Broken FULL Glass Carboy - Better Bottles here I come

Thank God when it slipped from my hands it was going down in my brew pot - I was going to use it for a cold water bath during fermentation.. so all of the beer and glass went into the pot. (15gal pot). my left hand has several cuts and I bleed really bad.. but my wife served as my wife and I am all good now... good enough to type.

I had read all lot of the stories here and online but I was like .. nah I am careful and I WAS being careful .. it just slipped and man there is no catching it mid air... it was gone... boom...

Forrest get ready.. cause I am going to make an investment in some better bottles...

I have over 20 carboys and have never broken, chipped, cracked, etc., even one.

If it's not empty it's in a milk crate. If I plan on racking to it it goes into a crate FIRST. Simple.

Sorry about your loss and injuries.

The glass in the carboys dosen't even need to be dropped. Simply moving one full via any method sets off pressure differentials. Wort gently sloshing back and forth inside is enough for some carboys to give up the ghost.

I think the older glass ones were better made.

Unless you leave it in there for months, just use buckets. If it's good enough for Denny C it's good enough for me.
Also they stack easily so they take up much less space.

Dr Vorlauf said:

The glass in the carboys dosen't even need to be dropped. Simply moving one full via any method sets off pressure differentials. Wort gently sloshing back and forth inside is enough for some carboys to give up the ghost.

I think the older glass ones were better made.

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I'd like to think that the ribbed ones are stronger walled than the smooth ones.

Yikes...sorry to hear about the loss of your beer and carboy, but I'm glad you weren't hurt too badly. It could have been a LOT worse.

I bought two 6 gallon Better Bottles after a couple of close calls with glass carboys put some fear in me. You'll like them, it's a pleasure to wash and handle carboys that weigh practically nothing, and are guaranteed not to maim or otherwise injure you.

I've still got two 5 gallon glass carboys, and I'd use them again for secondaries if I could find the right size of crate to hold them securely. Until then, they sit on the shelf.

Just received my first one, and all I can say is wow. I will be order 3 more next week. That and 14 Gallon conical should take care of the fermenting needs.

Do the glass ones predominantly shatter in tiny pieces or large pieces?

Both...
I had several tiny.. and I mean tiny pieces of glass in my fingers.. It took a little bit to find them...

and several large pieces as well.

I was wearing flip flop... (I ussually wear my boots) .. and I am glad it landed inside the pot..

I had enough sense once it start to fall to pull away than the reach for it and save it.

Wow man! This is exactly why I just ordered a better bottle setup. It only takes 1 trip to the emergency room to pay for several better bottles. I have only brewed once but the awkwardness and weight of glass carboys became evident immediately. I will probably still use the glass ones but not without some milk crates.

Scary....luckily for me, I am using those plastic ale pails.

For those that haven't seen it yet:
http://brewing.lustreking.com/articles/brokencarboys.html

I hear ya! I had a carboy break on me when it contained 5 gallons of precious barley wine. Needless to say, I lost at least a gallon of brew and it cost me a trip to the hospital to get glass out of my foot!

homebrewer_99 said:

I have over 20 carboys and have never broken, chipped, cracked, etc., even one.

If it's not empty it's in a milk crate. If I plan on racking to it it goes into a crate FIRST. Simple.

Sorry about your loss and injuries.

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I haven't had the first problem with glass either. I take my time getting where I need to go when I carry it, and I never carry them after I've been drinking. They can wait until the next day to go to their fermenting home in my basement.

I had a close call a while back with my lone 6.5 gallon glass carboy. I was washing it out and dropped it just a couple inches (or less) into the utility sink. It only chipped the lip, thank goodness but at that moment I decided my next fermenters are definitely going to be buckets (primary) and 5 gallon better bottles (secondary).