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Vacuum?

7K views 12 replies 4 participants last post by  Nabber86 
#1 ·
(Hopefully) finishing up my first batch of mead - started in Oct. Most everyone I've talked to and read has said that after it's done bubbling, let it sit another month or so to ensure that it is truely finished. When I looked yesterday, the airlock was pulling the water toward the carboy. Not enough so far to actually round the curve and enter the carboy, but the 'closer' water chamber is higher than the 'farther' one, indicating some sort of vacuum. Is this normal or a bad sign? Thanks.
 
#7 ·
My work takes me away for weeks at a time so I can't baby-sit airlocks. My three piece airlocks have a line molded into them that I mistakenly assumed was intended to indicate a "full mark".

If filled to that level there is enough liquid in the airlock that some can be sucked into the carboy.

To avoid that, I fill the 3-piece airlocks to about 3/8" below the misleading line.

One could always over fill the 3-piece airlock with their favorite booze and then "adjust" the level...
:)
 
#11 ·
In my ealy days of brewing, I used a blow-off tube with the end of the tube submerged in jug of water. One time I put a good splash of bleach in the jug with the water because I was expecting a lot of trub from a very heavy batch of beer and the blow-off water tends to get messy and gross after a while. The wort was also a tad bit warm when I pitched the yeast (~80 F), so I put he whole assembly in the fridge overnight to let it cool. I am sure many experienced brewers that are reading this are chuckling right about now. (For the uninitiated, when I opened the fridge the next day, all of the bleach water had mysteriously dissapeared).

I still prefer blow-off tubes to airlocks (at least in the primary stage). Only since then, I make sure the volume in the tube is less than the volume of water in the jug.
 
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