Low profile airlock?

[Professor Frink]

I'm going to be fermenting lagers in my chest freezer, and when I measure the height from the compressor hump to the lid, it's about 2 inches shorter than the height of the 3-piece airlock in the carboy. Does anyone know if there is a low profile airlock out there, or any other way around this problem?

 

[Yooper]

A carboy cap and blow off tube? Would that be smaller?

 

[Professor Frink]

A carboy cap and blow off tube? Would that be smaller?

Hmm, that'll be real close, it's pretty much the same height. I supposed if I bend down the top of the carboy cap, that may work.

 

[SuperiorBrew]

or make a quick PVC blowoff tube with elbows

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

You could use a dry airlock... stick an inline filter in a stopper an away you go. You can find inline filters at:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/16797/

thats all I've got.

Cheers

 

[Professor Frink]

You could use a dry airlock... stick an inline filter in a stopper an away you go. You can find inline filters at:

http://morebeer.com/view_product/16797/

thats all I've got.

Cheers

Actually, I can get those free through lab, good thinking. The PVC elbow blowoff idea is great too. Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[5 Is Not Enough]

Or just use the good old sanitized piece of foil method. I think since you're putting it in a nearly sealed container anyway, so long as you keep the freezer clean, you'd not have any problems.

 

[DRAGGER]

there is a silicone stopper on this page that is vented.....
http://www.northernbrewer.com/ferment.html

 

[jacobyhale]

What about a piece of Tyvek? It allows air out, but not in. And best of all, you can get it free at the post office (1st class envelopes)

 

[BeerCanuck]

Maybe old school ghetto ...(plastic wrap with three pin holes)

Cheers
BeerCanuck

 

[Jo3sh]

How about just finding a copper elbow (or making your own with a tubing bender), then putting one end of that in a stopper - the other end gets a hose which drops into a blowoff jar.

 

[navysnail]

better bottle makes the dry lock airlock thing, its pretty short from the looks of it.

 

[Beerthoven]

Or just use the good old sanitized piece of foil method. I think since you're putting it in a nearly sealed container anyway, so long as you keep the freezer clean, you'd not have any problems.

This is what I would do.

 

[jezter6]

I like the vented stopper idea. That looks pretty sweet.

 

[schmidty65]

Professor Frink: which method did you wind up using? I have a small upright freezer that I plan to use for lagering, and I need a couple inches less height than the standard fermenter/carboy with 3-piece airlocks give. I know this is an old thread, but has anybody had any experiences with this in the past couple years?
Thanks!

 

[matthewkbridges]

Do what the keezer crowd does and put a collar on it. No mods to your brewing apparatus, and if you ever sell the freezer you can take the collar off.

 

[ArtVandelay]

Don't know what your fermenter is but I know my buckets are about 1"/1.5" shorter than a 5 gallon carboy or 6.5 gallon better bottle

 

[schmidty65]

Yeah; I use the same standard fermenter bucket, but its still just a little too tall with the 3-piece airlock. The carboy is even a little taller than that. Those vented silicone stoppers seem to be out of stock everywhere I look online. I'll look into the collars. I do have one fermenter that's more squatty than the others, so that one would work in there.
Thanks for the response, guys.

 

[AnOldUR]

Used a piece of racking cane and a bung. Works with blow-off too.

Edit:
Damn! The zombie bit me.

 

[bentonre]

As dugger said.....
something like this:
http://www.homebrewers.com/product/FE479/Silicone-Airlock.html?meta=GBASE&metacpg=FE479&utm_source=gbase&utm_medium=CPC&utm_content=&utm_campaign=FE479

Pretty cheap and about as short as you can get.

 

[schmidty65]

As dugger said.....
something like this:
http://www.homebrewers.com/product/FE479/Silicone-Airlock.html?meta=GBASE&metacpg=FE479&utm_source=gbase&utm_medium=CPC&utm_content=&utm_campaign=FE479

Pretty cheap and about as short as you can get.

That's perfect, bentonre. All the sites I knew about showed the silicone airlocks like this as out of stock--this is a new supplier I'll add to my links.
:rockin:
Thanks guys!

 

[Anubis]

I would just go with racking tube and bung. Don't jave to buy new gear and you can re-use it. Easy to clean, easy to use.

 

[chicagobrew]

I've got the same problem, and the silicone airlock looks perfect. With this I think I can get 4 buckets into a 13 cubic foot upright freezer. Now I just need to get a second freezer for lagering.

 

[Islandboy85]

Used a piece of racking cane and a bung. Works with blow-off too.

Edit:
Damn! The zombie bit me.

Very nice.

 

[FlyingHumanoid]

I have not tried this personally, but I second the Tyvek idea. It's used in other hobbies that require perfect sterilization. Although, it can let oxygen back in. That is only if fermentation has stopped and somehow the CO2 has leaked out.

It's actually very inexpensive if you buy in bulk. You can go to your local hardware store and get a Tyvek suit in the painting department that you can use for years. That is if you're sealing a carboy. (Around $15)

The only thing that bothers me is an extremely active fermentation that may need a blow off tube and bucket to catch the extra krausen. Otherwise you would have a horrible mess and/or a contaminated batch of wonderful beer.