Universal stopper question

Well I'm kinda embarrassed to ask this question because I feel like I should know this one but better to ask and see what the dealio is than be sorry later. I brewed a lambic yesterday and everything went fine until I went to plug it up and my universal stopper kept pushing up now I know it was pushing up because if the starsan and that much I do know and it seemed to be stopping at about 1/8 of an inch above the neck and wouldn't go down any further. Fast forward about 8 hours, bubbles are going through the airlock so I figured it must be sealing or co2 would not be making the airlock bubble. Fast forward some more and I had a breakdown and sanitized a new universal stopper and dried it off this time with a paper towel( not ideal I know). It definitely feels tackier and didn't slip spin like the other but still pushes up to that 1/8 inch above the neck still. Bubbles are comming out of the airlock still. My question is this... Am I getting a good enough seal ? Keep in mind this will sit for a year or more and oxygen will be my enemy. I'm thinking its ok or the airlock would not be bubbling. Looking for some reassurance that my logic is sound thanks !!

IMHO you're fine. RDWHAHB

Are you talking about a glass carboy with one of those rubber stoppers? I always have to dry the star-san off (stopper and inside carboy neck) with a paper towel or it's like trying to wrestle down a Crisco covered midget, you think you got it down and BLOOP, pops right out.

ChessRockwell said:

Are you talking about a glass carboy with one of those rubber stoppers? I always have to dry the star-san off (stopper and inside carboy neck) with a paper towel or it's like trying to wrestle down a Crisco covered midget, you think you got it down and BLOOP, pops right out.

Click to expand...

Exactly ... I have had this happen before but not to this extreme I also only use this Carboy for sours so it doesn't get much use. All of my other carboys use the same stopper and they fit flush but this does not, check it out I'm going to show two pics the first is the one that isn't sealing the other fits all the way down maybe its because there different Carboy mfg's from two different countries idk.

Im going to bring this back to life with another question regarding this..... After about three days of active fermentation which was 3 days ago the stopper was still popping up and felt loose in the carboy I did try other stoppers but they all did the same thing, That's when I noticed a decent amount of condensation in the neck of the carboy. So I figured that was the issue as it was wet in there and causing the stopper not to make a tight seal. Now for the question, Despite my better judgment I took a clean paper towel still wrapped in the plastic and inside my cabinet and wiped down the stopper as well as the inner part of the carboy neck now it seals great still abit high as seen in that picture above but it sdoes not spin anymore and is tight, Does anyone think I just ruined my beer ? keep in mind this is a lambic and it's going to take a year or more before I open this up again. i'm just hyper nervous I ruined this beer and i won't even realize it until a year from now. You want to see a really dissapointed homebrewer. I guess what's done is done and I'll just have to wait it out but I wanted to see whatt others thought.

All of my stoppers slide back up in the neck of the carboy much higher than yours did and I haven't had a problem. My longest ferment so far was 60 days and that beer turned out fine. I've even had negative pressure from a too warm wort going into a too cold fermentation chamber and had my airlock liquid sucked into the carboy but no airleaks around the stopper. My stoppers have all been around 1/2 out of the neck. As long as you don't mess with it I think you'll be fine.

The stopper and neck of the carboy have to be dried or that sucker will keep popping up like it was in a whack-a-mole game. If you use the inside side of a paper towel (i.e. the side that was into the roll and not exposed to air) it is highly unlikely you'll have an issue (the guy from my LHBS rants about how a paper towel factory is insanely sanitary)

I think you're fine, although wiping the neck of the carboy would make me a little nervous. But as far as the stopper goes, I think you're golden.

I don't know about the wiping with the paper towel. It seems a lot of people resort to it because of slipping stoppers though.

As a backup you could also wrap a few turns of Saran Wrap around it. This would hold the stopper and act as additional seal.

Thanks for all the reply's..... in all my time brewing this was the first time I had to do this and of course it's on a beer that took a 4 hour mash and 3 hour boil and a years worth of time. I guess I'll ride it out I feel a bit better and I know it wasn't ideal but I don't think I had much of a option as a loose seal would have presented it's own set of problems too. Others have used this paper towel trick too ?