Hey all,
Brewed my first batch yesterday, an Amber ale kit from Midwest. Lot’s of fun & work but a couple concerns. Primarily I’m concerned about liquor I used to fill the airlock leaking into the fermenter, about a tablespoon or a little less, anyone capable of commenting on this?
Thanks,
B-rad
Np problem whatsoever. When I started brewing I used vodka in the airlocks. When it ran out I switched to water with no ill effects.
That small amount of liquor won’t impact the flavor of your beer. I’m assuming you used vodka or something similar? And welcome to the forum!
Thanks for the replies!
Yes, I used Bacardi Rum, nothing flavored, as i realized too late i had no vodka and/or ready sterile water.
I just use some idophor. I save a little from my sanitation dance and replace it once in a while ussualy when checking gravity.
Can you ever taste the iodophor when it gets sucked in to the beer? I’ve had some homebrews that had a distinct iodophor taste. I would go with something more neutral in the airlock.
Ever since I was told about using vodka in the airlock that is all I use. Works great and no worries about tainting the flavor of your beer.
I like StarSan.
Tap water
It rarely happens cause I usually use the S-Type locks. but when it has I haven’t noticed the flavor. I am not using straight out of the bottle idophor. just a normal solution. Maybe a little stronger. But I figure between what is left clinging to my racking cane and hoses and the thief I use to take samples and the auto-siphon and the keg or bottles I bottle in an extra .25-.5 ounces isn’t gonna make a big deal. But I don’t have the most sophisticated palette either.
Fair enough ;D
Pragmatism gold star for the day!
I’ve tasted this problem as well, although I think that it’s more likely that the iodine flavor was caused by not letting the bottles dry after rinsing with Iodophor.
For airlocks I use sterilized water or cooking sherry. Cooking sherry is much cheaper than vodka, and the amount of salt and sherry is sufficiently small that it won’t cause problems if some of it gets sucked into the beer.
I don’t know about the prices of cooking sherry, but I can get a handle of cheap vodka for about $12. Previous one was Wolfschmidt, current is either Dmitri or Popov. That’s pretty cost effective.
I wouldn’t drink it, even if I drank vodka, but then I don’t buy it for drinking.
I certainly wouldn’t use anything you might keep in your liquor cabinet. That would be plain wasteful.
I presume that the point of using alcohol in the airlock is to inhibit microbial growth. Is cooking sherry strong enough to do that?
FWIW, I’m a tap water guy.