Glass Spigot Ideas

[Grixxly]

I talked to a local glass blower today about attaching a custom glass spigot to the 2 gallon glass container I already have. He had no idea's how to go about this as he's never done it. He did mention that we could go scientific and order laboratory glass all though that will be very pricy for the sake of having a spigot.

So I've been sitting here coming up with ideas that would be simple enough for my blower to create something strong and functional while keeping the cost down. I think I've finally came up with something that might work and I'm looking for comments, suggestions, or hopefully a blueprint for someone who has already done this before I'm working on a drawing to give him right now that I'll attach once I'm finished.

My idea was to have the blower pop out a hole in my jar. Then create a long glass stopper about twice as long as necessary. On the 2nd half of the stopper have a groove (for a lack of a better word) system, 3 to be exact, so when the stopper is pushed up the kombucha can flow with the stopper resting on the glass piece to prevent extra stress as if it where free floating. The stopper would have a long and thick stem just slightly longer than the tube that it would be inserted in with a half-moon shape handle piece that would ultimately act as the spigot. When the bottle I'm filling is full the stem can be pulled to seal the stopper against the tube or push out to open.

Sounds confusing when I write it. I'll get to work on the picture. Bear in mind that I was born with out an artistic bone on my body.

 

[kyt]

What about using a wooden spigot? Like the kind they stick on oak barrels.
You'd have to use something soft like a cork collar around the part that goes through the glass so it didn't crack the glass when it swells.

A glass spigot would look really cool. Just be sure of the materials you use so you don't contaminate the ferment. You'd want to use a glass that was food safe, and safe for use in acidic environments, like borosilicate glass.
You'd need to use food/acid safe gaskets too.

Post pics if you get something worked out!

 

[incruente]

I guess I'm a bit late to the party, but I thought I might add this.

I made kombucha for about a year, got away from it, and am coming back. I used a continuous sort of process, draining a gallon off and adding a gallon of tea once a week. I didn't like the idea of a plastic spigot submerged in an acid solution, so I brewed in a glass jar and siphoned it off with a plastic hose. Now, I'm thinking of getting a lab glassblower to make me a long u-shaped tube with a valve at one end. I'll fill the tube with tea and submerge the non-valve end in the brew, leaving the valve outside. Then, I can just open the valve and siphon out most of the kombucha. Only glass is in contact with the brew, and no modifications to the container.

 

[legbuh]

Spigots get plugged... i just pour it out these days. Much faster too.