Anybody reusing the vodka in their airlocks?

[corkybstewart]

After 18 years of brewing with water in the airlock it's good to know I should change my ways(LOL). I've never had an infected batch, even with fruit fly infestations every spring. If you have such major temp fluctuations that the airlock fluid gets sucked into the fermenter you have bigger problems to worry about.

 

[tasq]

Honestly...I put Stoli in mine and take a shot when I'm done fermenting.

I did this once and it tasted terrible.

 

[CrazedArmadillo]

Left open to air, the ethanol in vodka will evaporate faster than the water...so by pouring your used vodka back into the bottle, you might be progressively lowering the strength of the vodka.

If you have a kitchen scale that can measure grams, just take a known volume of the used vodka out of your airlock and weigh it to calculate the density. 40% Ethanol should have a density of 0.9156 grams/ml. If yours comes out higher than this, some of the ethanol has evaporated.

For an ethanol/water mixture:
% Alcohol = 474 x (1 - Density)

 

[bigbeergeek]

After 18 years of brewing with water in the airlock it's good to know I should change my ways(LOL). I've never had an infected batch, even with fruit fly infestations every spring. If you have such major temp fluctuations that the airlock fluid gets sucked into the fermenter you have bigger problems to worry about.

True. I'm talking about the kinds of temperature fluctuations experienced when cold crashing a carboy prior to kegging or fining with gelatin.

 

[Brewer3401]

True. I'm talking about the kinds of temperature fluctuations experienced when cold crashing a carboy prior to kegging or fining with gelatin.

Yes, I agree with this.

The way I brew, I'll get the wort about 5 F colder than fermentation temp, then let it sit for 1 hour before racking to the fermenter.

Even though I THINK I'm ok, I just take a iodophore soaked paper towel and put on the top of the airlock hole, then put on the airlock 24 hours later.

The big deal is when you crash from 65 F or so down to 35 F or so - will suck an down an airlock like a 4th street whore. (or so I've heard)

I'm leery about anything being sucked in to the fermenter - I go 2 days with the iodophore paper towel after cold crashing, then put on the airlock.

 

[rycov]

if you get the s shaped airlock it will bubble in reverse, then it won't suck into the fermenter

 

[Brewer3401]

if you get the s shaped airlock it will bubble in reverse, then it won't suck into the fermenter

I read that somewhere - really good idea. I've just always used the 3 piece - don't know why, just have.

Our homebrew store owner in New Orleans looked like he used a lot of the snake looking ones - maybe he knew no suck back with those.

 

[rycov]

yeah, I started with the three piece because it looked cool. then the next time I got the s shaped one because I wanted to see how I liked that, and I noticed that when I cold crashed it bubbled backwards. so now I just use those. then I read on here that other people use them for that reason.

 

[emjay]

That's why I use Star San. The stuff isn't really toxic at all, but rather it sanitizes by being too acidic for bacteria and other microbes to survive in. As long as the pH is low enough (below 3.5, IIRC).

And so obviously, a pH exceeding that point no longer works. The most common way of having a Star San solution of higher than pH 3.5 is dilution... specifically, racking onto the foam, which you should not fear atrictly because it IS safe to consume in reasonable quantities, as long as the pH of the solution isn't so low that it damages tissue. In fact, the major active ingredient is found in higher concentrations in all sorts of soft drinks, flavored waters, etc.

So, while people seem to consider sanitizers in general as all being either toxic to them, or at the very least, bad for yeast - getting some suckback is 100% fine with Star San... every drop of the stuff will generally remain as an effective4 sanitizer in the airlock until the moment it gets sucked back into the beer and dilutes, no longer remaining under the necessary pdH, and therefore becoming harmless to both the yeast AND yourself.

In short, if you're going to use liquid in the airlock and don't have to worry about freezing it, you really can't beat Star San.