I have a comment and a suggestion.
The comment first. I don’t have enough air locks and through necessity, I discovered that a white labs vial fits perfectly into the hole in the lids of my plastic buckets. Now, I put an airlock on the bucket for the first few days until bubbles slow down and then I dip a vial into star-san and put it into the hole so I can use the airlock on another brew (yes, I’m cheap). Just something to think about if you ever find yourself short of an airlock but have some on other brews.
Now the suggestion. Please consider adding a sticker onto the bottom inch or so of your vial labels stating what yeast is in the vial. I think it would be so slick to just peel off that bottom sticker and put it right onto my starter jugs so I don’t forget what starter is what (and maybe I’m the only person that’s ever made 3 or 4 starters in a day and forgotten which was which). When I’m using Wyeast, I cut off the part of the pack that says what the yeast is (after pitching) and tape that onto the jug now but I use way more WLP yeast than Wyeast. So, I’m making the suggestion.
I’d like to see a pic of you using a vial for an airlock… I can’t picture it and it sounds like you have a huge hole on your bucket lid…as for your suggestion, you’re asking them to spend more $$… that’ll increase our expense for the yeast… don’t be so cheap!
Maybe you should reverse your procedure? You don’t really need an airlock during fermentation, since CO2 is always outgassing. Later I’d worry about oxidation if the beer is no longer fermenting, unless this makeshift airlock is truly air-tight.
Oxidation will not happen in that situation. People brew with open fermenters all the time. The only issue is somthing else geting into your fermenter.
If you’re doing an open fermentation, you should rack to a closed secondary once fermentation ceases. Which is why I suggested he keep the airlock for after primary was done.
I also can’t picture how a white labs vial would fit in the same hole an airlock does. Pics please!
Sorry, heading out on vacation today and no time to take pics/download etc. In the lid of my buckets, the hole is about an inch wide for a rubber stopper. The vial fits in where the stopper would go. It’s not an airlock, just a stopper. The fit is pretty tight.
I’m not worried about oxidation because I only leave my beers in primary for about 2 weeks before kegging. Half the time, the airlock on my buckets doesn’t even bubble because there is so much CO2 that escapes around the rim of the bucket from the poor seal on the lids. I wouldn’t shove the vial into the hole if I thought that there was no other way for the gas to escape but it can easily get out through the bad seal. That’s also why I wouldn’t reverse the process. If the release of gas was too slow, it would blow the vial out of the hole. Maybe there is a chance for oxidation but I don’t believe it’s any worse than with an airlock in this case. I also know there are brewers out there that just put foil over the mouth of their carboys, occasionally myself included who don’t have problems.
It was just a make-shift solution to a problem I discovered I had (too few airlocks). I keep buying them and either losing them or more often, breaking them (I’m very clumsy).
Aluminum foil and blue masking tape are amazing. Cover your bucket openings with foil and use masking tape to label your starters, fermenters, and kegs.
The only time I even consider using an airlock is if it is something that is going to sit for many months, which lately has only been sour beers. Everything else bulk ages in a keg
