Air Lock Questiom

[HenryMae]

Starts my first batch of wine today. Attached is picture of my primary fermenter. My question is do I keep the lid on the airlock?

 

[Pumpkinman]

Yes, if you have an airlock on it, you leave the lid snapped on. How much room is left in the fermenter?

 

[HenryMae]

I know the lid stays on, I'm referring to the little plastic lid ion the airlock. Does that little lid stay on the airlock?

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I know the lid stays on, I'm referring to the little plastic lid ion the airlock. Does that little lid stay on the airlock?

Yes, that particular air lock - yes

 

[Pumpkinman]

oh, my apologies, yep, little lid on, I have to stop speed reading posts, and apparently emails...LOL thanks Steve!

 

[DoctorCAD]

You dont need a lid on primary. Lots of us simply cover it with a towel. Yeast need air in the first few days.

 

[HenryMae]

You dont need a lid on primary. Lots of us simply cover it with a towel. Yeast need air in the first few days.

I have read that and agree. I would just cover if I were doing "my own thing". However, I'm on my first attempt at all this and using a kit....which I'm following the directions for.

 

[Pumpkinman]

If the fermenting bucket is big enough, I use a 30 liter fermenter for 6 gallons of wine, there is enough oxygen to take care of the yeast, and there are no worries of dust, fruit flies, or household pets and their hair getting in the must. If you are a kit wine maker, most kit instructions have you stirring it daily, or squeezing on the grape skin pack which will introduce oxygen as well.
I started covering mine and adding an airlock, I've never had a stuck fermentation, nor have I had any issues pertaining to stressed yeast due to lack of oxygen.
Either way will work, none is etched in stone as the only way to ferment.

 

[DavidNW]

Starts my first batch of wine today. Attached is picture of my primary fermenter. My question is do I keep the lid on the airlock?


View attachment 12785

I found, as a newbie, that when I snapped down the lid and fitted an airlock to my primary fermenter (as in your pic) that there was no bubbling at the airlock whatsoever. I was advised to just put the lid on loosely and fit the airlock grommet hole with a blanking pluge. The wine just seems to ferment fine this way until it's ready to rack to a carboy.

 

[cpfan]

YES, leave the little lid on the airlock, it keeps dust and whatever else out of the liquid in the air lock, and helps to prevent evaporation of the liquid in the air lock (although not a big deal for 7-10 days). If you look closely at the little lid, you should see some tiny holes that gases escape out of.

Steve

 

[jamesngalveston]

I dont make kits, and I question some of there directions.
I would take the lid completely off of the bucket, makes no sense to restrict the fermentation.
Yeast needs lots of oxygen in primary...

If you look at the little white cap in the sun , you will see tiny holes in it, leave it on the airlock.

 

[Pumpkinman]

How are you restricting fermentation? Please explain this to me?
If you use the proper sized fermenting bucket, you can ferment either way with no worries of any restricted fermentation. a 30 liter (8 gal) fermenter will have plenty of head space for oxygen while fermenting, the wine is protected by the CO2 while it has enough oxygen to accommodate the yeasts needs.
Once fermentation is complete then you rack to a carboy leaving no headspace.
I see a lot of talk about yeast needing "a lot of oxygen in the primary", while it is true that it needs oxygen, I think that some folks have taken this a bit to the extreme, as a home brewer as well, I can tell you that beer yeast has the same oxygen needs as wine yeast, and a good amount of home brewers ferment in a carboy, some of my best brews were made like this.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't ferment without the lid tight, but I feel that we shouldn't give the impression that this is the ONLY way to ferment.
DavidNW -As far as no airlock activity while you had the lid on, I would suspect that this was during the lag phase.

 

[cpfan]

I dont make kits, and I question some of there directions.
I would take the lid completely off of the bucket, makes no sense to restrict the fermentation.
Yeast needs lots of oxygen in primary...

Kits have bentonite added prior to the yeast. The must should be stirred vigorously before pitching the yeast. This does three things...

1) mixes the bentonite,
2) mixes the kit and the added water, and
3) incorporates air(oxygen) into the must.

Steve

 

[grapeman]

Like stated above, fementation buckets can either have the lid snapped down or not. Fermentation works alright either way. Use whichever method gives you more peace of mind. As far as as the airlock not bubbling on the bucket, this is the result of an improper seal from the o-ring. Some of them are too rigid and don't seal well. You should also keep the dust cap on both the type airlock shown here and the other S-shaped airlock.

 

[Floandgary]

Depending on the environment, mostly regarding temperature, primary fermentation can be a somewhat active event. A sealed vessel with only an airlock may result in the airlocks fluid being expunged. That's why most usually leave the lid loose on primary fermentation then when racked to secondary apply the airlock. Just an explanation. you cannot go wrong following directions. the little things you will learn along the way

 

[jamesngalveston]

I fermented in the bucket with an air lock with about 5 inches of head space, it was very slow to ferment.
I made the exact same without a lid, and fermentation was very vigourous.
Time on bucket with lid 11 days to dry.
Time on bucket without lid 7 days to dry.
Not sure if that means anything ,
And i Never tried to give an impression of that is the only way to do it.