This is our secondary fermenter, a five gallon glass carboy. The orange thingy is a handle. A five gallon glass carboy is heavy when full of water, and given our propensity to spill (water not beer) everywhere, often slippery.

The thingy in the top is an airlock stuck in a rubber stopper. The airlock ensures that the yeast will not be able “breathe” oxygen and be forced into anaerobic respiration, thereby generating CO₂ and alcohol.

The green things floating in the top are hop pellets.