Would you remove the valve from the fermentor before siphoning?

[Elysium]

I have a 6 gallon plastic fermentor with a tap and a valve on and on Saturday I am bottling. I am wondering if I should remove the lid (or just the valve) while I am siphoning into the bottling bucket or shall I just leave it on the let the air go in your it?

Which one is better for the beer?
I am asking because I have this idea that the lid should stay on...preventing things from getting into the beer. At this stage the alcohol would kill anything...but still, it might be a good idea.
What do you guys normally do?

 

[unionrdr]

I use 3 piece airlocks,so I just remove the cap & center piece.

 

[Elysium]

I use 3 piece airlocks,so I just remove the cap & center piece.

I could remove the valve itself too...and then nothing but a tiny hole would be present on the lid and the fermentor would stay covered. The thing is that I have alcohol inside the valve.....I am wondering if that will leak into the beer as I start moving the valve. Well, I give it a go.

 

[unionrdr]

Well,if you have an "S" type airlock,then you'd have to remove it.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I have a plastic bucket fermenter with no valve, so when I rack I remove the entire lid and drop in my autosiphon. No infections so far. If you fear your air, and you have a valve at the bottom ( like a bottling bucket?) you could also just remove the airlock to prevent a vaccuum when you transfer.

 

[fearwig]

I think it's pretty safe to say whatever will get into your beer from air contact during the actual transfer to the bottling bucket is negligible, probably less than you will get anyway just from incidental contact with clean hands/recently sanitized surfaces, etc. Your yeast is still alive and is about to get a kick of sugar anyway. This is sanitary work, not sterile. You don't need to be paranoid about bugs, except when aging.

 

[Elysium]

I think it's pretty safe to say whatever will get into your beer from air contact during the actual transfer to the bottling bucket is negligible, probably less than you will get anyway just from incidental contact with clean hands/recently sanitized surfaces, etc. Your yeast is still alive and is about to get a kick of sugar anyway. This is sanitary work, not sterile. You don't need to be paranoid about bugs, except when aging.

Thanks for the reply.

What do you mean by the "aging" part? Is there anything I should be careful with while bottle-aging the beer? Can you explain that to me in a few words?

Thanks

 

[fearwig]

Thanks for the reply.

What do you mean by the "aging" part? Is there anything I should be careful with while bottle-aging the beer? Can you explain that to me in a few words?

Thanks

Just long-term aging in a fermenter after main fermentation is complete and the yeast settle (eg secondary in a carboy or 5gal ferm bucket). It's safe in the bottle unless it gets tainted before it makes it in somehow.

A good rule of thumb is that your beer is safest when the yeast are most active, partly because of co2 discouraging oxygen loving bugs, and partly just because they're alive I figure.

I'm no vet but I think that's a good summary of the consensus, and it makes sense if you think about it.

 

[SteveM]

I use a bucket fermenter with an air lock. When I'm ready to transfer to the bottling bucket, I just take the whole lid off. I would not want to attempt to siphon through the hole for the air lock, as I wouldn't be able to see what I was doing.

 

[Math0]

Same thing here. Every time I bottle I take the lid off, put the siphon inside and the lid stays off for the entire time. Chances your beer gets an infection are pretty tiny if you don't go all out Charlie Chaplin style