Carboy bung pushed in a little too far

[ratrodder2831]

So I finally brewed my first home brew and taking all the right steps only had one mishap. When I was inserting the bung in the carboy both were wet from the sanitizer solution and keep pushing out and me using a little too much force got it stuck in the neck of the carboy. So it's sealed so it's going to ferment no problem my only concern is when it's time to remove the bung for the bottling step how can I get the bung out with ruining the beer. My thoughts are sanitizing the top of the bung and push it in and rack the beer out that is my last resort if anyone has had this happen and or you know a trick that I can remove the bung from the neck without damaging my beer please let me know. I already know not to let that happen for my next brew.
Cheers!

 

[flars]

Relax. When it comes time to siphon you might find the bung comes out easily with a little coaxing from a flat tip screw driver.

Cut it with a thin blade knife if the screw driver doesn't work. Bungs are cheap.

Pushing the bung into the carboy and then trying to remove it is a problem.

 

[mikescooling]

lots of ways to do this, if it were me. I'd push it in and take it out like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL1ovAYtKuQ

 

[Cbaddad]

That is a cool trick.

 

[ratrodder2831]

That is pretty cool to do I think that might be the route I go to get it out

 

[davidgsmit]

Although that bag technique shown in the link is seriously brilliant, I'd argue you may be best off getting it out sooner rather than later. If your brews are anything like mine, your bung will probably dry up in the neck after the krausen gets to it and make it a lot harder to pull out after it's done fermenting.

I had this happen to me and ended up using the end of a corkscrew to pry it out (after indeed sanitizing the top and the corkscrew). Wasn't easy, but it worked. Otherwise leave it in and try the bag after racking the beer out!

Good luck!

 

[TNGabe]

Try a coat hanger. If that doesn't work maybe a metal drywall anchor?

 

[Roadie]

My son pushed the stopper into the carboy once. After racking we used a coat hanger and it came out fairly easily.

 

[ratrodder2831]

Thanks for all the good advice, everything is working out good with it no leaks. I might try to pry it out before I rack it or just drop it in and pull it out with the bag trick afterwards. Here is a pic of what it looks like right now.

 

[poislb]

Smart move on the blow off tube, she's a little full...looks yummy though..

 

[55FordErik]

This may or not work but maybe plugging the hole in the bung and let the pressure push it out. Depending on at what point of fermentation it would not take long

Sent from my XT1080 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Thedutchtouch]

all you need is a bit of string and some type of object such as a screw or a nail that'll fit through the hole in the bung but is shorter than the inner diameter of the carboy neck. tie the string to the center of the screw, sanitize the whole assembly, take the blow off tube out, hold onto the string and drop the screw through the bung hole (snicker), when it's inside the carboy, pull on the string. since it's tied in the middle, the screw will lie flat on the underside of the bung rather than come back through the hole. pull out the bung with the string and you're good to go.

 

[Vigo_Carpathian]

A coat hanger will work great

 

[bigken462]

Could use a small sheetrock butterfly anchor.

Just make sure it's small enough to get back out. lol

 

[osagedr]

Lots of good options mentioned in this thread. I would probably just use a screwdriver.

 

[mikescooling]

Lots of good options mentioned in this thread. I would probably just have a screwdriver.

I don't see how getting drunk will help the situation, but it can't hurt.

 

[TallDan]

I'd go with a wing-type drywall anchor.

If you use anything metal, use care to be sure that you don't scratch the carboy. I like the idea of plugging the stopper and letting the pressure pop it out, I'd be afraid that would get messy though.

Unlikely since this is your first batch, but if you keg, you could probably hook up co2 to your blow-off tube after the beer is done and krausen settled, having the co2 pressure push it out.

Also, bungs are cheap, you may be able to drive a screw into it and pull it out that way.

 

[ratrodder2831]

Well to learn from the past I just brewed some Black IPA and I bought some bungs with a lip on them so after sanitizing them I dried it and put it in the carboy so it wasn't a problem from last time. My only concern was the OG was .030 off what was on the recipe card where I was making from. Should I be worried about that a lot of will it change when I dry hop it?

 

[dustinstriplin]

An allen wrench has worked well for me in the past.

 

[fartinmartin]

Several excellent suggestions up there, except for the push it through one, the hole in the carboy is tapered unlike the wine bottle!

 

[ratrodder2831]

So we bottled that beer today and ended up pushing in the bung and did the plastic bag trick to get the bung up and it worked without a problem. My wife was really impressed how I got it out with a bag as am I. Thanks for a the help, Prost!