Air leak in conical

Ingredients
1

Early last year I had a near catastrophe with a glass carboy and damn near killed myself (luckily it didn’t break, noone got hurt and most important - I didn’t lose the batch of beer), but I decided to purchase a 7 gal stainless steel conical…  Not the Cadillac (Blichmann’s) but one of the off-branded ones purchased from e-bay.

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I have to say for the money it has worked out pretty well.  I’ve done about a dozen batches and haven’t had any problems except…  The last two batches I’ve not seen any bubbles in the air lock.  My last batch fermented out well but I was a nervous wreck.  This time I’m trying out a lager for the first time and I’ve been freaking out.  I added another 11g of rehydrated S-23, and after 24 hours my sample shows a drop in gravity (1.055 to 1.044) so I think it’s moving again.

Has anyone else had any problems with this style conical (has a flat lid with a bar across the top with a screw to hold the lid down)?  I’m thinking about replacing the rubber seal around the edge and adding another wider steal plate under the screw…  Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance.

-Steve

About this same time

2

Pin hole leaks really are nothing to worry about. The beer is off gassing all during primary fermentation and for at least several days after fermentation has stopped. I don’t even use airlocks on my carboys until after fermentation has stopped, just foil over the opening. An dI have no problems. On my 42 gallon Blichmann conical  I have a tube coming off with some cotton taped to the tube and I have left it sit for a week after fermentation and the head space was still filled with Co2.

So, no worries IMO. Just don’t age the beer in the conical and you will be fine.