My Bung started to fall apart.

[earl]

Well tonight I degassed, for about 15 to 20 min., and I had a layer of rubber dust on top of the carboy. I am using the wine wip, it's that curved piece of plastic with the bung attached to it. I think it is called the wine wip. Well I do not know if any got into the wine, I will assume it did. The bung and all was sanitized in 10% sulfite before stirring the bejeesus out of it. If some of the rubber got into the carboy did I ruin the wine?? It is a Buejalais kit, my first one.


No pictures this time, I sort of had my hands full.


I had a taste prior to wipping it and it had a slight odor of sulfur. My wife said it smelled like eggs. I thought it may be from the wine thief, which I sanitized in sulfite, maybe there was some residual in there from the sanitization process. Any thoughts??


earl

 

[geocorn]

Earl,


Do not worry. You may have a little plastic from the wine whip de-gasser, but it will not harm your wine, if it was sanitized. If the plastic racks through, just scoop it out.


I think the smell is from the sulfite solution. If you have contaminated wine already, you did not sanitize at all.


Don't worry and have a glass of wine.

 

[Vaughn]

Had the same problem with the whip when I first used it. Try using a little vegitable oil in the bung hole to lubricate things.

 

[PolishWineP]

If you do that be very careful to avoid contamination with the oil.

 

[Steve]

I had the wine whip also, same problem and then it broke. I would recommend upgrading to the Fizz-X it works like a champ...


http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=15262

 

[Waldo]

Fizz Xall the way for me . You can't beat em...or you can beat good with them

Edited by: Waldo

 

[PolishWineP]

We got a lot of use out of our Fizz-x this weekend. Bert even broke down and bought a variable speed drill (with a cord) for us to use only for making wine.

It's just great. It's clean, in the house and never loses it's charge unless the current bush goes dead!

You should have seen the look of disbelief on our son's face. He saw Bert usingit and comes to the office saying, "Power tools now? Power tools for wine?" He had to admit he saw the logic once I explained the whole thing.

 

[MedPretzel]

I had the wine whip also, same problem and then it broke. I would recommend upgrading to the Fizz-X it works like a champ...


http://www.finevinewines.com/ProdDetA.asp?PartNumber=15262

I do too. It's gotten progressively shorter over the course of a year, but it does the job if you're patient. I've used the Fizz-Ex a few times now to see the difference, and I highly recommend it when your wine-whip has broken for the first time. It'll still be good for the 1-gallon batches you decide to make.


But, a tip for the wine-whip: Get rid of the bung. Place the back of your hand at the carboy's opening to rest the drill very lightly on it. It's not ideal, and you can't really steady the thing really well,but you'll learn as you go along. Try to keep the drill and the whip as steady as you can.


Drink a glass of wine to steady your hand if you need to.

Here's an SAT question for you (complete with answer)


The wine whip is to the Fizz Ex


as


A Ford Focus is to the Lexus.

 

[earl]

Thanks guys. When I break the wine whip Iwill most certainly get a Fizz-ex.





earl

 

[geocorn]

Just so everyone knows, to my knowledge, I am the only home wine making store that includes a drill mounted stirrer in a starter kit. Including this item drives up my cost, but I want success from my new wine makers. If I included a better stirrer, I would either have to eat the additional cost or raise the price. Since my starter kits are already at the high end of the price range, I don't feel I can raise the price.


I include with whip with the thought that wine makers that stay with the hobby will unlimately want to upgrade to better equipment, including a stainless steel stirrer. What I will do and have done is give full credit to anyone that buys a starter kit from me and want to upgrade when their whip breaks. Just give me a call and I will upgrade any of your for the difference in price.


I hope you understand why I have done what I did.

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

That's a generous offer George. Your attitude toward customer service is
much appreciated. Stay stocked up on Fizz-xes because the whips don't
stay in one piece long.

 

[Joseph1]

The following is a post by Derek Hamilton of Fermtech, the manufacturer of the Wine Whip. He is responding to similar problems reported by users.
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“Ouch, I never like to hear about people having problems with one of my products ... but it is good feedback, nonetheless.

What is happening with The Whip is overheating, where the rod spins in the bung, from a combination of high speed use for an extended period of time. We do caution customers on the packaging to go easy, but we now realize that is not sufficient. We now have a sticker right on the bung suggesting users half-fill the hollow bung with clean water. This stops the overheating and flaking.”


The post is from November 2005, so products with the sticker on the bung may not have made it to George yet.

 

[geocorn]

The Whips I have been getting of late have the warning sticker. Unfortunately, I sent out a lot before they figured this out.


As an aside, I was the first store to bring this to the attention of LD Carlson. At first, they did not think it was a product issue. They called me about a month after my first complaint to say others were saying the same thing! You have to listen to you customers!

 

[fasteddy999]

I'll make it easy on everyone. I just clip the ring off the
end of a bottle brush put it in my cordless drill and
whip-it or stir it or what ever you want to call it. I have
yet mto wear out a brush doing this. Plus it makes
bottle cleaning so much easier. Just add a little
bleach water to a bottle and stick the brush in Wa La
in seconds the bottle is clean.