# HELP! Dropped stopper into carboy!!



## calcio555 (Feb 17, 2007)

My homemade winemaking was going fine until one day, when checking to see if it was coming out ok, I accidentally pushed the rubber stopper into the 5-gallon vessel (carboy). 1) This is my first time, so I'm not sure, but I think it has given the wine a funny smell (a little rubbery)...is there any way to get rid of the smell and/or taste by fining agents or some other chemical? 2) is it safe to drink wine that sat in the same vessel for two or three weeks with a rubber stopper in it? 

Also, I have since transferred most of the wine into a new vessel, but it only comes three quarters of the way up the carboy. SOmeone said if I shake it well, the C02 will push out any oxygen that got in when testing or syphoning. Is this true?

Thanks a lot for any help you can give me!!

Steve


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## Luc (Feb 17, 2007)

Steve,

First don't panic  

The rubber stopper in your wine won't hurt it and I think the rubber smell
is coming from something else. Rubber will not give odor to the wine. So just
leave it in, and put another stopper on the carboy until the wine is ready.

If the wine is still fermenting there will be a CO2 blanket on top of it which will protect the wine if the carboy is closed with a rubber stopper and a waterlock  

If the wine is not fermenting anymore, transfer it to a smaller carboy, top it up with another wine, or add marbles to your wine until there is just 1 or 2 inches space in the neck of the bottle. With a lot of air above your wine you might run into trouble.

But do not panic, harm will normally not be done overnight.
Keep the wine protected with sulphites and you should be ok.

Luc


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## MUMBA (Feb 18, 2007)

*stopper*

and they sell a tool to get the stopper out of the carbouy


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## damageinc (Feb 25, 2007)

my buddy did the same to my wine- I used a coathanger through the air lock hole- slightly bent and presto- it came right out...


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