To peak or not to peak?!

[BeardStorm]

Hi everyone,

I'm brewing a pretty damn strong beer. I hadn't heard any bubbling through the airlock for the first few days but I saw the ring indicating a kräusen.

I snuck a peak through the airlock hole by taking the airlock out (for maybe 10 seconds) and kräusen was still high.

What was weird was that when I put the airlock back in it started bubbling (pretty violently). Same thing happened again this evening... What's going on?

My science O level would suggest that I've let some oxygen in (although pretty sure that CO2 is heavier than O2 so go figure). What I don't know is if that's a good or a bad thing. (I'm told you want to aerate as little as possible after primary fermentation).

Any help or advice much appreciated

 

[mongoose33]

You didn't have a seal; when you reinserted the airlock you asserted a seal that was not there previously, and now the only exit for the CO2 was through the airlock.

Whatever small amount of O2 you might have let in will largely be consumed by the yeast, or exhausted back out through the airlock. Not an issue.

 

[myndflyte]

My guess is that you have a leak in the lid and when you pushed the airlock back in, you created a seal and were forcing CO2 up through the airlock. Sounds like everything is going fine.