The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

airlock

A device that attaches to a sealed vessel that has a barrier of water which allows gas (CO2) to escape without allowing outside air to get into the sealed vessel.ย  This barrier maintains the sterility of the vessel environment inside, inhibiting contamination of the wine in the sealed system.ย  If the vessel were tightly sealed, the gases produced during fermentation would build inside of the vessel and potentially cause it to rupture or explode.