Any tips for loosening jammed stoppers?

[AmazinLarry]

Howdy hey. First post here, whaddaya know. I combed through the board for a similar subject, but couldn't find one, so I apologize if this is a redundant question.

I've been brewing for a few years, researching methods and science extensively. This usually results in my taking the reigns while friends help with beer concepts, heavy lifting, and cleanup. One such brewday took place this last Sunday, and I worry for the quality of the beer. After hitting all of our numbers all down the line, the yeast was pitched and I left a friend to put in the stopper.

I have three two-hole stoppers with thermowells from three sources, and all of them suck. Two are (I believe) size 5.5 stoppers, one of which has a hole too small to fit an airlock into without having carefully scraped out more material the other of which threatens to fall inside the fermentor. The third is a larger size (6.5?), and doesn't actually seal our fermentor without some kind of tape securing it down. I'd like to find one that actually bloody fits inside our 6.5g glass carboys one of these days, but that's a problem for another day.

My friend's first attempt "Just fell in" while I was off cleaning something or another. Figuring there was little we could do about that until the fermentation ended, I told him not to worry about it and sanitize another. This one was the larger stopper, but he seems to have forgotten all about it: When I came back, he had brute-forced it all the way in, until the airlock hole had completely collapsed in on itself. To make matters worse, it's completely flush with the top of the fermentor, making it impossible to get a good grip on it.

I am concerned for the quality of my fermentation and the health of my yeast, but I am already familiar with the concepts at play and it will be an educational experience. That is not what I'm here to ask about.

What I'm here to ask is, how the hell do I get this thing back out in two weeks?

 

[Brewsncrabs]

Drive a drywall screw part way in and then use pliers to pull or wiggle it out. Just don't drive screw all the through.


Beer and crabs were meant for each other!

 

[AmazinLarry]

That's...ingenious, actually. I certainly won't miss the damn thing when it's destroyed. Thank you very much.

 

[Brewsncrabs]

I figured you wouldn't want the stopper. Sort of did this myself when I drilled a second hole in one for a thermowell. Had to use a pliers to pull bit out.


Beer and crabs were meant for each other!

 

[wingedcoyote]

I've had success with a similar method -- I screwed a corkscrew into the stopper and yanked it out that way. Be careful if you do this, though, I did manage to bend the cheap corkscrew I used.

 

[BBBF]

I found myself in a similar situatin a couple seeks ago. I tied some twine to the center of the threaded portion of a screw, dripped it through the hole and carefully pulled the stopper out. I had to spray the top of the stopper with star san to help it slide out.

 

[day_trippr]

Save major future aggro and switch to universal bungs...

Cheers!