Hydraulic lock for fermentation: purpose and characteristics

The hydraulic seal is a mechanism used for cooking bergs, which will then be used for the production of alcoholic beverages. During fermentation, care must be taken to ensure that the carbon dioxide that forms inside the tank is discharged outside and oxygen does not enter the fermentation tank. For this purpose, a water trap for fermentation is used.

What is it for and what is it?

As we have already noted, the main purpose of this tool is to remove CO ₂ from a tank full of brag. This gas continuously and continuously forms in the device. As a rule, each liter of brags allocates about 4 cubic meters of carbon dioxide. But these devices are not used to prepare a liter of alcohol. At least the volume of such containers is from 5 to 10-15 liters. Therefore, during fermentation, it can form from 20 to 50 or more cubic meters of CO ₂ gas. However, it should not simply be removed, but eliminated in such a way that oxygen does not fall back into the vessel. Because if we just open the cork or the lid, oxygen will certainly penetrate there, and this is extremely unacceptable for fermentation. Therefore, when preparing alcohol, a fermentation tank with a hydraulic seal is always used, which removes carbon dioxide so that pure oxygen, contained in the air in a certain amount, does not get back there.

Why is it so important to use it in such cases?

The fact is that if you get into the prepared liquid (which will soon become an alcoholic beverage), oxygen along with alcoholic fermentation may lead to other processes that are very harmful for bragging. For example, the most common option in such cases is the formation of acetic acid. Also, it is possible that during the ingress of oxygen into the oxygen tank, the broom simply sours.

Functions

Proceeding from all of the above, we can say that the hydraulic shutter for fermentation serves as a check valve, that is, releasing one gas, it does not allow to penetrate there another. In addition, this device serves as an indicator that tells how correctly the fermentation process is carried out. The classical way to check the state of a liquid is the presence of bubbles in it. And if the process of "bubbling" in the shutter stopped, it means that the braga is ready. Absolutely every instrument has this function. And it does not matter whether you make a water trap for fermentation with your own hands or buy it in a store. By the way, it costs a little - about 200 rubles, so it's better not to suffer and immediately buy a finished device - so you will save a lot of time.

Most often, a special rubber stopper (diameter about one and a half centimeters) is supplied with this tool, thanks to which the device is hermetically mounted in a tank for brewing. And the hydraulic damper for fermentation is mounted on a sealed tank from above.