Does it matter what liquid you use in the airlock?

[GRHunter]

I've been using tap water in my airlock. But I read some posts where people were using all sorts of things. One poster even said that he was using vodka. So does it matter what you use?

 

[jmkratt]

I use vodka as it is just another means of sanitizing but water works fine.

Vodka evaporates quickly though so you have to keep an eye on it.

 

[Edcculus]

I always have extra sanitizer on hand...so thats what I use.

 

[weirdboy]

I too use liquor, because sometimes that liquid can get sucked into the fermenter (e.g. if there's a temperature drop) and I figure if something did get sucked in, I'd prefer vodka, rum or bourbon to sanitizing solution.

 

[mordantly]

starsan in all my airlocks... always seem to suck-back, so i don't use tap water.

 

[jmick]

+1 for starsan, I've always got a ton of it around when I'm brewing.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I use boiled tap water. After the wort is done boiling I boil some water in the tea kettle for a few minutes then let it sit in there until it's needed.

 

[DaveAllen]

I use vodka. If there's suckback, it won't do a thing to the wort but up the ABV a little. Plain water can mold. I had that happen once in a long-term mead I was aging, and have used vodka ever since.

 

[sheldon123]

From some of the previous posts that I have read (and from personal experience so far), when using a 3 piece airlock, there is never any suck-back, like there is when using an S-shaped airlock, so starsan works great!

 

[AnthonyD]

I use Starsan.

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

From some of the previous posts that I have read (and from personal experience so far), when using a 3 piece airlock, there is never any suck-back, like there is when using an S-shaped airlock, so starsan works great!

Really? I've experienced the opposite. Using a three piece in better bottles I can get it to backwash the airlock just by lifting the carboy by its neck. Using a double bubbler all I get is a little bit of gas and no liquid heading back into the carboy.

 

[BreckBastion]

From some of the previous posts that I have read (and from personal experience so far), when using a 3 piece airlock, there is never any suck-back, like there is when using an S-shaped airlock, so starsan works great!

That is not a true statement. I have had it happen everytime i cold crash. 3 piece or not.

 

[mordantly]

my 3p always suck-back. when they get cold or moved.. and thats in a carboy. bb really like to suck i hear.

 

[ottobrew]

+1 for Starsan, it goes in all my air locks as well.

 

[ronaldo_fanbelt]

+1 on starsan, no problems yet.

 

[ReverendTap]

From some of the previous posts that I have read (and from personal experience so far), when using a 3 piece airlock, there is never any suck-back, like there is when using an S-shaped airlock, so starsan works great!

Definitely not so with brew buckets (what I've been using up till now). Seems like every time I ever so much as looked at the lid my 3-piece sucked back. I've always used vodka for that reason (that and very few of my friends drink vodka, easy to keep it on hand).

 

[boneshb]

+1 for vodka. Nothing will live in it and $6.99 for 1.75 of Taaka is hard to beat

 

[Corkster]

I use starsan as well but seem to need to refill my airlock constantly as it all foams out of the top. You guys got a way around this?

 

[rico567]

I just put Star San solution in the airlock. Works fine.

 

[arch1tect]

I use Starsan for beer and Vodka for Apfelwein.

 

[wyzazz]

Vodka, with the exception of my barleywine that's in the primary right now. I've got the airlock filled with Makers Mark. ;0)

 

[manticle]

Any chance vodka could attract vinegar flies?

I use either star san and/or wrap the airlock with plastic wrap and a rubber band. C02 will still escape. A lot of brewers I know simply use plastic wrap and the o-ring from the fermenter lid to seal the top of the fermenter and dispense with the airlock altogether. I've done that once or twice but I prefer the lid because it's solid and the airlock is an easy way to seal that tiny hole..

 

[sysera]

I moved to a blowoff tube in a bucket of Starsan solution because I was freaked out by my Better Bottle sucking water back in through the airlock. Clean water, sanitizer, vodka, etc, I don't want anything I didn't include in the recipe in my beer. :cross:

 

[KhellendrosXS]

Vodka goes in all my airlocks after I noticed them sucking in star san one day. Its cheap insurance than *nothing* is going to live in it.

 

[BlueSunshine]

I use Finlandia vodka because I'm trying to get rid of it. I don't drink hard liquor. At least if it gets sucked back, I have some half decent vodka in my beer.

 

[GRHunter]

I don't use StarSan, I use a 12.5 ppm solution of Idophor so I guess that's what I'll go with. Thanks everyone!

 

[CrystallineEntity]

Suckback occurs. Starsan in a growler for blowoff tube, vodka for the airlock.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I don't use StarSan, I use a 12.5 ppm solution of Idophor so I guess that's what I'll go with. Thanks everyone!

I use iodophor as well. Keep in mind that the iodophor loses its effectiveness much more quickly than starsan so in a short while the iodophor in the airlock will turn into regular water, which is totally fine because it has been sanitized (which is again why I just boil tap water and use that).

 

[Bubba]

StarSan all the way.

 

[ibbones]

I'm also in the Star San camp.

 

[ChrisS68]

Any chance vodka could attract vinegar flies?

Say What?

Vodka or Gin - whatever is on-hand.

 

[MonkeyWrench]

+1 Vodka, cheapest I can find.

I always get suck back when cold crashing.

 

[MultumInParvo]

I use bleach and water. It is dirt cheap, won't mold, evaporate, or have any other issues. As for suck back I have never seen it. Either people have different airlocks than me or they're overfilling them. My airlocks will let through air before they ever let in sanitiser...

 

[ReverendTap]

I use bleach and water. It is dirt cheap, won't mold, evaporate, or have any other issues. As for suck back I have never seen it. Either people have different airlocks than me or they're overfilling them. My airlocks will let through air before they ever let in sanitiser...

Minor quibble: bleach will mold. There's stuff it won't kill, and I've talked to people who have left sanitizing-strength bleach solutions sitting out for long periods of time and came back to find interesting stuff growing on the surface. Rare, but by no means impossible.