Lager with no airlock

[mrmekon]

So, as per my other thread, I accidentally pitched lager yeast instead of ale yeast in my SMaSH. I'm doing my best to stick to lager protocol, but I was not setup for this.

I just finished a diacetyl rest at 68F, brought it back down to 58F in the basement for 48 hours, then went to stick it in my mini-fridge and found out that it's too tall with the airlock attached!

My fermenter is a 1 gallon plastic orange juice jug. If I take gravity readings a couple of days apart and they aren't changing, would it be safe to take the airlock off and seal it with a cap while lagering? Or will it produce enough CO2 still to make a bottle bomb?

What are other solutions? A blow-off tube would work, but maybe a balloon would be good enough?

 

[dvdfnzwbr]

You can cap but loosen the cap to release pressure every few days. Better yet use a cork incase of increased pressure so it can pop out if it needs to.

 

[Rentachik]

You can cap but loosen the cap to release pressure every few days. Better yet use a cork incase of increased pressure so it can pop out if it needs to.

You could put some sanitized tin foil over the top with a rubber band around it. It'll let CO2 out and not much in. Works for starters. I don't really see it being a problem especially if the mini fridge is going to be left alone and not opened very 15 min like the one in the kitchen.

 

[mrmekon]

Ah hah, tin foil plus rubber band wins for easiest to do with materials on hand.

I know the big push with Ales is for skipping secondary. Is that any different with lagers? My racking cane is huge, for 5-gallon carboys, so I was planning on skipping it and just lagering in primary. I don't have fine-grained temperature control, though, so I am a little worried that the yeast will flocculate out. Would crashing it to 40F then transferring to secondary be better to re-suspend the yeast?