Bung wont stay in

This is my 2nd brew. I placed the bung and airlock on as normal. Everything went as planned, however a week after fermentation the bung keeps trying to come out of the carboy. I kept pushing it down, but it slowly moves out again. I've removed it, re-sanitized and it still does it. I woke up this morning to the bung laying on the ground and my carboy open. I quickly sanitized and placed it back this time taping it to the carboy. Why would this happen? Is my beer ruined now that it sat open for at least 6 hours?

 

I've had to 'form' some of my bungs to fit my carboys. This involves soaking the bung in a cup of hot water and then holding in the carboy til it cools. Not all carboys are made the same and it sounds like yours has a slightly smaller diameter hole.

 

Beer's probably fine.

If what you are using is a rubber stopper, switch to a bung



or a carboy cap

 

Or put some tape on it to hold it down

 

Carboy caps +1

 

Starsan is very slippery. Dry it off with a clean paper towel and stick it in. It will stay.

Don't do what I did once with a slippery stopper. I pushed hard enough that I pushed it right into the carboy. Had another so I sanitized it and put that one in aand waited till the brew was done to get out the stopper. There is a good trick to get them out..........

 

well?

 

With a carboy you can just use a thin dish towel. Tip the carboy so the stopper is on the dish towel and pull. Out in just a few seconds.

 

fwiw i can't get these to stay in my carboys. But some of my carboys are weird, vintage, industrial carboys. may just need a smaller size. But the bungs i have have a slippery feel to them regardless.

 

This

 

It's just likely from soaking the stopper in starsan to long it get a slippery film on it, like other poster I pushed a stopper in, thankfully it didn't go all the way in, just level with the top...used a screwdriver in the hole to pry it out. When I couldnt get mine to stay in I put it in, then wrapped the entire neck area starsan soaked cling wrap

 

Sounds like you need teepee for your bung hole!



Sorry, I couldn't resisit!

 

I ended up taping it. Yes, I did that once before...pushed it too hard and it went in the carboy. I had to wait until my secondary to get it out. My way was to clean out the carboy, then wet a plastic shopping bag and the opening. I turned the carboy upside down and got the plug in the plastic bag the quickly ripped it out. Worked on the first try. Looks like a cap is my next option. Thanks!

 

fwiw, you'll find that a #7 drilled stopper will fit snugly in a standard carboy neck with an airlock or blowoff hose, but will not push through. Which is interesting because a #7 solid stopper doesn't fit.

 

Here is the post that will solve all your issues. Tinfoil. Make a strip of tinfoil as wide as the bung, sanitize it, and wrap it around the bung a couple of times. Voila, the bung will stay in place. It's sanitary and works every time.