How do you attach airlock to your carboy?

Earlier today accidentally pushed a stopper into the carboy too far -- should be a lot of fun getting it out next week. ARRGH!

A #6 stopper will work if I do it just right. A #7 is too large...keeps squeezing itself out. Maybe 6½? But before I buy more stoppers, how does everyone else do it? What about BUNGS? What about CAPS?

 

Glass, I assume? I use a musting cap for my glass carboy: http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shop/bre...bber-stoppers/musting-cap-with-airlock-holder

 

I used a #6.5 stopper, and unless the stopper and the neck of the carboy were pretty much dry, it would either want to just pop back off or go all the way in. I use a plastic bucket now and don't have that problem any more.

 

I found that a stopper wet with starsan would always slip out, or all the way in if I pushed it too hard trying to stop it from slipping back out again.
My fix was taking a paper towel and squirting it with starsan then drying any excess water off the stopper so it was dry. This helped it stick better.

 

wait. you switched from glass to plastic bucket. because of the airlock fit?!

 

Damn, it's not rocket surgery... Just don't cram that thing in there!

Or just use those orange carboy caps, they work great!

 

I have that orange cap, but switched to that white bung with the hole for an airlock & a ridge at the top to keep it from slipping in. Seals better than the cap does, in my opinion.

 

I switched because I had a 6.5 gal carboy break while I was cleaning it. No injuries, but I decided I would rather not take the chance, and not be lucky if it happened again. I still have 2 5 gal glass carboys that I may use if I ever want to age something long term, but for general use I am going to use the buckets.