heavy ferment

[nchomebrew]

i just brewed an ipa from the local home brew shop, and it was fermenting like crazy. a little bit of krausen came out the airlock. it has settled some now. but now the water in my airlock is yellowish from the krausen. i'm sure it's not a big deal, but would it hurt anything to quickly change it out with a clean one? i think this is going to be one of the best beers i've brewed yet.

 

[wild]

i think this is going to be one of the best beers i've brewed yet.

Then don't mess with it. But if you're so anal that you can't wait until its time to rack, then go ahead. Make sure to sanitize the surrounding area.

Wild

 

[Yooper]

Go ahead and either put on a clean sanitized airlock (I have about 10 of them in a drawer), or wash that one and resanitize and refill if you don't have an extra.

 

[Dinbin]

+1 Go ahead and clean/sanitize your air-lock. Had the same with my hefe. Pulling the air-lock won't hurt, the co2 will keep flowing till you stick it back on.

 

[TexLaw]

Yep, switch it with a clean one or clean and resanitize. You can get an infection in your airlock which increases likelihood of contamination in your brew. If you are using a carboy, also wipe the inside of the carboy quickly with a little iodophor solution (just a little - you don't need a dripping paper towel for this), just to be safe.

I actually start my fermentations with a dry airlock. The only thing I'm concerned about is something floating through the neck of my primary. A dry airlock stops that. In the meantime, the beer needs all the oxygen it can get. Once I see fermentation is going well, I'll add liquid to the airlock.


TL