Apfelwein Disaster

Chalk me up as another advocate of the Better Bottle. I'm buying one tomorrow. I have read the horror stories of broken carboys and try to be as careful as possible. Obviously, I was not careful enough and narrowly escaped serious injury. Thank goodness I only lost 5 gallons of sanitizer.

Holy cow, what happened. I thought the Brew Hauler was supposed to prevent tuff like this?

That looks downright dangerous. I'm on blood thinners and you can bet I love my Better Bottles.

Another plus for better bottles, they're cheaper. Safer, cheaper, easier to clean, lighter... I know that some people prefer glass because you're able to scrub a glass carboy with a brush, but I've never needed to with my BB's.

Hey at least your floor is sanitized. BB's are definitely the way to go.

On the up-side, I see you have 5 gallon of apple juice ready to rock. I can only assume you also have corn sugar and Montrachet on hand. Order a BB for $20-ish bucks, sanitize it, pour, and you'll have your Apfelwine soon enough.

Ben25 said:

Hey at least your floor is sanitized. BB's are definitely the way to go.

Click to expand...

on the up-side, I see you have 5 gallon of apple juice ready to rock. I can only assume you also have corn sugar and Montrachet on hand. Order a BB for $20-ish bucks, sanitize it, pour, and you'll have your Apfelwine soon enough.

Click to expand...

Now see, that's what I love about this board. OPTIMISM!! If anyone was going to see the carboy half-full, it was going to be you guys.

novabrew said:

Now see, that's what I love about this board. OPTIMISM!! If anyone was going to see the carboy half-broken, it was going to be you guys.

Click to expand...

There fixed that for you

Glad for no blood story associated with this one.

I've been using glass carboys since 1994 and have yet to break or even crack one. BTW, I have over 20 of them.

I'd say it's all in your handling. Apparrently you set it down too hard, or it was already cracked and you didn't notice it.

I use milk crates...

I would like to hear the series of events that led up to the breaking of the carboy if you wouldnt mind. If even just to educate myself in order to not replicate your actions.

And how did it happen?

homebrewer_99 said:

I've been using glass carboys since 1994 and have yet to break or even crack one. BTW, I have over 20 of them.

I'd say it's all in your handling. Apparrently you set it down too hard, or it was already cracked and you didn't notice it.

I use milk crates...

Click to expand...

+1 on the never broken one (knock on wood).

+1 on milk crates.

I also have plenty of heavy carpet swatches in my brewshop. I would never, never set a glass carboy on concrete no matter how gently I though I was doing it. Not a dig at the OP as I see there was at least a place mat of some sort.

xxdcmast said:

I would like to hear the series of events that led up to the breaking of the carboy if you wouldnt mind. If even just to educate myself in order to not replicate your actions.

Click to expand...

My carboy was filled with sanitizer and I was about to dump the mixture into the bucket you see in my picture to sanitize a variety of small equipment (airlock, funnel, yeast pack, beer thief to check on my Haus Ale).

My brew hauler was on there pretty tight, so I couldn't hold onto it on the sides. Of course, the handles do no good when you are trying to pour from the carboy. While tipping the carboy to dump into the bucket, I lost it, it fell, and it busted.

Of course in hindsight, I should have just made a separate batch of sanitizer in the bucket. Oh well. I'm actually glad this happened. I have reduced my risk for injury in the future. Also, I have been meaning to sanitize my basement floor.

On a side note, what's the make-up of the apple juice needed for Apfelwein? I looked for some in my local supermarket, and couldn't find the big jugs. What market are you getting these from? National chain?

brew-skies said:

On a side note, what's the make-up of the apple juice needed for Apfelwein? I looked for some in my local supermarket, and couldn't find the big jugs. What market are you getting these from? National chain?

Click to expand...

If you're in Tampa and can find a Winn Dixie that is still open they have their store brand on sale for $4.00 a gallon - or at least they did last week when I got mine. :}
I work next to the one on 66th Street in Pinellas Park.

brew-skies said:

On a side note, what's the make-up of the apple juice needed for Apfelwein? I looked for some in my local supermarket, and couldn't find the big jugs. What market are you getting these from? National chain?

Click to expand...

I am going to use Motts (pictured at the beginning of this thread)--tested and recommended my many in the Apfelwein thread. $3.34 per gallon at Target!!

homebrewer_99 said:

I've been using glass carboys since 1994 and have yet to break or even crack one. BTW, I have over 20 of them.

I'd say it's all in your handling. Apparrently you set it down too hard, or it was already cracked and you didn't notice it.

I use milk crates...

Click to expand...

+1 on the milk crates

WHY 5 gallons of sanitizer????????????????????????????????????????????

brew-skies said:

On a side note, what's the make-up of the apple juice needed for Apfelwein? I looked for some in my local supermarket, and couldn't find the big jugs. What market are you getting these from? National chain?

Click to expand...

cclloyd said:

If you're in Tampa and can find a Winn Dixie that is still open they have their store brand on sale for $4.00 a gallon - or at least they did last week when I got mine. :}
I work next to the one on 66th Street in Pinellas Park.

Click to expand...

My current batch is the Wal-Mart house brand @ $2.24 a rip.

It had the same ingredients as the more nationally known brand I bought last time for double the money. Those ingredients were I believe: Apple juice and Ascorbic Acid..Vitamin C...which will not get in the way of fermentation.

The only caveat is the Wal-Mart juice comes in 3 qt jugs. So you need six of them.

TampaTim said:

My current batch is the Wal-Mart house brand @ $2.24 a rip.

It had the same ingredients as the more nationally known brand I bought last time for double the money. Those ingredients were I believe: Apple juice and Ascorbic Acid..Vitamin C...which will not get in the way of fermentation.

The only caveat is the Wal-Mart juice comes in 3 qt jugs. So you need six of them.

Click to expand...

Not only does the ascorbic acid not hurt fermentation, it actually helps. In small amounts it's a yeast food and is used by some bakers to help out bread yeast.

I just started a new batch with Sam's apple juice (Member's Mark, I think?) and it's also in the 3 qt bottles - probably same stuff as Wal-Mart. The most fun I had was with my first batch - the grocery store had a great sale, but it was on half gallon bottles. I don't think I'll do that again. It all worked fine, but I'm too lazy to deal with ten bottles. Unless they are beer bottles. And I'm emptying them, not filling them.

You'll like Better Bottles. The only drawback is the suckback issue when you move them.

I decided to just use a blowoff tube as a permanent solution. A 3 foot 1/2" ID tube connected to the inner tube of the airlock works well. I insert the other end of the tube inside a wine bottle filled with water.

I lost a 6 gallon fermenter the same way. Glad to hear that you did not try to catch it.

I just had an apfelwein close call. Cheap shelf broke and 5 gallons of Motts fell down in my closet right behind me while I'm studying. Scared the crap out of me. Fortunately, none of them broke open.

edit: They fell from 6 feet.

njnear76 said:

You'll like Better Bottles. The only drawback is the suckback issue when you move them.

I decided to just use a blowoff tube as a permanent solution. A 3 foot 1/2" ID tube connected to the inner tube of the airlock works well. I insert the other end of the tube inside a wine bottle filled with water.

I lost a 6 gallon fermenter the same way. Glad to hear that you did not try to catch it.

Click to expand...

There's some other drawbacks to BB, potential scratching, longevity (your grandkids won't be using your better bottle to ferment in). If you get an infection in it I wouldn't use it again, whereas I would use glass.

On the other hand glass can seriously injure you, and it is heavier. It is all personal preference.

My two original carboys are glass; I am adding more, and having tried one, they're all going to be Better Bottles. I find the BBs easier to handle (smaller & lighter), just as easy to clean, and the safety factor is well documented. Any difference in price is not enough to concern me in something I'm going to be using repeatedly over a long period.

I do not ferment in carboys, and my handling of a full carboy is limited to lifting one from the floor after it is racked onto a table 4 feet high. I make sure that the carboy is dry, and I always wear rubber gloves.