Hello guys, so 2 days ago I did my first batch, And unfortunately Im dealing with a lot of obstacles right now. First of all, no bubbles at all in the airlock after 48 hours. Im fermenating in my storage in the building, nice cool temperature but i can tell for sure that the air is running out through the airlock crack. Cause when i push on the lit, the bubbles runs out to the air. Do I need to do somthing or its okay? Secondly, my fermenting bucket is leaking through the tap. So in order to prevent of huge loss of liquid i decided to put my bucket at an angle. Is it bad for the beer? Cause if i put it straight down its leaking too much. Important to say that the beer has a strong good smell, and a nice thin layer of krausen. Any ideas?
Good. You know it's fermenting. Yes, it sounds like you have leak. Even a fairly small leak could cause a lack of airlock bubbles. You could make sure the lid is fully engaged with the bucket. Beyond that, you could replace it. That's not really a direct sign of a leak. You could install an airlock on an empty fermenter, press the lid down, and get bubbles through the airlock, because you increased the pressure inside the bucket (by reducing the volume). But the krausen along with a lack of bubbles is a pretty good indication that you have a leak. How do you manage to level the airlock with a tilted fermenter? I would make sure the airlock's tilted configuration isn't allowing what amounts to an open fermentation.
Thank you for the respone. The airlock is not even. When I said that the bubbles are going to the air I meant thorugh the airlock hole, a black rubber that i put the airlock in. So it means that the airlock is not fully sealing. I guess this is one of the reasons to the lack of bubbles. About the tap leak, i put 3 books under the bucket so the water wont press down to the tap and i wraped it with plastic wrap and tape so it wont be that much air transformation. My main questions are these: 1. It doesnt seem that i can seal the bucket properly on this batch without switching buckets, so i wonder if i should switch buckets to try save the batch? or a little bit air running through the airlock rubber won't ruin the whole batch. 2. Putting the bucket in a small angle may hurt the fermentation process? 3. Should i do the fermentation longer because of the small amount of air leak? Thank you very much.
So, is the liquid in the airlock actually a barrier for air, or is it so uneven that the airlock stem is open to air due to any of the holes at the bottom of the bell being above the water line? Well, transferring at this point risks oxidation, as does doing nothing. If the leak is very minor, I'd be inclined to ride it out. As long as the fermentation is actively producing CO2, O2 that would otherwise enter will tend to be pushed out. Not 100%, but a lot, particularly if the leak is small. I doubt the orientation of the fermenter would cause any real problems, other than the possibility of the open airlock already mentioned. However, you're going to have to put this fermenter level for bottling (or sacrifice a lot of beer). And when you do put it upright, it's going to stir up the trub, which ideally you'll want to let settle before bottling. The presence of oxygen is not slowing down the fermentation. If anything, I would get this bottled as soon as possible, i.e. as soon as fermentation is finished and there are no off flavors.
Can you post a picture of your bucket, lid and airlock hole? If you have another bucket lid that fits the bucket that has the wort in it, maybe you could swap the lids. If you think that's an option, test the airlock in the replacement lid first to see if it makes a tight seal. What you're calling 'air' might be CO2 escaping out instead of air getting in. Some fermentors (conicals) are made with an angle at the bottom. It's unlikely a small angle would cause harm (other than stirring up the trub when getting ready for bottling, as VikeMan said). If you can’t resolve the leak around the airlock it’s better to let the fermentation go only as long as needed, which can be determined by stable gravity readings. Do you have a hydrometer?
https://imgur.com/mtok2e0 This is how the airlock looks like, whenever i push the lit, i can hear CO2 running out of the ring. But it still push the liquid inside the airlock upwards. I have another lit without an airlock hole in it. Should i just switch between them? So not worth it. Im not losing that much of a beer by putting it upright, but in terms of 10 days it will be a lot. Should i set it upright at the last day to let the trub settle down? https://imgur.com/9T8uAO5 thats the angle by the way. How do you decide when the fermentation is over?
https://imgur.com/mtok2e0 https://imgur.com/9T8uAO5 I have another lid without an airlock at all, is it necessery to have an airlock? Thank you for your help!
That looks okay. No. You don't want to completely seal the fermenter, because that would likely result in the lid being blown off. I would. Take two hydrometer readings, 2 days apart. If they are the same and are in the neighborhood of what you expected for a final gravity, attenuation is finished.
If you mean where the beer comes out just attach a hose,crimp the other end and tape it to the side of the bucket. If it's at the body then i would try add some safe silicone on the outside. There's stuff that will dry when wet.
Do you know of a truly food safe silicone sealant? I have looked (for a slightly different purpose) and found nothing. There are plenty that say/imply "food safe," but when I looked further into it, found that it basically meant "okay for incidental contact with food," i.e. not continuous.
I think you can successfully pull this beer off but your "tap" is problematic if you use it to transfer beer as all the trub will be at the bottom. Your fermentation bucket looks more like a bottling bucket. Were you planning to siphon the beer out the bucket to avoid the trub? When you brew again consider making that bucket into a leak free bottling bucket and use a bucket without the tap to ferment in. Best of luck!
More than a few people ferment in "bottling" buckets. Unless there's a lot of trub, it tends to be below the level of the spigot.
No argument from me but I noticed when I've helped friends who did that it seemed to result in more sediment being carried over. But homebrewing is about doing what works for you!
I think most of them are FDA safe up to a certain temperature but i would have to see the msds sheet. For leaking buckets i would look for Aquarium silicon. What's your different purpose.
I looked at several, including various aquarium silicones. No dice with any of them. How are you defining "FDA safe?" The purpose at the time was for a thermowell build (which I never did, in that form).
Food Grade silicone sealants are available from ISC Supplies: For example (with emphasis in bold by me): “Sil-Bond RTV 4500 Food Grade Silicone Sealant Adhesive Almond 10.3oz Sil-Bond RTV 4500 100% RTV Silicone Adhesive/Sealant Sil-Bond 4500 100% RTV Silicone Adhesive Sealant is an NSF/FDA approved silicone sealant which has excellent resistance to high temperature, moisture, and weathering. Sil-Bond 4500 is a 1-Part Silicone and has excellent weatherability and and long life.” And: “Approved as a food grade silicone - NSF Standard 51, FDA and USDA approved” https://iscsupplies.com/index.php/adhesives-sealants-tapes/silicones/food-grade.html Cheers!
