Solid Bung for Cold Crashing

[Munchkin]

Next week I have a carboy going into the fridge to cold crash for a week. Normally I drain the 3 piece airlock of fluid, then cover the airlock back up with sanitized tin foil. To avoid sucking any outside air back into the carboy, I wanted to try a solid bung which i bought. The bung fits alittle deeper into the carboy than the rubber stoppers I use for the airlock, and my concern is that the vacuum created while cooling will suck the bung into the carboy.

Does anyone else throw on a solid bung before crash cooling with no issues?

 

[hunter_le five]

I would buy a $1 "S" airlock and be done with it.

 

[CUrchin]

+1 S lock. Starsan in it should prevent anything bad getting in.

 

[Munchkin]

The S lock does make alot of sense, however there was two main reasons I wanted to use the solid bung.

-The S lock will not prevent oxygen from entering the carboy. Since this is my primary fermenter, the carboy should currently be naturally purged of oxygen. S locks dont prevent this 'risk'. Because co2 is heavier than air, perhaps im over thinking this.

-My current fridge doesnt have the clearance to support an airlock above the carboy, unless I rearrange shelving everytime which is a royal pita.

Edit - Being able to just throw in a bung seems even easier than using an airlock. Again im just concerned with the amount of vacuum created and if its enough to suck the bung into the carboy.

 

[petrolSpice]

It will likely suck in the bung. If it doesn't then it means there was a leak and it sucked in air anyways, or it means the carboy is under vacuum. If it's a glass carboy I would not put ANY kind of vacuum or pressure in it. If it's plastic it will deform the carboy, how much I don't know.

There should still be a nice bed of CO2 over the beer to protect it from any air that enters the carboy.

You could use a blow off hose also. Carefully fill the blow off reservoir with the minimal amount of liquid to just barely cover the opening of the hose. As the carboy cools it will suck the liquid up the hose and the liquid level in the revervoir will fall. Once the level falls enough to expose the opening of the hose, air will enter the hose and the liquid will drain out before it gets into the carboy. This process will repeat until the carboy is completely cooled.

 

[poptarts]

http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shop/carboys-accessories/silicone-waterless-airlock/
I dont own one but these seem the way to go

 

[petrolSpice]

http://www.rebelbrewer.com/shop/carboys-accessories/silicone-waterless-airlock/
I dont own one but these seem the way to go

That is essentially just a check valve to let pressure/CO2 out of the fermentor, so it will act just like a solid bung when cooling.

 

[hunter_le five]

While it's generally not good to expose fermented wort to outside air, the little bit that gets in via the S-airlock/double-bubbler/whatchamacallit should not harm anything... At least in my experience. As always, ymmv.


Sent from my mind using telepathic brain waves

 

[helibrewer]

I use the silicone bung and burp it a couple times a day until the beer is chilled down.

 

[sumbrewindude]

I just remove the 3piece airlock, pour out the contents, reassemble and put it into the fridge.

 

[Roondy888]

I was listening to the brewing network and they were discussing this. One of them mentioned just cold crashing in the keg and it prevents any oxidation whatsoever, I have been doing that ever since.

 

[BigFloyd]

The change in volume related to the 30-35 degree drop in temp isn't that huge that I worry at all about the amount of air coming through the s-airlock into the CO2-laden headspace creating oxidation issues.

If you haven't the room for the airlock, I'd consider a normal bung ( w/ hole) covered loosely with foil sprayed with StarSan. A solid bung will get sucked in or could cause a potentially disastrous negative pressure situation.

 

[troy2000]

Right now I'm sweating out a batch of petite saison. I decided to push the bung in a tad deeper to make sure the airlock didn't get hung up in the limited head space while I wrestled my carboy into my fermenter... and the bung just squired right off the airlock into the carboy. Of course I had sanitized everything to begin with, so I just grabbed some masking tape and sealed the airlock in place.

I'm probably OK, but I won't know for sure until I bottle this weekend. Where's a crossed-fingers smiley when you really need one?

add: next week I'll be googling for ways to fish a bung out of a carboy....

 

[bigken462]

add: next week I'll be googling for ways to fish a bung out of a carboy....

Stick a small plastic bag in it, blow it up to get a grip on the bung, pull it out. Should take less than a minute. Google it up . There are several videos on Youtube.

 

[Goolsbymd]

S air lock for me. Solid bung as stated could get pulled in or created a negative pressure inside the primary and break it.

You have committed weeks or more to this point, why not do it safely and move a shelf and use the S lock.

 

[Munchkin]

fair enough guys, I was surprised noone uses the solid bung right from the get go. I have a hard time believing the pressure difference would be enough to implode a glass carboy but at the same time i dont know what kind of pressure is involved here. I like the idea of a blow off tube which would also keep height to a minimum. Thanks for the comments guys!

 

[TimTrabold]

I know this has been up a few months, but here is my 2 cents worth.

I did something similar to the Video.

I took a Starsan'd nitrile painting glove and pushed the middle finger through the airlock hole in lid of my fermentation bucket. I then held it in place with the airlock. Any reverse pressure and suckage was done to the glove finger, much like a balloon (which I would have used if I could have found on at home). If it sucked Starsan from the airlock back into the fermenter, it was contained. If you have ever blown up a surgical or painting glove like a balloon you will know that they can take a lot more pressure than the cooling will exert. If it was a carboy I suppose you could have just folded it around the neck and held it in place with a rubber band.

 

[wobrien]

If you use a solid bung, and build up a vacuum inside, wouldn't all the air you are trying to keep out just get sucked in as soon as you pull out the bung after cold crashing?

 

[number40fan]

The air that will get sucked back in after removing the bung would only be in contact with the wort for a short time while you either bottle or keg. Letting air in while cold crashing for a couple of days wouldn't be a good thing.

 

[jdonley]

I cold crashed in my glass carboy using a solid bung all the time with no problems. 37 degrees for 5 days

 

[kombat]

I cold crashed in my glass carboy using a solid bung all the time with no problems. 37 degrees for 5 days

This will create a relative vacuum inside the carboy, with only 3 possible outcomes:

1) The carboy will implode, being unable to withstand the pressure differential. Admittedly unlikely.

2) The bung will leak, allowing air to enter the carboy anyway.

3) Air will rush into the carboy as soon as you remove the bung to rack the beer to a keg/bottling bucket. Probably marginally better than allowing air into the carboy during the entire cold crashing period (i.e., minimizing exposure to oxygen and reducing effect of oxidation). Is it worth the risk of #1 occurring? That's up to you, I suppose.

I cold-crash in the keg, under CO2 pressure. I cold-crash, clarify, and carbonate simultaneously. This minimizes my beer's exposure to air and reduces the time required for the beer to be ready.

 

[Pintabone]

This will create a relative vacuum inside the carboy, with only 3 possible outcomes:

1) The carboy will implode, being unable to withstand the pressure differential. Admittedly unlikely.

2) The bung will leak, allowing air to enter the carboy anyway.

3) Air will rush into the carboy as soon as you remove the bung to rack the beer to a keg/bottling bucket. Probably marginally better than allowing air into the carboy during the entire cold crashing period (i.e., minimizing exposure to oxygen and reducing effect of oxidation). Is it worth the risk of #1 occurring? That's up to you, I suppose.

I cold-crash in the keg, under CO2 pressure. I cold-crash, clarify, and carbonate simultaneously. This minimizes my beer's exposure to air and reduces the time required for the beer to be ready.

Reviving this thread a bit because I'm considering cold crashing for the first time. I have the plastic Fermonster fermenters but I will begin kegging when this beer is ready to rock. Is there any benefit to cold crashing prior to kegging? I guess puts less sediment into the keg?