I have a really simple question. Do we really need to use an airlock on beer during fermentation?
I see how it makes sense if you are going to age or condition something like wine or mead where you don't want to expose it to oxygen and you need to keep it around for months to years.
If I am brewing a batch of beer usually I will just use a primary (carboy or bucket). I will leave it in there for around 2 weeks. By the end of the first week fermentation is usually done fermenting. I then use the next week to "condition" the beer and/or dry hop it. I then bottle.
What I have in mind would be just placing some sanitized aluminum foil over the opening. It seems to me that the foil should keep out dust, preventing it from getting contaminated. There should be a CO2 blanket inside the carboy, protecting the beer from oxygen.
If any oxygen gets to the beer, maybe when I bottle carbonate the oxygen will get scrubbed out by the yeast? This wouldn't work if I force carbonated. (I'm not sure if the yeast in the bottle actually would scrub out oxygen but it seems like they would).
I guess I have two major questions:
1) Is it crazy to not use an airlock? Why? Does anybody not use airlocks?
2) If I don't use an airlock, how long can I leave the beer in the carboy?
I see how it makes sense if you are going to age or condition something like wine or mead where you don't want to expose it to oxygen and you need to keep it around for months to years.
If I am brewing a batch of beer usually I will just use a primary (carboy or bucket). I will leave it in there for around 2 weeks. By the end of the first week fermentation is usually done fermenting. I then use the next week to "condition" the beer and/or dry hop it. I then bottle.
What I have in mind would be just placing some sanitized aluminum foil over the opening. It seems to me that the foil should keep out dust, preventing it from getting contaminated. There should be a CO2 blanket inside the carboy, protecting the beer from oxygen.
If any oxygen gets to the beer, maybe when I bottle carbonate the oxygen will get scrubbed out by the yeast? This wouldn't work if I force carbonated. (I'm not sure if the yeast in the bottle actually would scrub out oxygen but it seems like they would).
I guess I have two major questions:
1) Is it crazy to not use an airlock? Why? Does anybody not use airlocks?
2) If I don't use an airlock, how long can I leave the beer in the carboy?