my airlock water evaporated?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jigidyjim

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Messages
696
Reaction score
5
Location
Oakland, CA
I'm on my 4th brew. I went in to check on the fermenter 24 hours after putting it in and my airlock water level was really low... this is a first for me, even though I'm using the same equipment. The water level before never really changed in all 2 weeks of fermenting for the first 3 brews.

Anyway, I wasn't too concerned, I just filled it up (with vodka since at that point I didn't have any clean water left), and I'll check again this afternoon to see if it does it again.

So just thought i'd ask if this is a sign of something of more troubling...
 
if it happened that quickly I'm more inclined to think that it was active fermentation that pushed out the water over evaporation. Had that happen to me a couple times and never any issues from it so far.
 
OR it was suck back... it got sucked in due to a small temp. decrease in the fermentor.
 
i've had a suck back before and when i added some tap water (not thinking) some went straight into the fermenter. after worrying for a week i bottled it and it turned out the be an awesome brew
 
I doubt it evaporated that quickly, I bet it was sucked back in as the wort cooled a little more. I've had mine try to do the same thing many times, in fact I often just cover the dry airlock with foil for the first few hours just to avoid it. It's not really a big deal but I'd still rather it didn't happen.
 
It pretty much had to be suck back.

...in fact I often just cover the dry airlock with foil for the first few hours just to avoid it.
I just don't put any water in the airlock or sometimes I just cover it with foil. After a few hours when it won't be cooling any further or there is fermentation activity...then I'll add water to the airlock.
 
Iv had some apple wine in my fermenters for about one and a half years. I was downstairs the other week and I noticed that both my airlocks are dry on 2 five gallon fermenters. Is the wine still good? I have no idea how long the airlocks have been dry.

Please and thank you.
 
Back
Top