Newbie questions - Briggalow + Airlock

[beattun]

Hello people, congratulations on a great forum, just stumbled across it while googling for help, hoping someone can give me some advice to a complete brewing newbie.

Got a Briggalow (lager) kit for chrissie and started it off yesterday (Boxing day). Firstly after a bit of searching on here it appears that the general concensus of Briggalow is that its complete piss, so I guess I'm on already onto a loser here, but id better not tell the missus she'll be pretty narky that shes bought be a crappy kit.

Am I supposed to put water into the airlock or something? My instructions don't tell me that, it said in the instructions that I should have equal levels of water in my airlock after about a day or so so I know its fermenting, I have no such thing this evening, so I added 2 more litres of cold water from the tap to my fermenter because the level wasnt quite near the top, even now its not exactly at the brim but its nearly there, I thought this may make a difference, have I harmed my brew?

sorry for the idiot questions, hopefully someone can put me right

thanks,
Brian.

[rwh]

Hello people, congratulations on a great forum, just stumbled across it while googling for help, hoping someone can give me some advice to a complete brewing newbie.

Welcome!

Am I supposed to put water into the airlock or something?

Yes, something like this. I normally use sanitiser rather than water, because then if it gets sucked back it's less likely to infect your brew. Some ppl use vodka for the same reason.

My instructions don't tell me that, it said in the instructions that I should have equal levels of water in my airlock after about a day or so so I know its fermenting, I have no such thing this evening, so I added 2 more litres of cold water from the tap to my fermenter because the level wasnt quite near the top, even now its not exactly at the brim but its nearly there, I thought this may make a difference, have I harmed my brew?

The only harm you have done to your beer is diluting it. It's also possible you have introduced some bacteria, but I think the risk should be minimal. Try to keep in mind the homebrewer's mantra: Relax and have a homebrew. You need patience to make a good beer, and once it's set going the best thing to do is leave it alone.

Generally, about 1/4 of the fermenter is left free to allow for the foam that the beer produces during fermentation (called krausen, pronounced kroy-sen). This can bubble up out of the airlock if insufficient space is allowed for it.

[beattun]

thanks rwh, should i pour out some of my brew? theres about a litre left in the fermenter id say, also how much water should i put in the airlock, im using a two piece briggalow airlock, ive filled it so that the water is almost but not quite reaching the top of the pipe that leads into the fermenter.

[Longwood-65]

The air lock only needs to be about 1/2 full, a little over or under doesn't matter.

[rwh]

Just leave this beer. If it comes out the airlock, just mop it up and replace the water in the airlock. Do it right next time. As for the airlock, you just want enough so that it will make a seal against air getting back in, but still allows CO2 to escape. You don't want too much, otherwise when you move the fermenter you could suck water back in which might infect your brew. I thought there was a faint line on the outside of the airlock which indicates the fill level.

[beattun]

Just leave this beer. If it comes out the airlock, just mop it up and replace the water in the airlock. Do it right next time. As for the airlock, you just want enough so that it will make a seal against air getting back in, but still allows CO2 to escape. You don't want too much, otherwise when you move the fermenter you could suck water back in which might infect your brew. I thought there was a faint line on the outside of the airlock which indicates the fill level.

thanks for the help guys, i cant see a line on the airlock though, its a bit over half full, ill just leave it go as it is anyway, by all reports its a crap beer anyway but itll be practise for me!

ill give it to the neighbours

[TommyH]

by all reports its a crap beer anyway but itll be practise for me!

And practise makes perfect

[earle]

Brian, a common final volume is 23L, this is what is on most kits. I think my fermenter might be a brigalow and doesn't have any volume scale on the side so one day I measured 23 litres or water and found it came to the bottom of the handles, yours might be different but you could mark it with permanent marker or something.

[Lagonda]

Theres nothing wrong with a Brigallow kit, used one for years. Their beers crap though!!

[earle]

Agreed

[Trough Lolly]

I did a Brigalow sweet cider once and it turned me off cider for life!

[100.bottles]

keep water topped up in the airlock at half way. \
Also once the brew is fermented make sure during your clean up u get in there
inside the air lock with a cotton bud and tooth brush give it a good clean

I have seen alot of beer fail due to a dirty airlock

happy brewing