bung in Erlenmeyer neck

[PoopOnBukon]

so i made a yeast stater, i have an Erlenmeyer flask with a rubber bung and an air lock. i put the wort in my flask and then pitched the yeast, then i put on the rubber bung and when i put in the airlock i pushed too hard and now my rubber bung is in the neck of the flask. Now im wondering how i might get this out of there. Any navy tricks?

 

[nebben]

Perhaps a long screw? You could try the bag in a bottle trick (see youtube for this with wine bottles), but it depends on having no liquid left in the bottle.

 

[RugenBrau]

Get a piece of wire(coat hanger ) and put a small hook on the end of it. (easily done with needle nose pliers). Sanitize it....slip in to the hole of the stopper and yank it out. You only need to put some aluminum foil over the flask

 

[Demon]

Leave it for now, pitch the starter as normal then use the trick above to retrieve the bung.

 

[ajf]

Cork screw?

Also, you shouldn't use an airlock when making a starter. Either cover the top of the flask with some sanitized foil, or (my favorite) use an inverted sanitized jam jar.
Both will prevent any nasties dropping into the starter, but still allow for the exchange of gasses (which is good for the starter).
For a good explanation, see http://maltosefalcons.com/tech/yeast-propagation-and-maintenance-principles-and-practices

-a.

 

[jfowler1]

This happened to me once or twice in the neck of my better bottle. I always sanitized an allen wrench, held onto it with a pair of vice grips, and yanked the bung out.

But I kind of like the wire hanger trick mentioned above, because it eliminates the chance of dropping the allen wrench right into the carboy/flask.

 

[PoopOnBukon]

awesome, tried the coat hanger but it was too flimsy, the allen wrench worked pretty well. thanks guys.