Rubber bung taste!!!

[Runningwolf]

Jim I love your You Tube video in your signature line. Can you tell me which rubber Bungs you're using, maybe post a picture. I use all types and never had the problem several others are having but I use mostly the universal ones. Also what is the practice most people use for storing these. I just thrown mine into an open drawer, no sealed container. This oder issue has come up numerous times over the years in several forums.

 

[bg7mm]

had the rubber smelly monster visit here recently, got rid of those rubber demons and purchased a bag full of silicone stoppers, no more rubber smellys, i would keep the rubber ones in a sanitizing solution also but it didn't help rid the smell

on an unrelated topic, dropped a 5 gallon glass carboy this mourning on my driveway, it went bang and flew into a million pieces, heartaches don't feel so good at my age

 

[Runningwolf]

on an unrelated topic, dropped a 5 gallon glass carboy this mourning on my driveway, it went bang and flew into a million pieces, heartaches don't feel so good at my age

Ouch, sorry for your loss. Glad to gear you did not get hurt.

 

[jswordy]

Jim I love your You Tube video in your signature line. Can you tell me which rubber Bungs you're using, maybe post a picture. I use all types and never had the problem several others are having but I use mostly the universal ones. Also what is the practice most people use for storing these. I just thrown mine into an open drawer, no sealed container. This oder issue has come up numerous times over the years in several forums.

My camera is on the wane, and has spells of not wanting to turn on (common with Canons, I now understand). They are the generic white rubber drilled stoppers sold by Midwest. I don't do gallons hardly at all, so I was surprised when this problem turned up. I usually store my bungs and airlocks in a common plastic shopping bag in one of my winemaking cabinets.

Never again on rubber. It will be silicone! My five-gallon carboys use the universal stoppers which, while white, are made from a different material.

Otis and Barney - you can't get much funnier than that and stay clean.

 

[Runningwolf]

The only thing I see different is that you are storing them in a plastic bag. Does anyone else do that, that has had the same problem? I leave mine lose in my set of rubber maid drawers.

 

[jswordy]

The only thing I see different is that you are storing them in a plastic bag. Does anyone else do that, that has had the same problem? I leave mine lose in my set of rubber maid drawers.

The problem is that you can wash the dickens out of them, and they will still stink. After you wash them, you will not smell it. But when you cork the bottle with one, the smell then permeates the head space and gets into the wine. I don't think storage is the problem. It's the compounds used to make the bung. I am sure after a certain time the smell will leave a new bung.

I want to experiment to see if washing repeatedly in the dishwasher will make it leave sooner. Then again, with a China bung, who knows what compound is causing the smell to begin with? Since I don't usually do gallons, it will be easy to not have to worry about this again for awhile. See? Every cloud has a silver lining!

 

[winemaker_3352]

The only thing I see different is that you are storing them in a plastic bag. Does anyone else do that, that has had the same problem? I leave mine lose in my set of rubber maid drawers.

That is what i do - i just leave them lose laying out.

I have never had an issue with my wine tasting or smelling like the rubber bung..

 

[sjo]

I leave mine loose. I use rubber and silicone bungs. I had 2 batches this year that smell like the bung. 1 rhubarb that the smell has dissipated slightly. the other is an Italian Brunello that is still pretty bad. I did that batch and a Petit Verdot at the same time. The Verdot had the silicone bung.
This was the first time in 3 years that has happened and the last. I picked up more silicone bungs.

 

[jswordy]

I leave mine loose. I use rubber and silicone bungs. I had 2 batches this year that smell like the bung. 1 rhubarb that the smell has dissipated slightly. the other is an Italian Brunello that is still pretty bad. I did that batch and a Petit Verdot at the same time. The Verdot had the silicone bung.
This was the first time in 3 years that has happened and the last. I picked up more silicone bungs.

I'm with you! Silicone or none from here on out. Live and learn.

 

[tchuklobrau]

I have noticed that 1 of my stoppers gives this smell/flavor as well. Only when I have to use my 2l erlemyer flask for a secondary vessel do I get this. No matter how many dishwasher cycles its been through it is still there. Fortunately when that 2l flask of wine gets blended with wats n the other jugs I have never smelled or tasted it again.

 

[jswordy]

I see nobody has to worry about getting CARDED in THIS BAR!!!

 

[tchuklobrau]

I see nobody has to worry about getting CARDED in THIS BAR!!!

Lol nope German rules in this house. If you can see over the bar you get served. That pic is how I found out our package came from the inlaws in germany last year.

 

[lloyd]

Who supplies silicone Bungs/corks?

 

[Boatboy24]

Who supplies silicone Bungs/corks?

finevinewines.com is one place

 

[JohnT]

You're not crazy. It's sulfur, and probably not from the rubber stopper. It's most likely hydrogen sulfide from stressed yeast. The bung almost never comes in contact with the wine, so how would it contaminate the wine with it's taste?

Agree with above. When hydrogen sulfide becomes bounded over time, it forms compounds called mercaptans. These compound issue an oder much like "burnt rubber". I would recomend that you take a small sample and either give it a short dose of copper sulfate, or even just simply throw a couple of scoured pennies into the sample to check for improvement. Swirl the sample for about 5 or 10 minutes and check if that smell goes away. If it does go away, then you know that this is a sulfur related condition and not caused by rubber bungs.

 

[jswordy]

Agree with above. When hydrogen sulfide becomes bounded over time, it forms compounds called mercaptans. These compound issue an oder much like "burnt rubber". I would recomend that you take a small sample and either give it a short dose of copper sulfate, or even just simply throw a couple of scoured pennies into the sample to check for improvement. Swirl the sample for about 5 or 10 minutes and check if that smell goes away. If it does go away, then you know that this is a sulfur related condition and not caused by rubber bungs.

Might be, but I have 6 bungs and smelled the unused ones, and they smelled the way my wine smelled and tasted.

My two saved test bottles are still awaiting opening.

 

[JohnT]

Might be, but I have 6 bungs and smelled the unused ones, and they smelled the way my wine smelled and tasted.

My two saved test bottles are still awaiting opening.

I think that a simple copper test would be in order.

 

[JSPL]

I shouldn't even throw my .02 cents in because I know noting, but... I read an article the other day on TCA tainted "corked" wines that some folks have had good luck repairing the taste of these wines by "putting wadded up Saran Wrap into the bottle for a prolonged period of time. The theory is that some plastics like that included in the wrap will absorb the TCA more readily than the wine itself, effectively filtering the contaminant from the wine." Would anyone here believe this method might apply to "Bung Taint"?

 

[jswordy]

I think that a simple copper test would be in order.

The other 5 gallons out of the batch, which used a different type bung, were fine. I am still drinking that part. Only this 1-gallon overage smelled exactly like the white bung and the other bungs I had bought with it, and carried the rubbery taste. Never had that before, and you can bet I will never have it again. Undrinkable. The wine went down the drain, but I bottled 2 to see what might happen over time to it.

Funny thing, I ran across those bungs in my cabinet the other day. They still stink, brand new!

 

[Runningwolf]

Like JohnT said it could be H2S and if it is the wine will only get worse without treatment. You can easily do the penny test he eluded to or a copper sulphate test. If you use the copper sulphate, set up 4 glasses. Put 100 ml of wine into each one. Now mark your glasses C-1-2 & 3. C is your control glass and you won't add anything to it but use it as a reference. Add 1 drop, 2 drops and three to the corresponding glasses and swirl them around. Now smell each one you added the drops to and see if the smell went away. Always go with the least amount of Copper sulphate. It takes very little to correct the situation.