two quick questions

First one, ive been using these silver caps i got bulk a little while back. They were only a bit more expensive than the gold ones, my first instinct was that they were just better quality or more universal or something. Are all or most silver caps the oxygen killing ones? if so, ive been star saning these for a good past couple brews.... I haven't noticed anything bad, then again i wanted my beer to age more so i haven't cracked in to that much of it. Should i worry?

Second, ive grown tired of airlocks. Sketchy to remove, leaked in a couple of my brews(no harm but not ideal). Lately ive been using a thin bottling style tube i guess, into a short beer bottle 1/3 filled with water. No problems, and i still here the reassuring bubbling. So, last night i brewed a nameless bavarian extract with hallertau, candi sugar and a bit of steens pure cane syrup to see what would happen. I just cracked the plastic lid after pitching the nottingham, and put the bucket in a new black trash bag. i loosely twisted the top of the bag and put a smaller bag around the top to prevent any bugs or stuff to get in it, and it not being able to explode. Today, the bag was pretty bloated and my room smells like fresh chocolate milk. Is this an okay method? My paranoia of contaminating it has led me to not check on it (crap i forgot to take an OG on this one... ahhhh o well whats the worst that could happen?). But my senses tell me it is fermenting. Thoughts on this?

beerbeerbeerbeerbeerbeer- said:

First one, ive been using these silver caps i got bulk a little while back. They were only a bit more expensive than the gold ones, my first instinct was that they were just better quality or more universal or something. Are all or most silver caps the oxygen killing ones? if so, ive been star saning these for a good past couple brews.... I haven't noticed anything bad, then again i wanted my beer to age more so i haven't cracked in to that much of it. Should i worry?

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Can't say if they're all O2 absorbing caps or not. I've gotten both kinds in different colors in the past.

The O2 caps start absorbing oxygen as soon as they get wet, so if you're starsaning them all before your bottling session then you're likely using up some of the oxidation protection they afford. I use a spray bottle of starsan and hit them a few at a time as I bottle so they go on the beer right away.

beerbeerbeerbeerbeerbeer- said:

Second, ive grown tired of airlocks. Sketchy to remove, leaked in a couple of my brews(no harm but not ideal). Lately ive been using a thin bottling style tube i guess, into a short beer bottle 1/3 filled with water. No problems, and i still here the reassuring bubbling. So, last night i brewed a nameless bavarian extract with hallertau, candi sugar and a bit of steens pure cane syrup to see what would happen. I just cracked the plastic lid after pitching the nottingham, and put the bucket in a new black trash bag. i loosely twisted the top of the bag and put a smaller bag around the top to prevent any bugs or stuff to get in it, and it not being able to explode. Today, the bag was pretty bloated and my room smells like fresh chocolate milk. Is this an okay method? My paranoia of contaminating it has led me to not check on it (crap i forgot to take an OG on this one... ahhhh o well whats the worst that could happen?). But my senses tell me it is fermenting. Thoughts on this?

Click to expand...

It's all a matter of degrees, rather than a black and white issue of safe or not. A good airlock full of starsan is probably your best bet to avoid airborne contamination. What you're doing is likely increasing your risk. Is it going to ruin your beer? Probably not, but it's going to increase your chances of infection. There used to be a lot of folks that would just put a balloon over the top of the carboy with a pinhole in it to let out pressure. In a pinch, I've just covered with sanitized foil when I had no other choice. I'll stick with airlocks, myself.

As for your black plastic bag. Did you sanitize the inside of it before you wrapped it around your beer? Seems to me that an airlock would be easier.

I did not, just assumed newly packaged plastic bag would be. And the s locks are the ones that have been failing me, can you take apart a three piece, draining the water/star san before removing it from the hole. See, when i go to take it out, it's been stuck in there for usually more than a week and is pretty stuck to the grommet. When i pull harder to take it out, thats when i get some drops in there. Ive been using star san solution in there, so i guess thats why they still taste fine later. Maybe ive been worrying to much on that. The beer bottle just seems easier to me, but Ive still got a lot of experimenting to do!

Nothing wrong with a little starsan in the beer. It actually turns into yeast nutrient. You just don't want to dump a half gallon in or something like that. When I refill my 3-piece airlocks, I use a spray bottle and make sure to get some down the center hole on purpose to resanitize it. The 3-piece are way better than the old s-style airlocks.

Another tip is to ditch the grommet. They just get loose and fall through into your beer. Get a few small, drilled rubber stoppers and then widen the hole slightly so they fit. No need to jam them in hard either. Just pop 'em in so there's no gap around and leave 'em be. Easy in and easy out. Plus, if you drill the hole large enough for a wine thief to fit though and get stoppers to match, you don't even have to take the lid off to get a sample for your hydrometer (and/or tasting!). You just pop the stopper off, dip in the thief and put the stopper and airlock back. Easy as pie.

Oh, and I've noticed some of my beers smell exactly like a freshly opened carton of chocolate milk when they're fermenting. But I do urge you to ditch the trash bags.

Awesome thanks a bunch man. I'll ditch the bag idea after this batch, hopefully it turns out good tho. Recipe was like 25 bucks or something, so i won't be offended if it gets contaminated. The lid im using for this one doesn't have a hole at all, took an empty food grade bucket home from work. I did a pbw in it, then later two acid baths of star san before i felt comfortable using it. Next time i order i will get a three piece airlock or two.

And thanks for the drilled stopper advise, after thinking awhile, that was probably my problem in the first place.