WATER COOLER BOTTLES - Lock and load....

[andyBandy]

Hi all,

i have recently aquire 4 19ltr water cooler bottles.
they are damn sight cheaper than glass djs so im prepasred to give them a go to move my cider into after primary has finished.

Here is my question?

i need soloution for airlock....

Has anyone got any suggestion for attaching an airlock to these or do you know what i can use?

ive heard you can get airlocks which will fir water cooler bottles but not sure which ones they are?

any help kindly grateful.

andy bandy 'knock em bandy'

 

[Moley]

Hi Andy, and welcome to the forum :

Have your bottles still got their blue plastic caps?

If so, see photos half way down this topic.

If not, you can buy big bungs or rubber tops for carboys, google it, or has anybody else got a link?

 

[JagCrusher]

These any good?... >>CLICKY<<

 

[Marrsy86]

The one I use has a basic blue outer lid and a little clear inner part that fits into the blue part. I don't have anything to cut a 30mm hole into them so I drilled an 8mm hole into the clear part and added a normal airlock to it.

It's working fine right now.

Cheers

Marrsy

 

[andyBandy]

Hi Guys,

cheers for the swift responses.

the pics are great .

yes have the blue caps intact and have popped the centre bity out which leaves the hole.

hmm, drill it? get a bung to fit?

randomly i happened to have a wine cork on side......
And amazing wine cork fits snug as so im going to drill hole through rubber cork to put airlock in and just use that. simples.....

i will post some pics towards weeknd.

cheers for help all.

 

[Marrsy86]

randomly i happened to have a wine cork on side......
And amazing wine cork fits snug as so im going to drill hole through rubber cork to put airlock in and just use that. simples.....

i will post some pics towards weeknd.

cheers for help all.

Wouldent mind some pics of this as I have just found out I have pretty much an unlimited supply :thumb:

I pop the little plastic clear part out the lid, drill and 8mm hold in it then put it in backwards so it fits tighter, it does the job perfectly on my test bottle.

Cheers

Marrsy

 

[Waterboy]

hello all, imstill very new to this brewing lark so please feel free to put me in my place, but ive noticed alot of people asking on this forum about airlock-bottle related problems. i have recently set up my very first brew and i decided to use two 10l bottles i had lying around instead of forking out for a fv, but when buying all my kit a week or so ago, i thought id only need one bubbler airlock. so i was faced with two problems- 1. what am i going to use on the other bottle? and 2. how do i fit a airlock into a plastic bottle cap without a bung? well the solutoins couldent have been simpler, so simple in fact that im now kicking myself for wasteing money on one airlock!

my other hobby is fishkeeping and ive learned alot from that, one thing being how to make what is basicly an airtight (albeit miniture) fermenting vessel. look at the first couple of pics here and it explains how to get tubing to fit in a bottle cap (solving my problem number 1. the tubing in question is just standard aquarium airline tubing see link- http://www.seapets.co.uk/products/a...lgarde-airline-tubing-6mm.html?ref=googlebase. its exactly the same for us brewers except the other end of the tube justs sits in a half full bottle of water to bubble away (which as it turns out is alot quieter than the airlock i bought, which sounds like a cat vomiting every three seconds in my kitchen). follow the link and youll see what i mean
http://diyyeastco2.blogspot.com/
my second problem was solved in pretty much the same way, i drilled a hole too small for the airlock and just forced it in, stretching the plastic of the bottle cap and creating a good enough seal.

 

[Waterboy]

[img]http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/k571/Jon_Won/IMGP3304.jpg[/img]

heres my set up

 

[Marrsy86]

Are they the 10L FVs in the pic ? They look pretty big in the pic but they are a different shape to the 19L ones I use.

 

[Waterboy]

yes they are my 10l waterbottles and next to them with the airline going in is a 500ml water bottle. :thumb:

 

[Steve k]

I got one of these:

http://www.hopshopuk.com/products/view/ ... carboy-cap

It fits perfectly.

Steve

 

[dorsetciderboy]

Wish I had read this thread before throwing away the caps for my cooler bottles, DOH! I bought a few from Makro for £4.99 and are idea.

 

[Marrsy86]

I bought a few from Makro for £4.99 and are idea.

What size are these ? I think the ones Moley uses are 15L from ASDA for around the same price.

 

[dorsetciderboy]

I bought a few from Makro for £4.99 and are idea.

What size are these ? I think the ones Moley uses are 15L from ASDA for around the same price.

Yeh they are 15ltr.. I have an ASDA opening in my town next month, so this will make cider making much easier! living in the rural dorset can be a pain sometimes.

 

[Moley]

What size are these ? I think the ones Moley uses are 15L from ASDA for around the same price.

A bit more than these, I paid £5.70 a few weeks ago but mikegee says Staples might be cheaper, see this topic.

 

[Marrsy86]

What size are these ? I think the ones Moley uses are 15L from ASDA for around the same price.

A bit more than these, I paid £5.70 a few weeks ago but mikegee says Staples might be cheaper, see this topic.

Cheers for the tip, Checked the staples website and it would seem they have a bundle offer on right now where you get two for the price of one bringing the cost down to £3.33 ex VAT! Made a thread here to try spread the word incase anyone else is after them but doesnt read this thread.

 

[Steve k]

Hi all.

I've acquired some more water cooler bottles and didn't want to go to the expense of buying a new carboy bung or a big drill bit.......so I put my thinking cap on.
If you push the clear centre out of the standard cap, a standard grommet with bubbler (is that how you spell it ?? :wha: ) gives a perfect air tight seal.
Hopefully this will help someone.

No tools needed.

Cheers

Steve



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[ingypingy2]

I tried to do the same as above, but found it wasn't completely airtight...so I drilled a hole in the little blue bit that pops off under the watercooler lid, and fitted the little black rubber thingy (grommet?) that came on the lid from the 5L PET demijohn lids from my LHBS. Fitted the airlock into it and now have a perfectly airtight sea on my water bottle (wich is currently housing to 4G strawberry Ribena Wine) :)

 

[tonyhibbett]

Amazing resourcefulness. Remember, the airlock is designed to keep bacteria etc out, especially when introduced by the vinegar fly. The fv is busy pumping out co2, and since this is heavier than air, the risk of infection during primary fermentation is minimal. For this purpose, I simply use a piece of cloth and a reasonably-well, but not tight-fitting lid over a large plastic bin. It is during secondary fermentation that there is a risk, as very little co2 is produced. But I get the impression that with the use of fast-fermenting turbo yeasts, nutrients, stabilisers, sulphite, de-gassing and miraculous fining agents, along with oak chips and flavouring agents as maturing accelerators, secondary fermentation is an unneccessary step in the production of readily drinkable wine. I never use fermentation locks for 5 gallon kit wines. I only use them for experimental small brews in 1 gallon jars and only because I have loads of them.
There is even a practise, which I have only unintentionally used, of filling the vessel so that all the scum and detritus spumes out the top, so you don't have the tricky job of trying to clean the inside shoulders of the jar afterwards!

 

[Brewed_Force]

I have (ahem...) 'acquired' one of these 19L water cooler bottles from work.
I can't figure out how to get the blue cap off without destroying it.
Any ideas?