Hi all. I just bought my first carboy, and the rubber bung I got for it stinks. It's like a hot water bottle, swimming cap and manure combined. I've soaked it in water for a few days and the smell hasn't gone. I can't seem to find an alternative. Will this odour be imparted to my beer? Thank you
No. Relax. It's not in contact with anything, and the blanket effect of the c02 and the offgasing of whatever you are making and that is being pushed out in fermentation will stink it up soon enough. Just make sure it is sanitized before plugging in.
Probably not, as long as you don't push it all the way through and into the wort, leaving it there throughout fermentation. There are carboy caps, some with built in thermowells. They don't smell. I've also seen "breathable" silicon bungs that don't use an airlock.
Are you saying that the gasses produced by the fermenting beer are more objectionable than the ones emitted from the area of the bung hole?
I had a similar thought earlier this week when adding dry hops to my carboy. They do stink but as people have said, without contact can't see it being a problem. The site I order from stock cork bungs for an extra quid or two. Something to think about
http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/ Based in Ireland so may not be practical for you, but they do shop to England and rates aren't bad
For a few more weeks at least. I've always found silicone to be much less smelly than normal rubber, although silicone will pick up odors from the environment (so my silicone bungs have a faint smell of beer to them). The big problem with silicone in my experience is that it loses its friction when wet, so getting a silicone bung dipped in sanitizer to stick in the neck of a carboy can be a bit tricky. However once it dries off a little it's fine, and those first few hours aren't so important anyway. You don't really need a tight seal early in the fermentation. Updated to add: I'm talking about a product like this, but make sure to get the right size. On further review maybe it's not made of silicone? Anyway I have stoppers like this and they do not have an offensive smell.
No. I'm just saying the smell will soon go away because the odours being emitted from the off gassing during fermentation will infuse into the bung making that new smell a thing of the past. Also, what you said. There's no contact involved. Or, if the krausen does touch it. Whatever contact is made is not going to be going back into solution once it recedes, and so long as it is sanitized. It's not an issue. But. DO CLEAN that bung thoroughly of debris before using it again.
