Air lock question?

[max-the-knife]

My first ale is in the primary and the airlock is bubbling heartily! Prior to the yeast activation, about half of the water from my airlock was pulled into the primary as the wort cooled. Now that it is bubbling, there is only about a 1/4" of water seperating the brew from the outside air. I'm using a 3-piece airlock and was wondering if I should add more water to it (sanitized of course)?

 

[Ivan Lendl]

aaaahhh....

 

[Orpheus]

If you're worried about it, go ahead and add more water. It won't hurt anything to pop the top off and carefully pour extra water in.

 

[EdWort]

"640Kb ought to be enough for anybody." Bill Gates, 1981....

Uh, I believe that is 64K.......I remember those days....

 

[fezzman]

If you're worried about it, go ahead and add more water. It won't hurt anything to pop the top off and carefully pour extra water in.

Pop the top off? You mean the cap that fits on top of the airlock???

For all of my batches I left that cap off for the air to escape. I was figuring that the airlock wouldn't release any pressure if that cap was on. Have I been mistaken this whole time or something?

 

[the_bird]

Uh, I believe that is 64K.......I remember those days....

My first computer has 16k. Tandy CoCo2. That was a lot of memory at the time - it wasn't too many years prior that it came with 4K! You wanted a program, you wrote it! I remember distinctly cassette tape drives and "out of memory" errors.

Helluva way to learn algebra when you're in third grade!

Just bought a new system tonight that's got a gig of RAM - that would be about 65,000x as much memory as the CoCo. Friggin' A...

(good deal that Dell's running, incidentally - put together a Dimension 3100, Pentium 4 3Ghz, 1 gig SD-RAM, 250Gb hard drive, 19" flat panel, some other stuff, for just about $600, with free shipping. Also bought an all-in-one printer/fax/sheetfeed copier/scanner for the office for $100. And, the bank I indirectly work for will give me free financing on the system if I want, they'll do payroll deduction over whatever period I specify. Score.)

 

[user 4295]

Pop the top off? You mean the cap that fits on top of the airlock???

For all of my batches I left that cap off for the air to escape. I was figuring that the airlock wouldn't release any pressure if that cap was on. Have I been mistaken this whole time or something?

If you are talking about a three piece airlock, like the one shown below, the cap on the top should have several small holes around its perimeter to allow the CO2 produced during fermentation to escape. It must be there. It keeps the "bubbler" part in place over the base tube that goes into the fermenter.

John

 

[Exo]

Dell = BMC

I built my own computer with little effort...and saved a LOT of money. And no stupid ass useless programs on it either.

 

[fezzman]

If you are talking about a three piece airlock, like the one shown below, the cap on the top should have several small holes around its perimeter to allow the CO2 produced during fermentation to escape. It must be there. It keeps the "bubbler" part in place over the base tube that goes into the fermenter.

John

DOH!! Don't I feel like a moron. I never noticed those holes so I just figured the lid was to keep the inner piece in place during storage.

My RIS has been steadily bubbling for the past 4 days and all seems well with the airlock. I also didn't use that cap on my previous two batches, including the one currently in my secondary. Should I go ahead and place that cap on there or just continue to ride it out? I don't want to risk infection even though I have vodka in one and one-step in the other.

 

[the_bird]

Dell = BMC

I built my own computer with little effort...and saved a LOT of money. And no stupid ass useless programs on it either.

The one I'm using now is home-built, a good system a friend and I scavenged together for $200, total. BUT - all I had to buy was a case, I think a new hard drive, and maybe some memory; everything else was old parts that he gave to me free. I have a real difficult time trying to figure out how exactly I would try and replicate this same new system for that cost - 'puters are so cheap these days that home-building, while still cool, just isn't a cost savings. Hell, just the monitor and hard drive is $300, processor and motherboard'll be another couple hundred bucks, still have to buy memory, a case, all the other crap...

You can save some $$ by buying stuff at computer fairs, but still - I'm nowhere near convinced that you really CAN save $$ by building yourself today. I could also scavange parts from the old system, but it's still going to be used. Listen, I'm not a fan of Dell, but f*ck - cheap is cheap.

 

[Glibbidy]

go ahead and pop the top of the airlock off, and add a little water. Your probably fine. You don't need to remove the airlock from the fermentation vessel to do this.
Yes, it would make sense to put the cap on the airlock.

 

[fezzman]

go ahead and pop the top of the airlock off, and add a little water. Your probably fine. You don't need to remove the airlock from the fermentation vessel to do this.
Yes, it would make sense to put the cap on the airlock.

Well, the top is already off. It has never been on throughout any of the fermentation. My water level still seems to be okay too. When I run home for lunch I'll go ahead and put the caps on each airlock. Thanks

 

[the_bird]

You know, I never noticed those small holes until recently, either (I'd never really thought about it). Of course, it makes perfect sense - how else would I be able to smell that fermenting goodness?

 

[fezzman]

You know, I never noticed those small holes until recently, either (I'd never really thought about it). Of course, it makes perfect sense - how else would I be able to smell that fermenting goodness?

And what goodness it is too. Every time I walk into that room I take a deep breath and smile. I've come to love that smell.

 

[Muntzster]

Pop the top off? You mean the cap that fits on top of the airlock???

For all of my batches I left that cap off for the air to escape. I was figuring that the airlock wouldn't release any pressure if that cap was on. Have I been mistaken this whole time or something?

There are little holes in mine so the air can escape.