This review is from: 3 Piece Plastic Airlock (Sold in sets of 3) (Kitchen)
Some guy on the internet gave details of how he used this airlock with a certain grommet and a plastic canning jar lid to make the perfect, inexpensive gas-releasing lid for making fermented foods. I ordered the proper-sized rubber grommets on Amazon (made by Western Rubber, part number MR-200-0459). Using a 1/2″ drill bit, I drilled a hole in the middle of a plastic canning jar lid, then inserted the grommet. The airlock is filled with water to the fill line, then inserted into the grommet. Put your ferments into the canning jar, seal with this lid and set them somewhere for the required period. Voila! No “burping” needed. The gasses escape gradually and it works perfectly. You can make one of these for under $2.00. I’m making several jars of salsa right now…yum!
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This review is from: 3 Piece Plastic Airlock (Sold in sets of 3) (Kitchen)
These are simple (and very affordable!), effective, and amazingly convenient for making your own wine at home. Note that you MUST also purchase stoppers with holes if you don’t already have them. (They really ought to be sold together to save on shipping!)
I was having trouble making cherry and blackberry wines because of the fruit being pushed by the bubbles up into the balloons, causing them to tip over and spill syrup all over the place. A few days into fermenting, I switched my balloons out for these along with “Drilled Rubber Stopper (Carboy Bung Sets of 3)”, and have been incredibly happy! No more spills, just little bubbles and clean airlocks & bungs!
If you’re using a plastic milk-gallon jug, you probably should fill the airlock with vodka instead of water, since when you pick up and set down (or even push in on the sides)the milk jug, water can get sucked through the airlock down into the fermenter. Now, I have done many gallons with just water and had it suck back in, yet NEVER a spoiled batch. To be on the safe side, you can fill your airlock with vodka instead. Note that with glass jugs (empty applejuice jugs!), this is NOT a risk.
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This review is from: 3 Piece Plastic Airlock (Sold in sets of 3) (Kitchen)
I have found this to be the best style of airlock to use. It is cheap, simple in concept, and very easy to clean. A couple of useful comments and tips:
There are different ways to use this. If you are fermenting in a jug or carboy, you use it with a drilled stopper; the stopper size depends upon the diameter of the opening of your jug. You can also use this for fermenting in a food-grade plastic bucket. In this case you insert this through a grommet that is in the bucket lid. The reason they don’t give you a stopper or grommet is because there is no way of knowing whether you’re using a pail lid, or what size jug you have.
It is best to fill this not with water, but with some kind of food-safe sanitized liquid (i.e., not bleach water). As with any airlock, there are situations where some of the airlock liquid can be sucked back into what you’re fermenting. If you are using plain water, it can pick up microbes and bacteria which can contaminate your liquid. Risk of contamination from this isn’t a major concern, but an easy way to not worry about it is to fill it with something like cheap vodka. If any of that gets sucked back in, it won’t affect the taste of what you’re making.
If you are using this for long-term bulk aging of a wine or beer, make sure to check on the liquid level every few weeks to a month to make sure it doesn’t evaporate away. These have a liquid fill line to let you know the proper amount of liquid you need.
If you’re expecting a very vigorous fermentation, this can easily be converted into a blowoff tube. You can trim off the very bottom of the plastic to completely open up the hole. Then by not using the lid or the floating piece, you can attach a 3/16″ tube directly to the top of the tube. I do this when making hefeweizens that are very vigorous fermentors. However, if you have a lot of whole hops or fruit, it may clog the relatively small hole and you might want to consider going to a much larger diameter blowoff tube.
By the way, if you’re making wine using balloons, you really ought to consider switching to this or something else. Even a simple piece of aluminum foil covering the jug opening is more consistent and much less likely for contamination than using a balloon.
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Great for making fermented foods: salsa, kraut, etc.,
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|must have for home wine or beer making!,
I was having trouble making cherry and blackberry wines because of the fruit being pushed by the bubbles up into the balloons, causing them to tip over and spill syrup all over the place. A few days into fermenting, I switched my balloons out for these along with “Drilled Rubber Stopper (Carboy Bung Sets of 3)”, and have been incredibly happy! No more spills, just little bubbles and clean airlocks & bungs!
If you’re using a plastic milk-gallon jug, you probably should fill the airlock with vodka instead of water, since when you pick up and set down (or even push in on the sides)the milk jug, water can get sucked through the airlock down into the fermenter. Now, I have done many gallons with just water and had it suck back in, yet NEVER a spoiled batch. To be on the safe side, you can fill your airlock with vodka instead. Note that with glass jugs (empty applejuice jugs!), this is NOT a risk.
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|My favorite style of airlock,
There are different ways to use this. If you are fermenting in a jug or carboy, you use it with a drilled stopper; the stopper size depends upon the diameter of the opening of your jug. You can also use this for fermenting in a food-grade plastic bucket. In this case you insert this through a grommet that is in the bucket lid. The reason they don’t give you a stopper or grommet is because there is no way of knowing whether you’re using a pail lid, or what size jug you have.
It is best to fill this not with water, but with some kind of food-safe sanitized liquid (i.e., not bleach water). As with any airlock, there are situations where some of the airlock liquid can be sucked back into what you’re fermenting. If you are using plain water, it can pick up microbes and bacteria which can contaminate your liquid. Risk of contamination from this isn’t a major concern, but an easy way to not worry about it is to fill it with something like cheap vodka. If any of that gets sucked back in, it won’t affect the taste of what you’re making.
If you are using this for long-term bulk aging of a wine or beer, make sure to check on the liquid level every few weeks to a month to make sure it doesn’t evaporate away. These have a liquid fill line to let you know the proper amount of liquid you need.
If you’re expecting a very vigorous fermentation, this can easily be converted into a blowoff tube. You can trim off the very bottom of the plastic to completely open up the hole. Then by not using the lid or the floating piece, you can attach a 3/16″ tube directly to the top of the tube. I do this when making hefeweizens that are very vigorous fermentors. However, if you have a lot of whole hops or fruit, it may clog the relatively small hole and you might want to consider going to a much larger diameter blowoff tube.
By the way, if you’re making wine using balloons, you really ought to consider switching to this or something else. Even a simple piece of aluminum foil covering the jug opening is more consistent and much less likely for contamination than using a balloon.
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