airlock

[neil007]

My first kit brew is five days in the fermenter and soon ready for bottling i hope. I am a little confused though. The kit says to leave the lid of the fermentation bin a little in order to let co2 out, but then i see that air may damage the brew. Whose right?

I have a hole in the lid - which is taped up. Should i use an airlock?

cheers :

 

[Jonnyv]

The CO2 that's produced during fermentation will generally displace the O2 that's on top of the wort during fermentation

As long as there's a space for the CO2 to escape while fermenting, there's little reason to have an airlock on a bucket while fermenting. The CO2 will displace the oxygen because it's heavier so there's very little worry of oxidising the beer at this stage.

 

[Vossy1]

The kit says to leave the lid of the fermentation bin a little

Put the lid on firmly, then snap a small area loose. Make sure that there isn't enough room for anything to crawl into your fv :thumb: