Pulp Friction
Something unusual happened with the Cranberry Holidaze beer. While in the middle of primary fermentation, some cranberry pulp made its way up into the airlock, clogging it up. Keep in mind the beer is still in primary fermentation, which means carbon dioxide is being produced regularly. This CO2 must be released from the fermenter, so the built up pressure ended up pushing the cranberry pulp into the airlock! Not to worry, there is a quick fix here. I removed the airlock and rinsed it out, then replaced it on the fermenter. The fermentation continued from there. This happened a second time and the fix was the same: clean out the airlock, replace and the fermentation continued.
The things we do for homebrew 