Bubbler Airlock

[user 47933]

Ok so this has not happened to me before hence the question
I did a kit beer in my fermenter last night and put it in my fridge (with heater and ink bird connected)
Checked it first thing this morning and all ok
Came home from work (aprox 13 hrs later and the lid of the airlock appears to have pooped off and is lying on the fermenter lid,
With the inner part of the airlock “exposed” is the beer liable to be contaminated or off now?

 

[Rugby Fan.]

Ok so this has not happened to me before hence the question
I did a kit beer in my fermenter last night and put it in my fridge (with heater and ink bird connected)
Checked it first thing this morning and all ok
Came home from work (aprox 13 hrs later and the lid of the airlock appears to have pooped off and is lying on the fermenter lid,
With the inner part of the airlock “exposed” is the beer liable to be contaminated or off now?

Maybe such forceful gassing made a strong co2 blanket to protect your beer. I've no idea if that's a thing though.

Or maybe the yeast in such full flow will out fight anything trying to get in.

 

[Caramel Ox]

The beer will be fine. There should be liquid in the airlock, normally steriliser (just checking) the cap isn’t necessary.

 

[user 47933]

The beer will be fine. There should be liquid in the airlock, normally steriliser (just checking) the cap isn’t necessary.

Thanks for the reply, there is no rinse sanitizer in the airlock

 

[Rugby Fan.]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh for some reason I thought bubbler meant 3 part as opposed to S shape. If it's an s shape the lid isn't all that important. Maybe make a few tiny holes in the lid to prevent it happening again

 

[user 47933]

Ok so this has not happened to me before hence the question
I did a kit beer in my fermenter last night and put it in my fridge (with heater and ink bird connected)
Checked it first thing this morning and all ok
Came home from work (aprox 13 hrs later and the lid of the airlock appears to have pooped off and is lying on the fermenter lid,
With the inner part of the airlock “exposed” is the beer liable to be contaminated or off now?

 

[user 47933]

This is the air lock

 

[DocAnna]

It will be fine - this happens quite a lot, the flow of CO2 from the beer will be enough to stop dust settling in the beer. This has happened quite often for me, it is one of the reasons I generally switched to a tube and a jar of starsan - but I still use these for smaller batches. There are some people that make the argument that early in fermentation you don't need an air lock at all - I'm not that brave though.

 

[jof]

If it's pushing out enough co2 to displace the airlock top, then don't worry - just keep putting it back.

Airlock becomes more important when fermentation drops off at the end and not much CO2 is being produced, then you don't want oxygen from the air getting in via diffusion

 

[user 47933]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh for some reason I thought bubbler meant 3 part as opposed to S shape. If it's an s shape the lid isn't all that important. Maybe make a few tiny holes in the lid to prevent it happening again

 

[Agentgonzo]

I have some of these. You can 'click' the lid down in position, but if you do that, the pressure can build up and pop it off. There's no need to click it down (if that's what you did) - just sit the lid part on loosely.

Add mentioned, the fermentation will keep pushing CO2 out and your beer will be perfectly healthy

 

[jof]

Oh, and that design came in 2 sizes, small for demijohns & large for 5gallon fermentors, but I only seem to have the small ones & use it on the beer FV anyway

 

[Agentgonzo]

Oh, and that design came in 2 sizes, small for demijohns & large for 5gallon fermentors, but I only seem to have the small ones & use it on the beer FV anyway

I didn't know that. I've used mine on both 5L demijohns and 5Gal fermenters, no problems

 

[jof]

I haven't seen the bigger sized ones for years, although I haven't looked that hard

 

[AndrewJB]

I haven't seen the bigger sized ones for years, although I haven't looked that hard

The ones I bought from Balliihoo a few months ago are noticeably bigger than the ones I bought from The Home Brew Shop. I just thought it was because of different manufacturers.

 

[MashBag]

Ok so this has not happened to me before hence the question
I did a kit beer in my fermenter last night and put it in my fridge (with heater and ink bird connected)
Checked it first thing this morning and all ok
Came home from work (aprox 13 hrs later and the lid of the airlock appears to have pooped off and is lying on the fermenter lid,
With the inner part of the airlock “exposed” is the beer liable to be contaminated or off now?

It will be absolutely fine.

For the record I have not used a airlock for years.

 

[MashBag]

Correction. For years read decades.

 

[Rugby Fan.]

How much sanitiser have you in it? It only needs to be about a 1/3rd full

 

[Nashbrew]

Switched to a blow off pipe and a glass of Starsan mix after my first 2 brews blew all the liquid out of the airlock,
never had an issue since.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

@canairyman

I bought the super major airlock (below) as mine used to empty i haven't had a problem since.

Thread here - Super major airlock.

£2.10 buy here - Super Major Airlock

Wilko handy airlock next to the the big boy.

The body of the Youngs Super airlock is 8 cm by 4 cm.

The Wilko airlock is 5 cm by 2.5 cm.