Do I put water in the Airlock?

[bibowski]

I bought an airlock in a kit from my local homebrew store, but I didn't see anywhere if I was supposed to put water (or I've even read vodka) into the airlock itself.

Is the only reason for doing that so you can see bubbles travelling through the airlock? Or does it serve another purpose?

 

[ChrisCorley]

its a buffer so co2 can escape and oxygen cannot enter. water works but i would use starsan or vodka. just in case it leaks in it wont hurt anything.

 

[bibowski]

So is it ok to not have ANYTHING in there? Or it is highly recommended to put something in?

I just did my first brew and the airlock is already on the fermenting bucket... but it's only been there for an hour, I'm sure taking it off, filling it with vodka and putting it back on won't hurt anything.

 

[Golddiggie]

You need some kind of liquid in the airlock. Otherwise it's not an airlock at all.

I use StarSan now. When I first started brewing I was using good, filtered, water. Now, I just put some StarSan in (to the fill level) and don't worry about it. I do like how the StarSan can start off cloudy in the airlock, but it quickly clears once fermentation kicks in.

 

[ChrisCorley]

yeah definitely put some liquid in there. starsan or vodka. watch the level cause you might have suck back or evaporation over the next few weeks. just make sure you have something in there.

 

[fullstop22]

five o'clock

 

[Sulli]

Don't waste your vodka, use Starsan.