Airlock asistance needed

[mm1473]

Hello--

Quick question. So--I brewed a beer yesterday and when I was putting the blowoff tube into the gromet on my Brewers Best plastic fermenter it broke in half. I put the blowoff tube in the hole and put sanitized foil around it but I can hear the CO2 escaping around the foil. What options do I have here?? I was thinking of cruising to the hardware store and seeing if I can find another gromet or something similar but I have no idea what size the little hole is. Anyway--whatever help you experienced guys could shoot my way would be appreciated. By the way--I live a long way from a homebrew shop and ordering just a gromet would not be worth the shipping in my opinion. Thanks again.

 

[cluckk]

Just let it ride. It will be fine. If you didn't wet the grommet and hose end before trying to insert it, that will help some in the future.

 

[unionrdr]

I'm pretty sure the grommet fits a 3/8" hole. You can use duct tape for the moment to seal it better.

 

[jonmohno]

Buy more grommets. Wrap elec tape around the tube then tape that arount the hole to seal. If you have blowoff it may start leaking though. Tape an airlock on it after the krausen reaches peak. Or even wrapp a bunch of elec tape around the airlock stem til it fits snug. Or maybe wrap cotton balls around it then tape it.

I believe Midwest will ship anything under a pound for free, you gotta ask though like by calling them or something. Order a bunch. They shipped me an oz or two of hops for free shipping before, I did call them though.

 

[fartinmartin]

Silicon sealant (ideally a kitchen one with fungicide ) will fix this as a temporary , it only has to go on the outside, it would probably be satisfactory for the whole of brew .

 

[mm1473]

Thanks for the advice everyone--I have silicone and duct tape sitting here so I will limp by with those. Guess I will buy a supply of gromets with my next grain order. Have a good weekend.

 

[okawesome]

The lid on my fermenter must not be air tight as I do not ever see the airlock bubble. Am I OK given that co2 is heavier than oxygen. Seems like ancient Egyptians and Belgian monks probably did without airlocks?

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Thanks for the advice everyone--I have silicone and duct tape sitting here so I will limp by with those. Guess I will buy a supply of gromets with my next grain order. Have a good weekend.

You can get single grommets at the local hardware store for a couple of cents. Look in the fasterners section. They are identical to electrical wire punch-through grommets. You can get them in any size. I think 3/8" or 1/2" is the correct size.

I've made a couple of primary fermenters from Lowe's food grade 5 gallon buckets and drilling a hole in the lid to take one of these grommets. Less that $10 for a fine primary. Only disadvantage is that these buckets only hold 5 gallons - no headspace at all. No biggy if you're OK with slightly smaller batches.

 

[whitehause]

Just let it go and get a grommet. I wouldn't put silicone on it, it's not that big a deal, and you don't want to get any raw silicone in your brew.