Bungs for carboys

[jgmann67]

I have only recently started using solid bungs while bulk aging my wine. Up until recently, I simply used a stopper with an airlock. But, that created a greater possibility of a bad outcome (airlock drying out, oxidation, etc.). My problem is that I don't trust the solid bungs to keep a good seal and protect the wine. Anyone have any tips or bungs that work particularly well?

 

[mainshipfred]

Jim, on a rare occasion I do have bungs that don't seem to want to stay. I'll normally dry the inside of the neck and clean and dry the bung and it usually works. I've found once you get them to stay it takes a little work getting them out. Sometimes I'll give them a twist to get them in. A little tip so you don't have to buy all new bungs is to get the 0, 00 or 000 size, I can't remember which it is. They fit in the hole of a drilled bung making it a solid bung. Vented bungs work well also but some don't trust them.

 

[Boatboy24]

I do as Fred does - make sure the stopper and the inside of the neck are dry. That usually does the trick. I've been using a combo of solid, vented and airlocks.

 

[Rice_Guy]

My experience is that new/ soft rubber bungs hold extremely well.
I have an empty vacuum flask test going on ten months which has not come down to zero inches Hg vacuum yet. The assumption on my part is that for a full container some residual CO2 in the wine will enter the head space and equalize the pressure with the atmosphere and create a stable environment.

 

[Rice_Guy]

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View attachment 73905
* rubber corks are a good seal for a year or three (old rubber is hard)! This vacuum set up has been running for three months (Feb 11) and dropped from 17.5 in Hg to 9.5 (today),, ask me after a year how well cork and silicone and VacuVin check valve work for sealing a carboy. ,,, (no product in flask)
* driving force is part of storage, my feeling is CO2 is our friend. A 6.5 gallon sister carboy to the above picture of degassed (able to maintain five inches Hg 30 minutes) cyser held a vacuum for a month, ,, likely still had some CO2 bleeding out which equalized the vacuum. On the theory that the ullage is CO2 at equal pressure (no driving force) I consider it safe storage until it is opened up. I kind laugh at folks that want squeaky clean wine with no gas. As noted in other threads I will vacuum cork (like industry folks) and leave some residual gas so the ullage can get filled up with CO2.
* ALL CLOSURES WILL LEAK! some, a metal cap can be rated at 0.1 mg versus natural cork at 4 to. 8.0 mg oxygen per year. ,,, however we can assume the glass carboy or stainless tank walls don’t leak.
* for industrial scale wine the bottling operation is the biggest risk with a typical pick up of 4 to 8 mg O2 per liter, racking to remove SO2 can also be 4 to 8 mg, ,,, home wine makers have larger air to volume therefore we see high risk every time we open up a carboy.
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