Very First Batch Need Advice Please

[livingwideopen]

Hello,

My wife bought me the beginner kit for my birthday, and used the Baron's Lager kit that came with everything. I wish I would have found this forum before I started because now I'm sure I've got some problems.

The thing is, I followed the directions, and it says for primary fermentation to seal the lid on the pail after adding the yeast, which I did. The problem is, there is no hole in the lid, it's actually a sealed system. To me it didn't seem right, because I was wondering where the gases created were going to go, but I re-checked the instructions and I never seen anything different. But I was quite bothered by it, and then started searching and realizing I probably did something wrong. Unfortunately, nobody else seems to be this much of a newb and put a sealed pail lid on with no air lock, so I don't know what to do to rectify the situation.

I do have a 6 gallon carboy with an airlock system that I can use but I don't know if it would be proper to transfer now.

I'm pretty sure if I leave it I will have a beer volcano soon, so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[rod]

you definitely need an air lock.
i would take off the lid and drill a hole for your airlock, sanitize the lid and re-install with the airlock.

 

[runningweird]

well, that's funny. You have two options. The easiest would be to sanitize the carboy, bung, and airlock and transfer it. another option is to take the lid, drill a hole and insert a grommet(on sale at lhbs) then put your bubbler in the hole.

 

[livingwideopen]

Thanks for the quick responses, I was pretty sure it was going to turn out bad if I kept it sealed. Any idea on what size of hole saw to use to make a hole for the airlock?

 

[BendBrewer]

You need to drill a hole in the lid and attach some sort or air lock or blow tube for now. The idea of transferring it is a good one too. Then you can deal with fixing that lid with an airlock for your next batch.

 

[rod]

Thanks for the quick responses, I was pretty sure it was going to turn out bad if I kept it sealed. Any idea on what size of hole saw to use to make a hole for the airlock?

i just drilled a hole in my lids slightly smaller than the narrow end of the rubber bung on the air lock and jam it in. - don't remember the size off hand.

 

[McGarnigle]

I think you may be able to just loosely lay your lid on top of your pail. I recall reading of people here who just used sanitized Plexiglas or something and lay that on top of their pail.

 

[sjbeerman]

It's strange for a LHBS to sell a kit that contains a lid with no hole for an airlock. Did you say that you are making a lager?

 

[SilentAutumn]

It's strange for a LHBS to sell a kit that contains a lid with no hole for an airlock. Did you say that you are making a lager?

The carboy is the primary and the bucket might be for bottling? And yes, this sounds like it will be an ale instead of an actual lager.

 

[runningweird]

you could put the lid on loosely but I imagine a vigorous fermentation bay leak on your floor.

 

[SilentAutumn]

I just saw this thread in the yeast forum that might help you. A guy was asking about using saran wrap or foil on his bucket (although for a different reason than you, but the mechanics are still the same). Seems people have done it before and had successful beers.

 

[livingwideopen]

Hey all, first off, thanks to everybody for the help. My forum membership paid off just with this help.

I went down to the LHBS to buy a grommet, but she didn't have anything. Then she said that having a hole in the lid for an airlock is old fashioned, and that I should just leave the lid left on loosely. Needless to say, I'm not taking her advice. I will support her because it's a local business, but I think all my advice will be taken from these forums.

It does say it's a lager, but it's not like what most people on here are making, all I had was add a bag to some water an then add yeast.

Thanks for the links, I'm going to just keep checking everything out and reading as much as I can. Cheers!