airlock difficulties

[markc12]

Greetings to all, im now into day three of my real ale fermentation and the brew has been fermenting like mad. The problem is it has formed such a lot of foam on top that its forced all of the water out of the airlock and is bubbling away into the now emptied airlock, can i now remove the airlock and clean it and refill it without potentially contaminating my brew?

 

many thanks

 

Mark

[AllanT1]

I could use some help too, my first batch. Started 2 days ago is clearly fermenting but the airlock hasn't moved. I can see foam,dark gunk ring on top and settlement on bottom but no airlock movement at all. No dripping from the spout and the top is tight. What did I do wrong? Oh yeah, the temp has been 22 to 24 c.

[rossm]

...yes Mark you can remove the airlock and clean it, while the brew is still working there will be nothing get in while you do that, and Allan, the only thing you did wrong was not read enough of Muddies posts regarding airlocks!....ignore the airlock! have a bit of a read around and you will find that most experienced brewers now discard the airlock altogether.

[markc12]

cheers ross ive cleaned it up and were back bubbling away like before.

 

many thanks

 

mark

[AllanT1]

Thanks Ross, after posting my paranoid post I did some further research and I read the same thing. So why didn't I read it before? Paranoia! Haha! Thanks for your response though, my confidence is somewhat reinforced, now we need to work on my patience. Thanks again..

[Guest]

Airlocks are good if you run out of Gladwrap (2 layers and the rubber O ring from the lid to seal).. Ive not used the blooper for so long now!! (I do miss the sound) .. But.. It's just not needed, I keep the lid for cleaniing purposes, pull the O ring out and put tha over the gladwrap lid... perfect.. However, with a vigerous Krausen that comes out the top all you do is remove the soiled, clean any excess and reseal. During ferment there is enough of a layer of co2 to allow for "maintenance" without much risk of infection. In short, never rely on a "blooper" as a sign of anything, love your hydrometer, love gladwrapping!![love]