Drilled stoppers in the Carboy - WTF?

[Gordie]

I'm an idiot.

I just put together 5g of Irish Red and went to put the airlock and stopper (#7) in the 6.5g carboy and the sanitizer on the stopper lubed the $@#%^ing thing right through the neck and into my beer. Twice.

Not wanting to ferment with two rubber stoppers in the mix, I racked the beer off into a new carboy. So now my question is this:

Has this happened to anyone else? Anyone have any thoughts on how to get the stoppers out or is the carboy junk at this point?

Am I just an idiot?

Gordie

 

[bensyverson]

Sounds like a pretty skinny #7... I think it would take a hammer to get my #7 stopper into my 5 gal carboy... If I were you, I'd invest in some #8 stoppers (or even #9?)

 

[Nurmey]

Yep, it's happened to a few folks. A plastic bag is all you need to get a bung out of a carboy. I speak from experience that this works great.

1. Place half the bag through the carboy neck;
2. Roll the bung (in carboy) under the plastic bag;
3. Blow into plastic bag enough air to make a small balloon;
4. Pull out bag;
5. Bung will come out with bag

Here is a video showing how to do it with a cork and bottle but it works just the same with the carboy.

http://www.break.com/index/remove_a_...ne_bottle.html

 

[bradsul]

I've done that a few times myself. I didn't know about the plastic bag trick but I had no trouble getting them out with a coat hanger.

Don't worry if you get a stopper in the beer though, there is no need to rack off or anything since they were properly sanitized. You're actually increasing the risk of a problem by NOT leaving them in there. Just fish them out after you rack the beer at the normal time.

 

[Gordie]

Lovely. Thanks for the bag trick. I'll give that a go and if I can't get it working I'll grab a coat hanger and go fishing.

 

[LBrewski]

Ah yes, a very common mishap. I used a pair of hemostats to get mine out. Since then I use a "universal" stopper - it will not push into your carboy.

http://morebeer.com/view_product/16655/102272

 

[Gordie]

Wow. I finally got around to getting the stoppers out of the carboy this weekend and the bag trick worked surprisingly well. I didn't even screw it up first - got each of them on the first try.

Thanks!

Gordie

 

[Pez]

+1 on the universal stopper. It has a lip so i doubt i could push it through if i tried.

 

[Plan9]

I use the universal on my 5 and 6.5 and there is no way it could slip in.

 

[DIY Brewing Company]

The Universal stopper is the only thing I use and the only thing I recommend in my store. They come in bigger sizes to fit larger bottles too.