4 month old mead sucking stopper and airlock in to the carboy

[Novak]

Hey guys, so i have tried to find a answer but cant so i will turn to the pros. my blueberry mead is 4 months old and in the secondary fermenter carboy. everything was going fine until today when i went to check on it, the bung and airlock appear to be sucking in. ill try and post a pic. whats going on. the only thing i can think of is a temperature change but it has been in the basement and is a constant temp. the mead itself has no foreign growth on it that would indicate to me an infection. ideas???

 

[Novak]

terrible picture but the top of the bung is at the second "ring" in the mouth if the carboy and the bottom of the air lock is in the middle-ish of the very top first ring and the middle. I have around 5.5 to 6 gallons of this melomel in a... I think 8 gal carboy.. ( all I had)
Thanks guys
Cheers

 

[flars]

The bung and airlock can't get sucked in unless the airlock is plugged. Air will just pass through the air lock negating any chance of a vacuum forming.

Pull the air lock and get a hook through the bung to pull it. Add some tape to the bung to make it larger in diameter.

Sanitize well before working on it.

 

[Novak]

Cool thanks bud. And thank you for the quick reply.

 

[Yooper]

Temperature changes do that- but so do things like barometric pressure changes. Maybe you have a storm coming, or change in the weather?

Either way, just remove, and resit and that should fix it.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

Yeah, you might need to go up a bung size or half size next time.

 

[IJesusChrist]

It's likely temperature changes. If you have a lot of head space, even a degree change in temperature could do this, as long as the airlock is plugged.

I've had a theory that fermentation gives off some highly reducing compounds (H2S being a famous one!) which will react with any oxygen present. Give it enough time and it may strip all the O2 from the head space, creating a negative pressure.

This is just a theory, though.

 

[Novak]

I like your theory Christ I was thinking the same thing but I thought I'd see what other people thought . Thanks guys now I can rest easy. Cheers

 

[fuelish]

The bung and airlock can't get sucked in unless the airlock is plugged. Air will just pass through the air lock negating any chance of a vacuum forming.

Pull the air lock and get a hook through the bung to pull it. Add some tape to the bung to make it larger in diameter.

Sanitize well before working on it.

This......I've had back-suck due to temp drops, but it just sucks a bit o' liquid in from the airlock....the only way this could really be happening is if the airlock is plugged somehow, as flars said