Anti-foam airlock

[Luc]

It happens to everyone: a wine that foams excessively during fermentation.

So I found in Berry's book a simple drawing of an airlock.
I applied it in real life and made a web-log entry about it with detailed instructions and pictures.

http://wijnmaker.blogspot.com/2011/06/anti-schuim-waterslot-anti-foam-airlock.html

Luc

 

[ibglowin]

Nicely done Luc!

 

[DasK]

Haha cool. Reminds me of my CO2 bubble counters I used to have on my planted aquarium. I have always wondered about doing that with wine making.

 

[robie]

Great idea. Thanks, Luc.

 

[closetwine]

That is by far the fanciest blow off tube setup EVER! Nicely done!

 

[SarahRides]

Simple but ingenious! I wish I had that when I started my apfelwein, ended up with a mess and airlock full of foam when it first started!

 

[Wade E]

Beer Making

For anyone who makes beer I would suggest this set up as beer foams up a lot more then almost any must!

 

[winemanden]

Bubbler

Nice one Luc. Old ideas are often forgotten when something new comes along.

A similar set-up can also be used to make use of spare CO2 for racking.
Partly fill the 2hole jar with water or sulphite solution and run a tube from a vigorous ferment almost to the bottom. Take a second tube from near the top and feed it into the carboy you are going to rack into. The Co2 will bubble through the solution and in 24 hours or so you can have a carboy filled with cleaned CO2 which will help minimize the risk of Oxidation when you rack.
Obviously, you have to use a ferment that is not foaming.

Regards to all, Winemanden.

 

[xoltri]

Pretty cool. Another alternative is to use an anti-foam agent like Fermcap-S. I've been using this stuff and it is amazingly effective. You can use it for boiling wort to make beer, use it for fermentation, or I've even used it to control foam when vacuum degassing my wines.

Best of all it settles out once the activity stops, so none is left in your product after you rack.