable with vodka, proceed.

BrewKnurd said:

I drank a shot of diluted starsan, so i can tell you with a lot of confidence that you would not notice it in a 5-gallon batch of beer. but certainly if you feel more comfortable with vodka, proceed.

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LOL, did you lose a bet? Yeah, I would just rather have the alcohol in there then sanitized water.

Doed said:

LOL, did you lose a bet? Yeah, I would just rather have the alcohol in there then sanitized water.

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No. Someone was theorizing that a small amount of starsan ruined their batch, and I didn't agree, so I tested my theory.

Doed said:

I too use vodka in the airlock. I find it much more appealing to have some vodka go into my wort instead of star-san, if I happen to get some suck-back.

I use a blow off tube for the first few days of fermentation, like others have stated, but I just use plain old water in the jar where the tube empties at.

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Star san is actually food for the yeast. If some gets in the fermenter the yeast will devour it. No worries.

Blow off tube for primary always, airlock with Starsan for secondary only.