Carboy brewing accident

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Reading this thread again makes me wonder why anyone still uses glass carboys.

The only way I would ever consider using one would be if I could figure out how to use one without EVER moving it. And then it would be inside a box or something.
 
Any of you Colorado brewers that are trading your glass for plastic please let me know where I can pick up your useless, free glass carboys:p
 
This is why I don't use glass. I did win a better bottle in a raffle and use that for secondary fermentations. If I like it, I may get another for primary.....
 
The idea that one broken carboy could potentially lead to a loss of hand or finger function pretty much convinced me to swear off of glass carboys. To some degree, I prefer the Better Bottles over the plastic, but I definitely miss the ability to scrub them out with a brush. As long as cleaning isn't a problem, I'm sold on the idea of BB over glass.
 
Definitely going to be wearing gloves when washing these out now. I might need welders gloves to protect my forearms.
 
I got rid of the 6.5 gal. carboys because of this thread. I have one 5 gal. that is bulk-aging a dopplebock right now, and I am thinking of jettisoning it after that is done.

I have a couple of 3 gal. glass carboys I use as primary fermenters for half batches. I feel these are somewhat safer as they are smaller & lighter than 5 or 6.5 gal. carboys. False sense of risk, or logical? What say y'all?
 
I've got four 5gal and one 3gal glass carboys. I've thought about replacing them with Better Bottles, but lack of employment negated any equipment purchases. As I sit here at my new job reading this thread, I think it's time to reevaluate new gear.

Our circle of brewers have had one 5gal break for no apparent reason (bottom fell out while swirling 1/2 gallon of rinse water) with no injuries, and a few carboy bumps that didn't break luckily.
 
A buddy broke his 2ND carboy last weekend without injury. He still won't get rid of the rest of his glass. Both that broke were old blue glass water jugs, and the rest of his are new brew carboys, but damn.

EDIT: Same buddy as my previous post.

This one just fractured up the side after filling it with chilled wort. It was the last of 6 batches over the last several days filling his last carboy. I got a frantic call at 11:30pm that his beer was leaking out and he needed to borrow a carboy. I told him he had to come get it. When he got there I offered an autosiphon, and he tried to tell me he was going to lift this full, cracked carboy onto a counter to gravity feed. I told him he was taking the autosiphon, and transferring it where it sat or I was disowning him. I wasn't there to see how he cracked it, but he swears it was room temp, and he didn't bump anything to break it. This guy is like the main character in Final Destination with these carboys.
 
Does anyone know of a plastic fermenter that will hold 6+ gallons? Viewing this thread has me scared of using my 6.5 gallon acid carboy.
 
Brew buckets come in 7.9 gallon, as do Speidel plastic fermenters. Plastic conical come in a huge range of sizes. Not sure if clear PET plastic carboys come bigger than 6.
 
Brew buckets come in 7.9 gallon, as do Speidel plastic fermenters. Plastic conical come in a huge range of sizes. Not sure if clear PET plastic carboys come bigger than 6.

I don't think I have seen any clear PET plastic carboys bigger than 6 gallons. Don't know why they don't make 'em bigger, but they don't seem to. :(
 
Well, I answered my own question. Better Bottles DO come in 6 gallons. Amazon has 'em for $25.00 + shipping. Or you can get PET plastic 6 gallon carboys here: http://homebrewohio.com/pd-vintage-shop-6-gallon-carboy.cfm for $30 + shipping.

Here's 6 of them Newsman, all 6 gallons. I do like my better bottles.

fermenting-with-pumpkin-61277.jpg
 
I bought a 6 gallon fermenter on morebeer.com for 20 bucks. Their own brand, actually holds about 6.25 gallons.
 
I know this an old thread and is probably the wrong take on your accident, but your doctor was a hell of stitcher. Stitches are not as easy to put in as it looks and as someone who has seen their fair share of botched stitching jobs in the hospital I am impressed.

Edit: That said, I've only brewed a few batches, just started last November. But I have glass carboys and haven't had any issues so far.
 
I'm new to this and wish that I would have known how dangerous glass carboys were before I bought my homebrew kit. When I bought my kit I specifically looked for one with a glass carboy because I heard they were better to use. After reading this thread I was freaked out enough to get on amazon and buy a pair of kevlar gloves for 5 bucks. I hope these can stop me from ending up in the E.R. until I can save up and get a plastic carboy.
 
I'm new to this and wish that I would have known how dangerous glass carboys were before I bought my homebrew kit. When I bought my kit I specifically looked for one with a glass carboy because I heard they were better to use. After reading this thread I was freaked out enough to get on amazon and buy a pair of kevlar gloves for 5 bucks. I hope these can stop me from ending up in the E.R. until I can save up and get a plastic carboy.

If you're really careful you'll be OK. Many people carry those glass carboys around in a milk crate. Also, although we are brewers and drinkers, you really really shouldn't be handling those carboys when imbibing. It's asking for trouble. If you decide you just can't live with that carboy, post it for trade in the Want To Trade forum we have here. I'll bet you could get a 1-for-1 trade for a Better Bottle.
 
I'm glad those of you that posted these accidents are OK. I have to thank you (and others in this forum) on warning about the dangers of glass carboys.

I'm placing my first order for brewing equipment today, and after reading a number of different posts, I've settled on buying a plain ol' fermenting bucket. :rockin: Some of the veterans here use them for award winning beers, and John Palmer recommends them for beginners. What more do I need to know?!! Plus, I have a 7 year old son who likes to follow me around when I'm "working," so I can only imagine what might happen if I had a glass carboy accident when he was near. It's scary just thinking about it.

Thanks again, and I hope others take note and either don't go with glass carboys or take extra special care when handling them.
 
I dropped my glass carboy whilst sterilizing a week ago. My hand wasn't quite as bad as the OP but did have one pretty good slice taken off the side. I've switched to a BB fermenter and actually like the ease of handling a lot better. I'm not ruling glass out but can still hear and feel that glass carboy crashing into my kitchen sink.


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More bad press: Neighbor gave me a muddy 'boy, had to be cleaned. Thought it was a bargain: FREE. It was 6.5 gal., had a biggass DOT logo on bottom and weighed 15lbs.!!! Surely it was mfg'd. according to DOT specs???
When cleaned I noticed the 8in. crack by the intersection of wall and bottom.
The worst part was that the sides of the crack were out of alignment, implying that the damn thing was not annealed properly when mfg'd., leading to a helluva lot of internal stress. Any glass chemists out there?
 
Old thread, but new victim. After 11 years of brewing I had a very bad broken carboy accident. Was dumping carboy full of pbw & it slipped, hit asphalt & shattered while cradling it. Lucked out with only a somewhat major laceration. No nerve or tendon damage luckily. Very lucky! Finished the 25 gallon batch though ;)
 
This thread alone should convince anyone that BB's are well worth the cost. I have been using two with the spigots for about a year or so no and love them. I have 2 glass CB's in the attic that are complete with the All In One Covers that I was juuuuuuust getting ready to pull out for a secondary coming up in a week. Nope. Not after seeing these wounds. Ordering two more BB's as soon as I post this!
 
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This thread should be a sticky.

I added some of the stories here into the much bigger Broken Carboy Horror Stories thread. I've thought about stickying that one, but I'm not going to sticky my own thread. Plus, as you can see in that thread, the defenders of glass get irrationally angry when anyone suggests there are any safety concerns when using them. I like to avoid irrationally angry people :)

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=376523
 
I added some of the stories here into the much bigger Broken Carboy Horror Stories thread. I've thought about stickying that one, but I'm not going to sticky my own thread. Plus, as you can see in that thread, the defenders of glass get irrationally angry when anyone suggests there are any safety concerns when using them. I like to avoid irrationally angry people :)

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=376523

I see what you mean....smh.

Some of those replies remind me of a saying I used to hear when I was a "younger" man..."Roll on wagon wheel, you've done been thru all of that ****..." :D
 
I added some of the stories here into the much bigger Broken Carboy Horror Stories thread. I've thought about stickying that one, but I'm not going to sticky my own thread. Plus, as you can see in that thread, the defenders of glass get irrationally angry when anyone suggests there are any safety concerns when using them. I like to avoid irrationally angry people :)

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=376523

What's irrational about arming teachers with carboys?
 
Several years ago, I broke a carboy, severing a nerve and tendon I'm my right wrist. I still have no feeling in my index finger, but some feeling is coming back in my other fingers. Soon after the incident, I was posting about it here on HBT (Broke a Carboy Today), and someone suggested PlastiDip. Well, I had another carboy that I decided to sacrifice to try it out. Here's my results: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=1469578&postcount=62
 
The irrational defenders that get me are: "You must have one of the newer thinner Chinese or Mexican ones, you need the thicker Italian ones!" To me this means that the shards will be stronger and sharper and will cut you to ribbons MUCH BETTER!
 
Wow! I only have 1 carboy left, and it stays in its milk crate.
I am so sorry to see that happen, I hope it heals well!

Now you will have to think up a much cooler story of how you got the scar. Like a knife fight defending your wife's honor or something.
That story is cool enough on it’s own!!!
I was recently sanitizing a carboy and was only about to place it on a bottle stacker to drain it, and it rolled right out of my hands. Luckily I was only inches above the floor. Needless to say, I am sticking to my buckets from now on. That was scary enough.

Thankfully your injury wasn’t as bad as it could have been man!

Cheers!
 
The irrational defenders that get me are: "You must have one of the newer thinner Chinese or Mexican ones, you need the thicker Italian ones!" To me this means that the shards will be stronger and sharper and will cut you to ribbons MUCH BETTER!

I never had one of the italian ones break. Those things are very solid. However, I did have one of the cheaper mexican ones break on me.

After that I got freaked out about using glass... switched to PET Carboys (vintage shoppe brand) and haven't looked back.

Beers taste exactly the same and much easier to deal with. You have to be careful to grab it from the very bottom and neck so you don't suck in O2 or airlock fluid when moving it. And you need to use warm/hot (not scolding hot water) to clean it.

I should have been using these years ago, but was hanging out in the snobby glass carboy camp for no good reason

another plus with the PET is they hold up to 15PSI so I can do pressure transfers with CO2 and don't have to worry about exploding glass shards
 
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