Slipping Stoppers

Wow, that title looks weird. Oh well, on with the question.
I have problems sometimes with my rubber stoppers slipping up out of my carboys or other vessels I'm fermenting or making starters in. If I spray everything with a little star-san, the stoppers will slip right up and sometimes out of the vessels. If I dry them with a paper towel, they'll seat nicely, but I like sealing it all up while wet with star-san.

This isn't a major issue, but I'm curious if others have had it, and what your solutions have been.

Yes, if they are wet they will slip. If they are dry, they stay. So, I either let them dry, or dry them with a clean paper towel.

Thanks, Yooper. I guess it's pretty obvious.
In retrospect, this was a dumb thread. What other options are there? Magic, non-slippy sanitizer? Sometimes I should keep these musings to myself. Too much time spent with slipping stoppers today, I guess.

ClarnoBrewer said:

Thanks, Yooper. I guess it's pretty obvious.
In retrospect, this was a dumb thread. What other options are there? Magic, non-slippy sanitizer? Sometimes I should keep these musings to myself. Too much time spent with slipping stoppers today, I guess.

Click to expand...

LOL- you actually DID make me LOL.

Thanks for that.

You know, it's not at all a dumb thread. I went through a long cycle of having the stoppers pop completely off. Then, in horror, finding them and washing them and resanitizing. Of course, resanitizing meant they were slippery, so they'd pop off. It was like little invisible elves sent out to drive me insane.

After about a year of this (unfortunately, no, I"m not kidding), I said, "**** it- dry the damn stopper or let it dry while I rack." But it didn't come all that quickly to me.

Glad I could at least be amusing!

As for drying them, that's basically where I ended up. I decided that the risk of drying them with a clean paper towel was less than the risk of finding them on the floor and some critter in my carboy. I have also tried cramming them way down in the neck of the bottle. That's a terrible idea. Luckily, it was just a gallon jug that was destroyed and not a carboy.

Actually, it's the star san that does that. It leaves behind a slippery film. I had the same problem when I first started brewing. I switched to iodophor for glass and stoppers and problem solved.

At least you didn't push into to the carboy like I did. I was having problems making it stay place so I pushed a little harder and it just went right through the neck. Luckily I had another stopper and put it in and let the first one sit in the carboy for the full fermentation.

Part II.... how to get a stopper out of a carboy.........

beergolf said:

At least you didn't push into to the carboy like I did. I was having problems making it stay place so I pushed a little harder and it just went right through the neck. Luckily I had another stopper and put it in and let the first one sit in the carboy for the full fermentation.

Part II.... how to get a stopper out of a carboy.........

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I think I saw a similar trick involving an egg and a milk bottle.
I actually got a stopper stuck and broke the neck off of a glass gallon jug, trying to get the stopper out. If I had a nickel for every dumb thing I've done in the name of brewing, I'd own my own brewery.

Are you trying to push the stopper fully into the neck of the vessel? Or even a bit? You don't really need to do that; gravity will hold it in place just fine. Especially as it dries, it'll form a well-good-enough seal.

jsled said:

Are you trying to push the stopper fully into the neck of the vessel? Or even a bit? You don't really need to do that; gravity will hold it in place just fine. Especially as it dries, it'll form a well-good-enough seal.

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Nope, I learned that lesson (see above). But I've also found that sometimes gravity won't work well enough. The fermentation will push the stopper up and out and it will tip out onto the floor. From here on out, I'll wipe the star-san off of the stopper and problem solved!

Curious, what kind of stopper are you using?

I use "universal carboy bungs" on my 6.5g glass, wetted with a standard Star San solution, and I've never had one pop out...

Cheers!

I second the universal bungs. Had the same problem when I started getting glass carboys and the universal style seals when wet while the standard rubber ones popped right out. I guess the hollow cavity provides less up force on the neck of the carboy.

Good point on the universal bungs! I have had better luck with them. Mostly I run into trouble now with making starters in smaller jugs where I have to use the solid rubber stoppers. I guess I could just cover the tops with foil, but that scares me. Oh well. Thanks for all the input guys and gals!

One time I was getting frustrated with the same problem, so I used those clamps that you use to install a sink. Put them so that they held the stopper in, then a big hose clamp around the neck of the carboy to hold them in place

These things:


Of course this was back when I first started brewing and I was wicked paranoid about sanitation. And this was an expensive batch - I didn't want to risk anything.