So stopper pushed all the way through the carboy, what now?

So 15 hours into fermenting my blackberry porter (extract) was fine, plenty of room left in the carboy. At 18 hours the yeast went ape-**** and krausen started coming though the little holes in the top of the airlock.

So I quickly wiped the carboy down with isopropyl alcohol and sanitized a tube, stopper and blowoff container.

My stopper was fully sanitized (sani-brew [pink stuff] 30 minutes, then boiling water, Star San is on order). I pushed it just slightly to far and it went all the way through. I tried to pull it out with the tube but only managed to get it part way up the neck.

I tried to get it out with a couple sanitized tools (screw driver, needle nose pliers, etc), but i just pushed it back in (string of explitives).

I don't secondary, I don't think the benefits out way the potential risks (aeration, infection, time and extra equipment, extra sanitizer). I do half batches in 3 gallon fermenters. I normally leave it in the primary for 15-21 days. I think the same rubber used to make the stopper is used to make the seal on Mr. Beer tap, and the tap on my bottling bucket, but I'm not sure if the larger amount of rubber will effect the flavor of this beer.

So where do I go from here?

1) Should I transfer to another fermenter after the krausen falls or leave it be?

2) If i do need to transfer, will a Mr. Beer style fermenter work as a secondary? Or do I need to convince SWMBO I need to buy another carboy?

The rubber flavor will probably affect the flavor/aroma. I would rack to your bottling bucket. Dig the stopper out. Resanitize and put the wort back and use a blow off next time. Just be careful to be sanitary and minimize aeration. Haven't done this but I have read quite a few post about the rubber smell and flavor sometimes attributed to the stopper.

Well the good news is two fold. One you are not alone and two the rubber compound used in most stoppers in home brewing are food grade. Meaning that they are allowed to touch and be in prolonged contact with consumables with out degradation. It in the same class as the rubber washers on your water Faucett. Now rubber of course will degrade with heat and time but 3 to 4 weeks is a drop on the old bucket. So push it on through and re-cap for blow off.
finish your primary as normal rack to keg or bottle as you normally do. When the sweet and wonderful beer is safe, go to town and get that punk out of there. Try to keep getting it out of there is a much greater risk than leaving the stopper in there.

I have done it and only the much older stoppers seem to have that problem. I'm talking like 15 years a go. Lets not forget that a rubber like smell in your beer is much more likely to be caused by.......anyone?

It's all good. I have done this before. Just leave it there, it shouldn't effect the beer at all. Just chalk it up as a lesson learned, and use a blow off tube next time.

HolyDiver said:

It's all good. I have done this before. Just leave it there, it shouldn't effect the beer at all. Just chalk it up as a lesson learned, and use a blow off tube next time.

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I did it once too. Just leave it in and after the beer is done you can get it out.

The trick is to take a thin dish towel, push it in the carboy part way. Lay the carboy on its side and move it to get the stopper on top of the towel. Grab the towel and pull. Stopper comes right out. Takes just a few seconds.


Ask me how I know this.

There is a procedure (used as a management exercise) to get a cork out of a wine bottle.

Take a large napkin, put it into the bottle trying to keep it open, then flick/jerk/shake the cork/bung onto it.

Now slowly pull the napkin out.... it is capable of pulling the cork through the neck.

EDIT: just realised that beer golf described the same thing

I did the same and used a long sanitized screw and butterfly drywall anchor to get it out once fermentatiin was done... no problems with the beer. I hate rhe solid rubber stoppers not sure if thats the kind u were using

I think you better throw it out, if you drink it I am sure that it will cause immediate and painful death

Post it to me

I have done the same thing, but with my 2liter flask and a starter.

ok i have decided to leave it in there at least for the time being. the blow off foam just stoped this morning and there is still about 2 inches of krausen. I think it will be days before primary fermentation is complete. When my star san arrives from hopdawgs i might move it to another carboy. my wife ok'd another one they are ony $20 and i dont think she believes the napkin trick will work.

I have renamed this beer: Stopper Plopper Purple Porter

Just ask craigtube guy

DroolingNeoBrewery said:

I have renamed this beer: Stopper Plopper Purple Porter

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Haha, nice name.

Why not try a bucket? You can get the SWMBO to approve the purchase of more than one for the same price.

jerryboy said:

Haha, nice name.

Why not try a bucket? You can get the SWMBO to approve the purchase of more than one for the same price.

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the smallest bucket fermenter i have been able to locate in this area is 7 gallons and doesnt seal / have a hole for airlock/blow off and is the same price as the carboy. I dont nessisarly trust the positive pressure type fermentors, i have been looking for a way to seal my mr beer lbk and put a hole in the lid for a lock. I also thought 7 gallons was to big for my batch sizes, but i supect this porter would have filled the entire head space on the 7 gallon and then lifted the lid off it.

Follow up question: was this crazy krausen take over of my fermenting cabinet caused by the crushed blackberry juice or simply the gravity of this beer?

OG was 1.057. my first beer was 1.055 and only had 3 inches of krausen at its highest but i only pitched 2 grams of mr beer yeast to that (i didnt know any better). this one i did 7 grams of coopers yeast (all they sell at my lhbs).

Regarding your followup question, I know I've brewed the same beer, same recipe/yeast, etc & have had different krausen experiences.

Brewed the NB cream ale extract kit a bunch of times when I started. One of the last times I did, the airlock got clogged by the krausen & blew the stopper right out. Was pretty funny because it hit the ductwork & echoed through the whole house, lol. still don't know why that batch was different. The OG was spot on.

I figure its the other variables like ferm temp, yeast viability, etc.

Wish I could have seen SWMBO's face when it happened!

DroolingNeoBrewery said:

ok i have decided to leave it in there at least for the time being. the blow off foam just stoped this morning and there is still about 2 inches of krausen. I think it will be days before primary fermentation is complete. When my star san arrives from hopdawgs i might move it to another carboy. my wife ok'd another one they are ony $20 and i dont think she believes the napkin trick will work.

I have renamed this beer: Stopper Plopper Purple Porter

Click to expand...

Use a plastic bag, like from the grocery store, they work great.

MKEbrew said:

Wish I could have seen SWMBO's face when it happened!

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I was checking every couple hours to make sure it didn't do that. I plan brew days when I'm going to be there more than not for the next 24 hours at least. I think if I had tried this beer in my Mr. Beer Fermenter it would have blown the lid off it... I told the wife that and she was not impressed.

At this point I'm seriously reconsidering anymore fermentations involving fruit.

Just thought i would post a quick update

bottled this a couple days ago. tastes great no stopper flavor. tastes alot like the blackbear ale from bear brewing before NorAm brewing got their gruby mitts on it. (NorAm is the local macro brewer in town they bought out most of the craft breweries in BC that Molson didn't.) fg was 1.016, abv 5.5%

lost about 1 pint bottle to blow off. only got 17 should have been 18 bottles. batch primed for the first time. the stopper came out on the first try using the shopping bag trick.

Question: is the star san foam supposed to come out of the top of the bottle before its full or did i leave to much star san foam in there? ive never bottled with star san is it going to be an issue flavor wise? the bottles seem to be carbing (i use plastic and can just squeeze test them)