Ale Pail Sealing problems

[BradTheGeek]

I wanted to do slightly bigger brews then my 5 gallon carboy would allow, and and the LHBS did not have a 6 gallon in stock (and not sure it would even fit in my ferm chamber) I decided to use a 6 gallon ale pale for my newest batch.

I brewed and pitched yesterday, but the lid on, and not having room for an airlock, I put a tube through the hole in the lid and ran it down to an old beer glass with starsan solution.

I went to check this morning, and no bubbles are coming out, but I can hear that it is fermenting madly. I can push the lid down and get bubble so I know the hose in in the headspace, not the wort (I just have to be careful of the suck back). I can smell the fermentation, so I know gas is leaking somewhere from around the lid.

Having never used a bucket fermentor before, I am wondering is this common? Is there anything I can do to create a better seal? Since it is mostly sealed from outside air, I am not super concerned with contamination, and soon enough I will be moving it to a glass carboy as a secondary, but I would like to seal better now or in the future.

Thanks!

 

[Pappers_]

A number of years ago, I had the same situation - gas would leak out around the lid, even though it appeared to be sealed. So, its not unusual. I don't think its a problem, either, nothing bad will come of it.

 

[beergolf]

Not a problem at all. While it is nice to hear the bubbles they really mean nothing. I have done close to 150 brews, and guess what? Never had one not ferment.


Maybe this will help you relax.

 

[jonmohno]

If it makes you feel better you could wrap it in sirran wrap and use electrical tape to seal it better. Since your transferrring it I wouldnt worry about it, but with my expericence I wouldnt like to leave it more than a few weeks- you can loose the co2 blanket and yet more to worry if you have too much headspace. I have some wide mouth fementers with questionable seals and I will not do more than two weeks with them anymore or otherwise I will transfer them to a carboy if it needs any more time on it.

I do have a 6.5 gallon bottleing bucket I used as a fementer before but it had a good seal-its fairly new so I would leave it in it longer if I needed to. Think I did like 4 weeks in that last kitchen sink (with a lot of everything) beer I did. Turned out to be a pretty good beer. Otherwise I have a 3 gallon carboy I only use.

 

[unionrdr]

I used a BB Ale Pail for a couple years till it got infected. Saved the beer,but tossed the ale pail. BB ale pails don't have seals in the lids,& under pressure from initial fermentation,they leak. Always had to clean the rib area around the top from said leaks. I ordered another 7.9 gallon bucket from Midwest. They're the shorter,slightly wider ones I used as a bottling bucket in the pics I've posted occasionally. They have good seals in the lids that I prefer.

 

[jonmohno]

Also try getting another lid for future use?

 

[unionrdr]

I checked around,& nobody carries a lid with a seal to fit the BB Ale Pails. So I pitched it & ordered another 7.9G shorty pail with sealed lid & airlock grommet. I have an Italian style spigot for it as well. Spigots on the fermenters make my life easier.

 

[BradTheGeek]

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, I dont think a 7.9 gallon bucket will fit my fermentation chamber (a converted wine fridge). This is a new bucket and lid, and next time I will try saran wrap to see. Any good instructions for doing it the best?

I will be transferring in 1-2 weeks, so I do not worry to much about losing the CO2 in the headspace. When I transfer it, there will be some oxygen exposure, but hopefully the CO2 coming out of solution and a little further yeast activity will drive it off.

 

[BradTheGeek]

I needn't have worried in the slightest. It is currently blowing out and making a nice mess through the tube. The blow off water looks like a cloudy yeasty mess.

 

[BradTheGeek]

And one more post... caught some good video of this bad boy...

 

[unionrdr]

The 7.9 gallon pails aren't as big as the ale pails. I think I have a pic. Here's a shot of the ale pail next to the 7.9 gallon shorty;
http://[URL=http://s563.photobucket.com/user/unionrdr/media/PICT0004_zpsef5e6404.jpg.html] [/URL]

 

[dranderson]

One thing you can try is submerging the lid in hot water, just your hottest tap water, and then tapping the lid on the bucket while it is still hot. This would make it flexible and should conform to the bucket top. Let it cool in place for a few hours.

wait until after the current batch is ready for the secondary though.

 

[Homercidal]

I'm guessing about half of my buckets don't seal completely. It's hard to know which bucket/lid combination actually seals, so maybe I should make a chart and figure it out.

Nah, it don't matter anyway.

 

[hunter306]

My Ale-Pail does not seal either, hasn't fouled any of the batches I've made in it thus far, although I do not get vigorous airlock activity that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy.

On slower fermenting beers, I have found that the airlock will rarely even bubble when using the pail.

 

[iaefebs]

I've charted it Homer. I traced it to the bucket. Since I use 2 buckets for 10 gallon batches, one would bubble like crazy and the other wouldn't bubble at all. Both would finish at the exact same gravity though. I wrote NBB on the no bubble bucket so I could keep track of it. It always bubbled after that. Go figure.

 

[JDGator]

i've had about 8 pails now and not had one seal properly. my airlocks never have any activity. so once in a while i use a carboy so i can hear the bubble bubble. lol

 

[iaefebs]

One thing you can do is shine a flashlight through the lid toward the sidewall angled toward the wort level. You can see the krausen level.

 

[Homercidal]

I've charted it Homer. I traced it to the bucket. Since I use 2 buckets for 10 gallon batches, one would bubble like crazy and the other wouldn't bubble at all. Both would finish at the exact same gravity though. I wrote NBB on the no bubble bucket so I could keep track of it. It always bubbled after that. Go figure.

The fix is that easy?? I would never have thought!

What I do is pull the airlock bung out and peek in the hole. Takes about 3 seconds. Then I put the airlock back in when the beer is inevitably fermenting.

Generally I only peek to see if I'm going to need a blow-off tube.

 

[kvanconant]

I have a few buckets from rebel brewer and they all have air lock activity. I got the bottling bucket (it's a fermenter with a spigot and lid and they all 3 have great air lock activity.

 

[dranderson]

I have both Ale Pales one with the spigot and one without. Always have airlock bubbles. So I guess I'm lucky.

 

[Hackwood]

I'm guessing about half of my buckets don't seal completely. It's hard to know which bucket/lid combination actually seals, so maybe I should make a chart and figure it out.

Nah, it don't matter anyway.

I have the same issue. 1st brand new bucket sealed and bubbled and bubbled and sealed. Next few ....... no bubbles at all.

Frantic beginner, I thought the usual, "MY BEER IS RUINED! THE WORLD IS GOING TO EEENNNDDDDD!" I did, however, not freak out like 99% of new brewers on here and just let it ride. I bet you can't figure out what happened. Nope that wasn't it! That either! I made good beer.(You didn't say that and you know it!) haha

I now use whichever lid I happen to grab and just brew with it. YES I peak and make sure it's going, but I haven't had an issue yet.

 

[unionrdr]

I didn't like the fact that the no seal in the lid BB Ale Pails leak around the lid under co2 pressure during initial fermentation. finally got a lacto infection in it & tossed it. I replaced it with this,which does have a lid seal;
http://[URL=http://s563.photobucket.com/user/unionrdr/media/PICT0004_zpscf22da6d.jpg.html] [/URL]
7.9 gallon shorty bucket the same size as the one I made a bottling bucket out of in pics I've posted. Here's one with the shorty old style next to the BB Ale Pail;
http://[URL=http://s563.photobucket.com/user/unionrdr/media/PICT0004_zpsef5e6404.jpg.html] [/URL]