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I'm making some home brew and have managed to buy a good few old brasserie style bottles (the ones with the ceramic flip tops). They must have been sat in someones barn for a good few years as the rubber washers have all perished and welded themselves to the bottles and the tops! Have been sat scraping with a knife etc to get the gunk off but the results aren't that good. Any suggestions for removing dried old rubber please?

Sorry Juddy, I can't think of anything. I'm sure there must be some sort of rubber solvent but I'm sure it would be quite noxious.

So I think more elbow grease might be the order of the day.

What are you going to replace the rings with - can you get replacement rubber, like for le parfait jars?

Isopropyl alcohol would probably do it - but where you'd get that from is beyond me. I think GA's elbow-grease suggestion is what I'd use.

Mike

I think you can get Isopropyl alcohol from the chemist

What about acetone?

mamos

mamos wrote:I think you can get Isopropyl alcohol from the chemist

What about acetone?

mamos

I would second the acetone - nail polish remover - easy to get and you wont be suspected of brewing methamphetamine! - iso is a restricted substance here for that reason.

MKG wrote:Isopropyl alcohol would probably do it

I must admit a little IPA usually helps :)

A warning though, If you use IPA or acetone try not to get too much on your skin - they'll do a good job of de-greasing your skin - not nice.

Maplin, the electronics shop, sells IPA. £10.99 for litre - seems expensive when you'll only need a little.

Nail varnish remover will be easier to get hold of, but the stuff you buy from Boots is not always acetone, I think.

IPA is very good for this, but I would recommend doing the deed somewhere very well ventilated

I thought IPA was beer! (India Pale Ale?)

Hmmmmm Beer

mamos

hi,

Cellulose thinners, available from car parts shops will probably do it, but is the nasty solution. Clutch and brake cleaner from the same place, I think may contain isowhatnot alchol and it is still a bit nasty.

I would try very hot water with a metal scowering pad and a touch of elbow grease.

Thanks for all the possible solutions, in the end it was down to an accidental discovery of leaving the bottles submerged in the steriliser liquid for quite a few days. I did this because as always I was distracted elsewhere! When I got down to it, most of the stuck on stuff just fell off with a wipe and then it was down to elbow grease (but not too much of it, hurrahh!
One can buy replacement rubber rings for stoppers just as you can for the jam jars.