Dumb Ass Brewing Partner

So, what happens when you pour boiling water into a 60 degree glass carboy, seal, and shake?

Yeah, it explodes. My genius fraternity brother decided that boiling water sounded like a good idea for sanitizing my carboy. After a trip to the hospital and second degree burns covering his chest and arms, I think he learned his lesson.

Now, to replace my carboy...

holy shlt!!

good god

He's lucky he only got scalded.

Jim? Is that you? I am sending you the bill fvcker!

Ah, schadenfreude. Where would we be if not for idiot brewers and their idiot mistakes?

But seriously, I hope your friend recovers, so that you can proceed to never let him live it down.

When you say seal do you mean with a stopper without an hole or airlock? If so I am really sorry about your friend but he must be dumb as he!! if he didn't know that was going to happen.

Wow thats pretty serious.......pics of him and his burns would be rad!

(glass vs plastic?).........

Actually germelli and others have espoused using boiling liquid to sanitize plastic.

Bad idea all around if you asked me.

Well, he's going to survive. I figured all the nagging a college student gets in chemistry lab about changing the temp of glass quickly would have prevented this, but I guess he doesn't connect dots too well. I did feel for him; I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But still...

Yeah, all that college learnin' doesn't necessarily translate to real-world skills. Even if it's the exact same scenario except with a larger glass container.

Next time get Pyrex.

Oh man he's a chem student too? Ouch.... GET PICS! Hope he is okay.

Oh, and by "sealed" I mean he used one of those blue plastic caps for a glass carboy, assumedly gripped it shut, and shook horizontally. He's lucky he didn't get any in his eye when it popped.

evanos said:

He's lucky he didn't get any in his eye when it popped.

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Thats what she said!

So the next time a debate wants to start up about "bleach versus Star-San versus Iodophor," we can say conclusively "anything but boiling water!"

I'm betting your chem student buddy is used to using Pyrex containers. I've seen Pyrex carboys, but they're like $500 IIRC.

dataz722 said:

Thats what she said!

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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH Snap!

@the_bird Yeah, no boiling water! And screw $500 carboys. This one was 15$ and would've lasted me until forever without such a mishap, lol.

Just don't heat pyrex on the stove. I was deglazing a pyrex pan for an au jus after cooking a sirloin roast, when out of nowhere BAMM! and suddenly there are glass shards everywhere and au jus all over the stove.

bernerbrau said:

Just don't heat pyrex on the stove. I was deglazing a pyrex pan for an au jus after cooking a sirloin roast, when out of nowhere BAMM! and suddenly there are glass shards everywhere and au jus all over the stove.

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I blew one up when the thermostat in our crappy old apartment's oven went out. I bet that damn oven was 800°. BOOM!

Pictures or it didnt happen.

evanos said:

My genius fraternity brother decided that boiling water sounded like a good idea for sanitizing my carboy. After a trip to the hospital and second degree burns covering his chest and arms, I think he learned his lesson.

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I bet he'll still be up for a nice kegstand this weekend though!

Great, every few days another idiot breaks a carboy and fuels the "glass is bad" people.

Hope your frat buddy recovers though!

riverfrontbrewer said:

Great, every few days another idiot breaks a carboy and fuels the "glass is bad" people.

Hope your frat buddy recovers though!

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It wouldn't have gone swimmingly with a BB either. Less explosively, but still reaping the fruit of stupidity planted in fertile soil.

That is Darwinism at it's finest!

riverfrontbrewer said:

Great, every few days another idiot breaks a carboy and fuels the "glass is bad" people.

Hope your frat buddy recovers though!

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Shhhhhh! Let the "glass is bad" people spout their nonsense, it makes more people sell off their carboys for cheap to us!

Football scholarship, was it?

Mischief_Brewing said:

Shhhhhh! Let the "glass is bad" people spout their nonsense, it makes more people sell off their carboys for cheap to us!

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I had a carboy explode on me when the blowoff tube clogged up during fermentation. That put off brewing for a long, long time.


But even if I didn't like glass because of potentially fatal accidents, I don't like it because it's too heavy. Buckets and PET bottles weight a small fraction of a glass carboy, and a carboy filled with beer is a PITA to move around. Sure, I can get a carboy carrier or handle, but why bother when a bucket has a nice, easy-to-use handle already built in?


I feel bad for the guy, but how stupid can you be?

weirdboy said:

I had a carboy explode on me when the blowoff tube clogged up during fermentation. That put off brewing for a long, long time.


But even if I didn't like glass because of potentially fatal accidents, I don't like it because it's too heavy. Buckets and PET bottles weight a small fraction of a glass carboy, and a carboy filled with beer is a PITA to move around. Sure, I can get a carboy carrier or handle, but why bother when a bucket has a nice, easy-to-use handle already built in?


I feel bad for the guy, but how stupid can you be?

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My tongue was firmly planted in my cheek with that last response, I guess I should have put an emoticon to drive the point home...

Death and dismemberment is by far the scariest part of the glass vs. plastic debate. I have 2 6+ gallon glass carboys and 4 plastic buckets. The glass only sees use when the buckets are full. All of my glass primaries gets 1" diameter blow-off into a bucket of starsan and all of them (including secondaries) have their very own milk crate that they never leave. A little precaution goes a long way. It's still so much easier for me to clean the glass than the plastic on short notice. If I have a week, then oxyclean makes that moot.

bernerbrau said:

Just don't heat pyrex on the stove. I was deglazing a pyrex pan for an au jus after cooking a sirloin roast, when out of nowhere BAMM! and suddenly there are glass shards everywhere and au jus all over the stove.

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My exwife tried to kill me by doing the same thing. I walked into the kitchen after she walked out and boom! I was covered in pyrex and pasta. I had just gotten back from Iraq and never had an IED directly hit my vehicle. It was three days after I got home that the first one hit.

I knew that chick was a terrorist.

the_bird said:

I'm betting your chem student buddy is used to using Pyrex containers. I've seen Pyrex carboys, but they're like $500 IIRC.

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I use them at work, can source them for around $250... the 12gal versions are around $500. I've considered it but that's pretty ridiculous.