10 Gallon Lid Question

[Super_Coo]

Hi Guys I just got a Brew House kit that calls for a 10 gallon plastic primary to be since fermentation is quite active and has been known to cause messes in airlocks on 23 litre buckets. There's no airlocks on the 10 gallon primary but it kinda sounds like since there's not a tight seal that enough co2 from the beer would pass out no problems anyways? Should I just set the lid on top loosely or snap it on? There's no rubber seal or anything... it's kinda like a mini cheap garbage can. Any insight on this?

It's like this one here:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=6009



Thanks in advance guys!!!
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[david_42]

I'd snap it down & keep the rats out. I hate rats in my ale.

 

[Beer Snob]

Why not just drill a hole? That should solve your problem real easy

 

[Blender]

What type of beer is this? Couldn't you just fit a good blow-off tube on a 6.5 gallon pail.

 

[Super_Coo]

Thanks for the replies guys.

This beer kit is a Brew House brand... American Premium Lager kit.
It's one of those no boil, 15 litre bladders. I'm goin to try snapping the
lid on... it's definately by far a tight seal. I'd drill a hole... but the plastic is quite flimsy.

Thanks again!

 

[Glibbidy]

Don't Snap the lid down on it, and definitely don't drill a hole. Welcome to the wonderful world of open fermentation. Since you don't have a clean room, you'll need a lid to keep stuff from falling into your beer.

Gently place the lid on the top of the vessel, securing it enough to keep out the nasties, i.e. spiders, cobwebs, dust, wild yeast, etc... (if your basement is anything like mine), yet loose enough to let the O2 get pushed out by the CO2 .

Don't drill any holes. You are going to make roughly 6 gallons of beer. Since the Primary vessel is 10 gallons this gives you aproximately 4 gallons of head space. With this amount of headspace even the most volatile fermentations will likely be kept under the lid. The blanket of CO2 will be pushing any O2 out. As a result there is no need for an airlock.

 

[Super_Coo]

Don't snap it down eh? Even though it's by far not a tight seal? I'm still a beginner so I guess everything makes me nervous haha. The instructions say that the vigorous fermentation should be finished withing the first 3 days but to leave it in the primary for 5 days, then to the glass carboy. Could I snap the lid on the 3rd day maybe?

 

[paul_beer]

You probably have a fermenter like mine. You can snap the lid down tight and it will still vent. There are little ridges along the lid that keep a space between the lid and the bucket. It isn't designed to keep an air-tight seal but it has worked great for me so far.

EDIT: Now that I look at your pic, it is exactly like mine. Just snap 'er shut.

 

[Super_Coo]

Yup I guess I got that same answer from contacting RJ Spagnols.
Don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place.

Thanks for all the info guys!