Stopper stuck in fermenter with beer inside and have I messed up?

redraider · 09-18-2009, 02:19 AM

I have a blonde ale sitting in a 6 gallon better bottle primary right now with a three piece airlock (since Sunday). The carboy is sitting in a tub of water and covered with a t-shirt. The temperature has been steady around 64-66 degrees at most times, but has dipped to about 62 and gone up to about 70 at other times. When I came home today, the airlock was almost completely covered with dried stuff that looked and smelled like yeast (and so were several spots on the t-shirt). Here's what I did. I wiped off the airlock and stopper as best I could. Then, I tried to remove both pieces. The stopper seems to be stuck. I did remove the airlock though and rinsed it off. I then placed in back inside the stopper. I know this isn't ideal and I didn't have any sanitizing solution on hand, so I don't feel great about it. I felt like I needed to do something though because the pressure would have just continued to build up and I think it could have got messy pretty quickly. Next time I'll use a blowoff tube!

Here's are my questions. First, did I screw up? What should I do now? Second, how can I get that stopper out without pushing it all the way into my beer and doing something like fishing it out with a hanger or doing the bag blowup trick? Pushing the stopper all the way in seems like it would cause some really serious sanitation issues at this point. Next time I'll be careful not to push it in quite so far.

Thanks ahead of time!

**Edit: I just found a couple threads that suggest using a coat hanger, needle nose pliers, or a couple screwdrivers. I think I'll try those methods down the line. Any other suggestions?

**EuBrew** · 09-18-2009, 02:32 AM

get a tapered stopper for next time, it's not the rubber ones, some kind of plastic but it is impossible to push it into the carboy as I almost did on my first batch.

Take whatever you can think of and sanitize it and pull out your stopper and ideally replace it with a new sanitized stopper and airlock. Not sure how close you are to a LHBS, but stoppers and airlocks are dirt cheap you should always have a spare on hand in case Murphy shows up.

I wouldn't worry too much unless you had a lot of junk or water from your unsanitized airlock fall in when you put it back in.

When you get ready to pull the other one make sure you saitize every surface you can reach around the stopper and the neck of the carboy just in case, might not hurt to take an alcohol wipe to the inside of the neck when you replace the stopper. RDWHAHB

redraider · 09-18-2009, 02:52 AM

Thanks, EuBrew. Those sound like good ideas. Unfortunately, I'm nowhere near a HBS. I have to order everything online. I'll be sure to get some backups next time I place an order.

**EuBrew** · 09-18-2009, 03:04 AM

if you don't have an extra stopper on hand you could cover the carboy neck with a sanitized piece of foil while you clean up the other one.