# Balloon air locks



## Ang (Jun 8, 2016)

I have watched many you tube vids on home brew and they commonly use balloons to airlock small batches of country wines. I would appreciate any thoughts and advice about this practice. If I will put forth the effort to make dandelion or other labour intensive batches that won't fit into my car boys properly, is it appropriate to balloon several smaller bottles to finish without head space?!


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## dralarms (Jun 8, 2016)

I did the balloon trick once on a pineapple. It expanded the balloon past it's failure point. I had one heck of a mess to clean up.


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## TonyR (Jun 8, 2016)

Balloons work just fine. I still use them if i have some juice leftover from fermentation that wont fit into a carboy. Will put it into wine bottles and put a balloon on it to work as an airlock.


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## Tnuscan (Jun 8, 2016)

Ang said:


> I have watched many you tube vids on home brew and they commonly use balloons to airlock small batches of country wines. I would appreciate any thoughts and advice about this practice. If I will put forth the effort to make dandelion or other labour intensive batches that won't fit into my car boys properly, is it appropriate to balloon several smaller bottles to finish without head space?!



When you say finish,... do you mean around 1.005 or less? And by saying without headspace,... do you mean to the rim?


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## Ang (Jun 8, 2016)

I mean to secondary ferment to dry and let them clear in 3-2L bottles until ready to bottle for sharing. Or rack after 2 months until ready for bottling


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## Ang (Jun 9, 2016)

I have three 2L plastic bottles of dandelion wine drawing a vacuum on their balloon airlocks in secondary. Another 2 months in secondary, Full to 1", Room avg is 73*F and 42% humidity. I assume the sanitized balloons are sealed against incoming air after having expanded to release fermented air. Should I rack and seal them before schedule or can I trust the balloons to isolate my hard work?


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## NorCal (Jun 9, 2016)

Trust is the key word. With the time and effort involved in making wine, I wouldn't want to risk losing the wine due to not getting an airlock that I have complete confidence in.


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## Julie (Jun 9, 2016)

I agree with NorCal, an airlock is so inexpensive why would you want to take a chance?


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## dralarms (Jun 9, 2016)

Julie said:


> I agree with NorCal, an airlock is so inexpensive why would you want to take a chance?



The only reson I did was it had already blown the air lock off.


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## TonyR (Jun 9, 2016)

I used a balloon because i did not have an airlock that would fit a 1 1/2 liter wine bottle, and the balloon worked just as good as the airlocks on my 6 gal carboys


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## JohnT (Jun 9, 2016)

I agree with norcal and Julie. A gooseneck trap and a stopper will cost less than $3, is reuseable, and is much more reliable. After all your hard work, why go cheap now?


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## Tnuscan (Jun 9, 2016)

Yes balloons will work. I've seen them used all the way through the process. Some can make the wine taste rubbery like the balloon. Also plastic soda or pop bottles can leach other flavors from things sitting too close to them, even more so if they are enclosed in a cabinet. I found small bungs or stoppers that will accept a airlock and fit into a wine bottle. I would suggest moving to airlocks and glass. You have a lot of time in the wine you are making. Balloons and plastic bottles would be my last resort. Butt...they can be use to make wine.

Cheers!!!


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## wineforfun (Jun 9, 2016)

Just go buy holed bungs and airlocks to fit the various size vessels you have. I have setups for 187ml, 375ml, 750ml, 1 gal., 5 gal. and 6 gal. $1.50 for a holed bung and airlock.


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