fermentation without airlock

[Shaddapo]

Hello
I've been homebrewing beer kits for some years now and quite often during the early stage of vigorous fermentation the wort would bubble up through the airlock and make quite a mess. I never bother taking SG readings. Recently I've been leaving out the bung and airlock and just putting a piece of kitchen towel over the hole in the lid. I always leave it for 3 or 4 weeks before bottling. I find the beer fine but is it ok what I'm doing? I no longer have a mess from wort coming thru the airlock. But is it ok for air to pass in and out thru the kitchen towel?
Thanks guys.
Regards
Don

 

[Brew2Day]

Best thing to do is buy a large plastic storage tub, place your bin in there and use a blow-off hose which is fed into a 5L PET bottle and then use an AC after it settles down.

I'd deffo suggest to use an AC to help stop infections and oxygenation but it's not 100% necessary, it just helps to make sure your hard work and time pays off.

 

[chastuck]

Why do you use an airlock? I always just leave a lid resting on the fermenting bin. Sometimes I will rack off after three days and put the beer under an airlock in a new vessel, but most times I ferment right out in the first vessel from 5 to 10 days. Never had a problem. The CO2 from the ferment, being heavier than air, will form a protecting blanket.

 

[belcher]

Hello
I've been homebrewing beer kits for some years now and quite often during the early stage of vigorous fermentation the wort would bubble up through the airlock and make quite a mess. I never bother taking SG readings. Recently I've been leaving out the bung and airlock and just putting a piece of kitchen towel over the hole in the lid. I always leave it for 3 or 4 weeks before bottling. I find the beer fine but is it ok what I'm doing? I no longer have a mess from wort coming thru the airlock. But is it ok for air to pass in and out thru the kitchen towel?
Thanks guys.
Regards
Don

There are commercial beers that are completely open fermentated like Sam Smith's which uses the famous Yorkshire Squares (google image it) and I think that I read Pilsner Urquell was until recently openly fermented (i.e. not an enclosed fv). I wouldn't do it that way but it is a testament to how having a good co2 layer will protect the integrity of the fermenting wort.