4 replies to this topic

[Hooperjetcar]

First a warning, if you are new to brewing, this is not a recommended practice. I have found that it works for me, but it does put your beer at risk for contamination.Now my question. Anyone else here chill their wort overnight. I mash and boil on the first day, carefully transfer hot wort to the fermentors, and stick them in the cool basement overnight. Next day I come back and pitch yeast. I have done this for two batches, and am happy with the results. My issue is that the cooling of the wort creates a vacuum if I seal the lids, pulling the maximum amount of whatever is in the air into the fermentors . However, leaving them wide open for 12 to 24 hours doesn't seem like a good idea either. Anyone else doing this? If so, what are you doing during the cooling phase? Thanks for any help.

[DaBearSox]

put a sanitized piece of foil of the top...i do this when i cold crash in my mini fridge where an airlock wont fit. You should be ok

[LiverDance]

I've done it before and used a water container from camping to store the wort while it was cooling. I learned about it on the aussie homebrew site.

[davelew]

I use the S-type of airlock. If you have the right amount of liquid, it works as an airlock in either direction, sucking or blowing.Actually, even the three-piece airlock are capable of working in reverse, but there's a much smaller range of the amount of liquid that will let it work in reverse.

My issue is that the cooling of the wort creates a vacuum if I seal the lids, pulling the maximum amount of whatever is in the air into the fermentors .

[rockon]

What about something like a coffee filter and a rubber band? It would still allow pressure equalization, but also sor to seal things up. I don't know if contaminants are small enough to get through the filter, though.

Edited by rockon, 08 May 2009 - 11:14 AM.