rabassa
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2012
- Messages
- 25
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I wanted to share a recent mishap with my fellow homebrewers. This isn't meant to be an argument against glass or for plastic it's merely a story To remind people to take an extra measure of caution when dealing with glass.
I started brewing in 1992 and Brewed pretty consistently until about 2003 when I moved out of town to a much smaller place. With the lack of space and time I pretty much stopped brewing at that point.
A few weeks ago I decided I need to start brewing again so I rebuilt my system and brewed my first batch in almost 10 years. Yesterday was time to rack my first batch. I unpacked my 5 gallon carboys and began washing them in the sink. While giving it a final rinse with Sanitizer it slipped from my hands and smashed. A large fragment sliced open my arm. While compressing my wound I had the wherewithal to make it out of the house and to neighbors house where she called 911.
The glass fragment caused two lacerations in my arm, one severing a tendon and cutting into the muscle. A handful of stitches were required to reattach the muscle and 12 stitches to seal up the external lacerations.
The first thing I did when I got home last night was to go online and order plastic replacements for all my glass.
Although I still feel that glass is better for fermentation, after last night's incident I don't feel comfortable using it anymore.
On a brighter note my beer was unaffected although racking it in the next week or so will present a challenge.
So if you're going to stick with glass please please be careful.
Rich
I started brewing in 1992 and Brewed pretty consistently until about 2003 when I moved out of town to a much smaller place. With the lack of space and time I pretty much stopped brewing at that point.
A few weeks ago I decided I need to start brewing again so I rebuilt my system and brewed my first batch in almost 10 years. Yesterday was time to rack my first batch. I unpacked my 5 gallon carboys and began washing them in the sink. While giving it a final rinse with Sanitizer it slipped from my hands and smashed. A large fragment sliced open my arm. While compressing my wound I had the wherewithal to make it out of the house and to neighbors house where she called 911.
The glass fragment caused two lacerations in my arm, one severing a tendon and cutting into the muscle. A handful of stitches were required to reattach the muscle and 12 stitches to seal up the external lacerations.
The first thing I did when I got home last night was to go online and order plastic replacements for all my glass.
Although I still feel that glass is better for fermentation, after last night's incident I don't feel comfortable using it anymore.
On a brighter note my beer was unaffected although racking it in the next week or so will present a challenge.
So if you're going to stick with glass please please be careful.
Rich
