Stoppers! Arghh!

[worlddivides]

This is the first time I have ever had trouble with stoppers. Up until yesterday and today they always stayed in the carboy, but I tried three different stoppers (backups because one of my first ones got destroyed) and none of them will stay in my carboy. I dried them off, dried off the inside of the carboy, and they just pop out immediately. I sanitized two of them and left them on some paper towels to dry for over an hour, then tried putting them in, but both of them popped out. I was a little paranoid about that, leaving them out in the open to dry for an hour which I never do with anything else because I'm scared of contamination.

I've brewed several times in this carboy, so I have no idea what could be going on. I never had this problem before.

Since I can't just leave my carboy open, I stuck an airlock in one of those rubber things you use for blow off tubes and put that in there, but I really, really don't like it because it's so flexible that the airlock gets pushed onto its side by the weight of the top of the cooling bag and I'm afraid the entire thing will just fall off (which already happened twice when I moved it from the kitchen to where I'm letting it ferment).

Something like this:

When a plastic stopper works correctly, I vastly prefer it to that rubber thing above because it stays in place and the airlock doesn't get moved at all by the weight of the top of the cooling bag.

Any ideas what's going on and how to fix it? I can't imagine what to do since I've already dried out both the inside of the carboy top and the stoppers and they just won't stay in there.

 

[Just4Fun]

Soak the stopper in hot water - boiling water to soften it while still warm gently place into the hole once all the way in place something heavy on it to hold it in place and allow to cool

 

[Stocktonbrew]

I had the same problem. I too am not a big fan of drying them off with a towel or letting them sit in the open till they dry, so I taped mine down. It worked, but Last week I bought the plastic cap you have in your pic and I like it.

 

[YellowRiver]

Certainly want to make sure your airlock doesn't clog up, and someones going to tell me I'm making a bomb BUT for better or worse, I get some coated copper(electrical) wire and tie the sucker down.

 

[Stocktonbrew]

Haha, YellowRiver, that was my first idea, but didn't have wire. Someone posted a pic using wire a while back and I thought it looked easy. Sure beats fighting the stopper from sliding up over and over and over...

 

[worlddivides]

It's honestly really baffling. None of my beers or my cider before now had this problem with the stoppers. It feels almost like the rules of the universe suddenly decided to change. After almost two hours of drying, I just now tried to stick the stopper in again and it popped right out in less than 2 seconds. What the hell is going on?

All of my pots are currently in the dishwasher right now, but I might try Just4fun's suggestion of boiling them in hot water after they're clean.

 

[YellowRiver]

Haha, YellowRiver, that was my first idea, but didn't have wire. Someone posted a pic using wire a while back and I thought it looked easy. Sure beats fighting the stopper from sliding up over and over and over...

Or my favorite, holding the stopper in for what feels like an eternity, taking your hand off, turning away as it pops right back up. And my version of insanity, trying the same technique, again.

 

[passedpawn]

I threw all my stoppers away. I really, really got tired of fidgeting with them, trying to keep them in the carboys.

Get universal bungs. They are trouble free. Save your sanity.

Everybody sells these. There are a few different sizes, so make sure to check twice before buying.

 

[worlddivides]

Passedpawn, I saw those at my LHBS a couple weeks ago, but wasn't sure how they worked. I might get some for my next batch. For this one I'll either keep using the rubber one in the picture in my original post or somehow get one of my stoppers to fit (which shouldn't be hard, considering it worked on all my previous batches with no problems!).

By the way, all of those in your pic are IPAs and pale ales, but the pumpkin makes me think you might have made a pumpkin ale too? Just not in the pic? Or not made yet? (or GASP! You hate pumpkin ales?)

 

[passedpawn]

Passedpawn, I saw those at my LHBS a couple weeks ago, but wasn't sure how they worked. I might get some for my next batch. For this one I'll either keep using the rubber one in the picture in my original post or somehow get one of my stoppers to fit (which shouldn't be hard, considering it worked on all my previous batches with no problems!).

By the way, all of those in your pic are IPAs and pale ales, but the pumpkin makes me think you might have made a pumpkin ale too? Just not in the pic? Or not made yet? (or GASP! You hate pumpkin ales?)

I haven't made a pumpkin beer in a couple of years. I kept the pumpkin in there because they rot pretty quickly down here in FL. We still get 80+ degree days that time of year.

 

[worlddivides]

Ah, then I guess you were using the pumpkin for something else (pumpkin pie?).

Anyway, I FINALLY got a stopper to stay in the carboy. One thing I like about stoppers is that once they are affixed in there, they stay in there, while the rubber thing in my first post in this thread is very very easy to get in place, but the airlock won't stay in the same place and falls off pretty easily.

I imagine this stopper will probably stay in place pretty easily until it gets wet with sanitizer again (or maybe not? Who knows? I never experienced this with my previous beers or the cider... Sigh...).

 

[passedpawn]

Ah, then I guess you were using the pumpkin for something else (pumpkin pie?).

Nope, just carved a scary face into it and added a candle. I do bake the seeds, but the meat ended up in the trash. You bring up a good point though, might make pumpkin pie with it this year.

 

[worlddivides]

Gotta love the pumpkin pie. But, really, anything you can do with a pumpkin is pretty cool in my book. I'm sort of an unabashed pumpkin fan.

 

[JINKS]

Standard rope tie down