PLAATO Valve V2 - Pressure Drop Equalizing Valve

PLAATO Valve

Many homebrewers experience suddenly empty airlocks, or water flowing through the blow-off tube into the fermenter.

This phenomenon is caused by temperature drops, which in turn lead to negative pressure in the fermenter. This can occur when the fermenter is placed in a temperature-controlled room after pitching yeast, or during cold crashing.

To equalize this negative pressure, the fermenter will either suck liquid from the airlock, or suck in air, or in some rare cases implode due to this negative pressure.

The PLAATO Valve has an integrated valve that only opens if negative pressure occurs, bypassing the airlock and thereby eliminating suck-back.

Specifically developed for homebrewers

The PLAATO valve is made of food-grade PP and has an integrated silicone valve as its working principle. It comes with 65PPI activated carbon filters for the inlet (16 pcs), and fits most airlocks and fermenters.

Tip! We recommend using a two-piece airlock like our Super Major Airlock (standard airlocks with a red cap do not seal well in the PLAATO Valve). Another trick is to mount the rubber gasket upside down on the fermenter. This way, it is much easier to place the PLAATO Valve.

Oxygen-free fermentation

As mentioned above, rapid temperature drops will always introduce air and/or liquid to the fermenter. To achieve a non-oxidizing atmosphere, the head-space in the fermenter must therefore be filled with CO2.

• During cold crashing, the oxygen in the head-space is already replaced by CO2 produced during fermentation, so the introduction of small amounts of oxygen is not a significant source of oxidation.
• If you are still aiming for an oxygen-free fermentation, the PLAATO Valve is designed to be connected to a balloon containing CO2, thus maintaining an oxygen-free atmosphere in the fermenter. In this way, the valve will let in CO2 instead of air when the temperature drops occur.