Equipment help...

[bellaruche]

Homemade airlock. I'm gonna make some Apfelwein. Made it before... delicious.I am away from my equipment for a while. I have tons of non-preserved apple juice (natural), tons of 22 oz. bottles, and a packet of Montrachet yeast. Tons of honey and/or brown sugar at my disposal. Just no airlocks! Is there a way to fashion a make shift airlock on these caps? Small holes? Foil? Anything? Thanks for any replies.

 

[jonp9576]

i've heard of people using foil(not sure how). i've also heard of people using a balloon with a small hole in it

 

[itsme6582]

Have any tubing? You could make a blowoff tube. Just stick the tubing into a hole in the top of your fermentor and then run it into a bucket of water. It works just like an airlock.

 

[JLem]

Disclaimer: I have never tried this...

 

[chaydaw]

You dont need an airlock. Just put sanitized foil with some holes in it over the opening.

 

[bellaruche]

My space is very limited. I'll have too many bottles for the amount of tubing needed... which was an excellent suggestion, thanks. As far as sanitized foil, I would assume the holes to be about needle size? Am I tracking? Kudos for the replies!

 

[gitapaynts]

I'd sanitize some foil and semi-loosely put over the top. All you really want to do is keep ambient dust and crap from falling in while allowing co2 to escape. The co2 will find its way out no problem. Two things to keep in mind: 1. Watch out for condensation outside the bottles but underneath the foil. This could harbor germs that sneak in. It's only a problem if they are in a really humid area though. 2. Pay close attention for fermentation to stop and get a good seal fixed after that. You don't want the beer just sitting there oxidizing for days once fermentation is done.

 

[bellaruche]

Thanks! One more question, please. Corn dextrose is not readily available. I've read somewhere that a tsp of white sugar to each bottle after fermentation, with tight seal (aka capping) does the trick. Is this a truth or a farse?

 

[VTBrewer]

You can carb with cane sugar. Some say that it can leave a very cidery taste. Search for a priming calculator. Theres one in the link in my signature. It will tell you how much to use. No need to do it per bottle, you can do the entire batch.

 

[bellaruche]

Voila'! ... Found some tubing. Got about 30' of coaxial cable and got it to strip off the outer layer. So, if I had to guess, the water source the tubing blows off into should be above the level of the source, or the opposite, or does it matter? Thanks, again....
I'll try to take some pix of this process. Definitely gonna be a 'field brew'.
Cheers!

 

[itsme6582]

The height doesn't matter, as long as you do it right. Keep the fermentor end not submerged and the blowoff end submerged. Make sure that blowoff tube doesn't leak air and you need to sanitize it. Home Depot and Lowes carry vinyl tubing that works really well for this. It should be near plumbing.

Normally, the blowoff container sits on the ground right next to the fermentor. The tubing should be well above the level of liquid in the fermentor so there will be no siphoning. If you've ever been to a brewery, chances are you've seen a blowoff tube and didn't realize it. I've seen brewery setups where there is a container attached to the fermentor and setups where the tubing runs to a 5 gallon bucket on the floor. You definitely won't need a 5 gallon bucket.

 

[Malintent]

I would keep the blowoff bucket lower than the fermentor. If back pressure is created after fermentation subsides, it could create a siphon from the bucket back into your beer. The opposite does not happen (the beer wont siphon into the bucket).

 

[BendBrewer]

Where is the guy with the Rubber Glove Build when you need him?