There are many people out there that love beer, just like I do. It is a beverage that can loosen up the tense muscles in your body after a long day at work. When attending a bash or partying in the club, beer is a major part of the menu. At times, buying beer might seem an arduous task for me. This occurs when am broke or just tired of walking to the pub to get a drink.
If you have been in a similar scenario, you can brew your own beer at home. All you need is to have the requisite brewing ingredients. When purchasing these ingredients, do not forget to acquire an airlock. This is an instrument that bars water and allows carbon dioxide (CO2) to escape. The escape of CO2 is necessary to stimulate the process of fermentation. Airlocks also perform this function while preventing insects, bacteria and airborne particles from infesting your beer.
How to ferment beer using airlocks
After purchasing your airlock from a brewing store, it’s time to get it to work. You need not be a rocket scientist to ferment your beer with airlocks. The fermentation process consists of the following simple steps:
· Pay attention to the recipe of the beer while making a mash. Let the mash cool before adding yeast.
· Put the airlocks into a 1-gallon or 5-gallon jugs to shield the fermenting beer from harmful elements. You must make sure that these jugs have an opening that can adequately fit the cork of the airlock. When the mash cools, pour it into the jugs after pitching yeast into it.
· Ensure that the airlock’s cork has a small hole. While preparing your airlock, you must ascertain that its bottom is airtight and fits into the cork’s hole. After fitting the airlock into the cork, you can add water into the vessel up to the halfway level. This will enable air to come out of the fermentation tube when pressure increases.
· Use the airlock to cork the top of the jugs. Make sure that the cork fits snugly. You can get the best-fitting cork by purchasing several sizes from the brewing outlets.
· Relax and wait for the fermentation to take its due course. This process might last for a week or even several months. To achieve maximum results, cork the airlock firmly into the topmost part of the fermenting vessel. When you see clogs in the airlock, you must remove it for cleaning, rinsing and refilling before replacing it. Another important thing to remember is to ensure that there is no evaporation of water from the lock. Refill the airlock periodically when this happens.
Airlocks are advantageous when fermenting beer. For starters, you incur little time and cost in maintaining them. This is attributable to their small sizes.
Making airlocks for beer fermentation
You do not have to go to the brewing store for an airlock. Instead, airlocks are quite simple to make and could save you all the money and the trip. The first step in constructing an airlock is to drill a small hole in your rubber stopper. The hole must be smaller than the exterior diameter of the tubing. Next, you should insert your tubing into the stopper. One inch of the former should extend into the fermentation equipment.
The third phase involves the insertion of the tubing equipment and the stopper into your fermentation compartment. Extend the tube to the airspace above the brew before filling a pitcher of glass with water to the halfway level. The clear tubing should then extend into the pitcher. Next, you must make a hole in the balloon’s bottom and stretch it over the fermentation vessel’s neck. This will give you a home-made airlock.
As an upcoming home brewer, airlocks will form part of your essential equipment. If you use it correctly, you will get quality beer devoid of any hitches. You never know, you could be on your way to becoming an acclaimed beer manufacturer.