help, can't get the lid off my fermenter!

[ryan]

morgs me old mate
me old china
how are you going mate

[Chunk]

My lid is always hard to get off after bottleing. Most times it turns into a two person job. One to tightly hug the fermenter while the other screws the lid off. Sometimes I even have trouble during the cleaning process.
I will be using the hot water method next time to make things easier.

[gremlin]

And there i was laughing a week ago when this topic came up...
How could anyone be stupid enough to get the lid stuck on i thought?!

Then last night just after i had just finished racking i discovered how by unknowingly twisting the lid on even tighter. I tried the hot water trick but it didn't work... :P

I ended up using a knifeblade piton and it's trusty hammer to smash it off. Lucky for me i have a dicky fermenter with a busted tap but perfectly fine lid. However i'm very tempted to try this glad wrap method out now...

[Boonie]

My lid is always hard to get off after bottleing. Most times it turns into a two person job. One to tightly hug the fermenter while the other screws the lid off. Sometimes I even have trouble during the cleaning process.
I will be using the hot water method next time to make things easier.

I used to brew with a mate of mine......you soon learn how to get the lid off yourself when you are the only one there brewing and the wife is at work.

Seriously, stick between your knees, push in the sides with your knees and twist the top with two hands.......sounds a bit rude really

Always works for me, never had one I could not open.

Cheers

Boonie

[KEG]

a good tactic seems to be to spread the force out over as much of the edge of the lid as you can. It's plastic of course, it's got a bit of flex. if you focus all your strength on one section, it'll go a bit oval shaped (perhaps imperceptibly, but enough to make it grip the fermenter tighter). try to wrap your hand and forearm around it a bit and spread the force out while you hug it with your knees hehe, it seems to work for me.

[ryan]

so you can see, surely, why pails are a far better option? It`s almost laughable to see the problems outlined above. And I`m not having a go- why would you go to all that effort to get a lid off when you can use a pail with a snap on/off lid. Simplicity itself. I can`t believe people persist with those screw on lids. If you don`t want to outlay $22 for a pail and lid, use clingwrap on your screwtop fermenter.!!
sheeesh-

[regan]

only time i have any trouble on my screw top is when i forget to soak the rubber o ring 2 or 3 brews in a row. and by soak i mean a quick rinse wile sanitizing

[Boonie]

so you can see, surely, why pails are a far better option? It`s almost laughable to see the problems outlined above. And I`m not having a go- why would you go to all that effort to get a lid off when you can use a pail with a snap on/off lid. Simplicity itself. I can`t believe people persist with those screw on lids. If you don`t want to outlay $22 for a pail and lid, use clingwrap on your screwtop fermenter.!!
sheeesh-

I can't get pails here , otherwise I would

[scanman]

only time i have any trouble on my screw top is when i forget to soak the rubber o ring 2 or 3 brews in a row. and by soak i mean a quick rinse wile sanitizing

Have to agree with that. Been doing a number of brews since I got back into it the last couple of months, and giving the rubber brommet and the underside of the lid each time you sanitize everything seems to work. I tend to screw the lids on real tight as well ( part and parcel of being in a mechanical trade where doing bolts up counts ). Maybe I'm stronger then some people, but I can usually force the lids off, even while balancing a stubbie in one hand.