Slippery stopper/airlock popping out

When using Starsan and glass carboy, my stopper is slippery and will not stay put. Seems fine using a dry stopper and bottle. Anyone have a solution?

Just wait it will dry up and stay put.

I have the same problem with better bottles. I just gave up bothering with it and let it pop out, then once it's dried a bit, I squeeze it in tighter.

I keep a spray bottle of 99% rubbing alcohol handy. Spray the bung or wipe it with a paper towel soaked in whatever rubbing alcohol you have on hand. It will evaporate dry almost instantly and should stick in the bung hole. If not, repeat and also clean the bung hole with alcohol.
Bill

I was going to repeat the above and say just wait until it dries... I used to wrap an aluminum foil collar around the neck to hold it in place, but I like the rubbing alcohol idea!

I dry mine with a paper towel to avoid that problem. The first time I did this I was concerned about contamination, but I think the possibility of contamination is very minimal.

I use a cheap sandwich bag and rubberband. I assemble the stopper and airlock, but before I put them together I punch the airlock through the platic bag. I submerge the entire thing in Starsan and soak. As soon as I am ready to cap, I put it on and secure it in place with a rubberband just below the lip of the carboy. Alcohol sounds like a better solution, but I had to do this because I was out of stoppers for my 6 gal carboy.

Hillbilly_Bill said:

I keep a spray bottle of 99% rubbing alcohol handy. Spray the bung or wipe it with a paper towel soaked in whatever rubbing alcohol you have on hand. It will evaporate dry almost instantly and should stick in the bung hole. If not, repeat and also clean the bung hole with alcohol.
Bill

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I will have to agree with this advice as this has worked for me in the past as well. However, it scares me a little when a man who calls himself "Hillbilly_Bill" start speaking so freely about bung holes!

My LHBS has both the solid white rubber stoppers and the silicone type that are in a kind of molded cone shape with a center section that holds the airlock. The silicone ones are easy to keep clean but they are slicker and sometimes want to pop out of a jug or carboy. When that happens I use one of the rubber ones and that usually fixes the problem.

+1 for the rubbing alcohol.

and to think i thought it was only the "universal" bungs wetted in starsan that will pop out.

bull8042 said:

I will have to agree with this advice as this has worked for me in the past as well. However, it scares me a little when a man who calls himself "Hillbilly_Bill" start speaking so freely about bung holes!

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You better watch where you put your bung hole, buddy.

Good ideas. Thanks guys. I had been trying to lock things down with an array of zip ties. But those springy little things aren't easy to secure and often pull the stopper over and off to the side. I thought about the alcohol. Sounds like the way to go. The baggie idea is a good one too. Happy New Year!

Fresh paper towels are surprisingly sanitary. You can use a new, clean paper towel to wipe off the inside of the carboy mouth and the stopper, then insert it.

I do this all the time, never had any kind of infection doing it.

Also, tattoo artists use paper towels during and after the procedure, because they are considered 'sterile' and are disposable.

On the flip side, the average hand/bath towel is teaming with bacteria and spores.

1" ID tubing won't slip out and makes wonderful blow off.

Switch to a regular airlock later or not.

Switch to iodophor

-a.

+1 on the paper towels...and there are so many jokes to be had in this thread!!!!

All the power of searching works again!..

Thanks for the alcohol tip, worked like a charm.

Me too! Paper towels work great. It dried my bung hole right up. The stopper slipped right in. Thanks for the tip!