Drilled cork or rubber ?

[Zebedee]

OK guys (n gals)

Whats your prefered airlock bung, cork or rubber...

and why ?

[medpretzel]

I prefer silicone.

because I've started to imagine that I smell the rubber in the wines and corks get too brittle.

But I still use the rubber ones because I hope that it's just all in my head.

[cpfan]

I haven't seen pre-drilled cork bungs, and don't wish to drill my own airlock hole. Of course, I live in Canada, and "your mileage may vary" in the UK.

Steve

[Her Lushness]

I use rubber, mainly coz it's easily available and cost effective.

As far as the rubber drying out and perishing goes, I check them regularly and chuck out the dodgy looking ones.

[Mamgiowl]

That goes for me too, and more especially since I've had trouble with bottle corks recently. Plus they are re-usable and easy to sanitise.

[goldseal]

I prefer cork because of the possible rubber taint in the wine (had one like that years ago, and I'm probably over-cautious now).

I'd use silicone but I can't find any.

[fatbloke]

Well as for the possibility of "rubber contamination", the tiny surface area of an actual rubber bung that might affect a batch is minimal.

You shouldn't have it filled up so that the liquid is in contact with the rubber anyway - a small airspace if virtually unavoidable.

Yes, rubber can perish, but it does take some time i.e. years (unless in constant exposure to direct light). Yes it can seem to absorb small amounts of water/moisture but it dries out quickly enough.

It also returns to the original shape it was moulded into, thereby usually making a good seal against hard impermeable surfaces such as glass and plastics.

Cork, the traditional stopper is good, but these days, most corks are composite. So there's something other than the actual cork in the stoppers. Is this food safe? Presumably.

Does this break down, in time ? Yes. I'm sure lots of us have had "crumbly corks".

Yes, it generally returns to the original shape, though in my experience of them, cork bung, after a while, will retain a certain amount of "pressure rim" shape, reducing the possibility of a good gas seal.

So by it's very nature, I'd go for rubber.

Silicone may also be good, but I haven't seen silicone stoppers generally available in the UK - I might have overlooked them or just missed seeing them in the ad's though.

regards

JtFB

[lockwood1956]

I dislike the older type of rubber bung, as they do Leave a smell in the airspace above the wine, if left long enough, this will inevitably work its way into the wine, the newer type of rubber bung smells less "rubbery"

I dont use cork because it isnt sanitised as easily as rubber

I currently use rubber bungs, (the newer type, I have thrown out all of the older types) but am going to switch to silicone after trying some out that I bought at Brouwland earlier this year...(they are fab) you need to buy the silicone bung and have them drilled (they do it in-store)

I had a couple drilled with two 9mm holes so I can use then to rack under vacuum, they work great

I am going to replace my rubber bungs with silicone, when I visit Brouwland next May for their open day.

[lockwood1956]

www.brouland.com

product code 011.224.3