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Smelly Bungs

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Brewser

Brewser

NewBee
Registered Member
May 15, 2014
64
0
0
Wisconsin.
I received my order of #6 bungs in the mail today for my JAOM batches I will be preparing, and right away after opening the package I noticed a very strong "rubbery" smell. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem before, and if so, if it will leak into my mead resulting in my end product having a slight hint of rubber? I've also searched the forums, but didn't turn up any topics on it, unless I missed them.

I've soaked them in hot water for 3 hours, then allowed to dry, yet no change. Still smelly bungs. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. 8)
 
I put mine through the dishwasher a few times and they still stank, I think the only thing that takes the smell out is time. I haven't found they'll affect a 5 gallon batch but I have had a few one-gal batches start to smell like rubber when using these bungs new. I'm wondering if soaking them in the pink chlorinated cleanser will work? maybe a mild bleach solution? I'll give it a try next time I get new stinky ones, I have two local brew stores I use and it's only one that has stinky ones and it's only the #6 ones from there, the ones from the other one are fine, so I don't know what to tell you.

If you're concerned about it, you can use double-layer plastic wrap with an elastic band as an interim airlock for a JAO.
 
If it smells like rubber, you should be fine. Maybe if you get some sodium metabisulfite sanitizer it will help? I dunno.
 
Thanks for the replies. I did try throwing them in the dishwasher when running it. It took a little bit of the smell away, then again soaked them in hot water for an hour.

Still can get a wiff of rubber coming off of them. Then I had an ingenious idea. Since I am making a few batches of JAOM, I took a bung and tried an experiment. I soaked the bung in a whiskey glass filled with fresh squeezed orange juice! Let it soak for about an hour and a half. Then rinsed it off and gave it a jacuzzi soak in hot water. Let it dry and now it smells oranges, with a slight hint of rubber. Of course I sanitized it before using it for my batch, but thought I'd share what I came up with to solve the problem. Cheers!
 
Chevette Girl said:
And, the million dollar question, did the orange juice taste like rubber? :)
Click to expand...
Fresh squeezed orange juice, is quite potent. I did taste a slight hint of rubber, but not much.

I'd think that a glass of liquid with the bung directly soaking in it would definitely have more of a rubbery taste to it, than a mead with a smelly bung capping it off. So hopes are high for my smell-less bung batch! ;D
 
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