How hard is it to use a glass carboy as a primary for my first batch?

I am currently a home brew noob in training. I am getting my kit and ingredients tomorrow for Christmas and breaking it out ASAP. I have probably over researched the entire process and was wondering if the extra work it takes to use a glass carboy as my primary would be worth the effort. Keep in mind this will be my very first batch and don't want to make this too challenging. However I am very determined to make something tasty right out of the gate. Any advice is helpful.

Thanks Fellas

It's not hard at all to use a glass carboy. Just don't drop it. I've had mine for 15 yrs and haven't had an issue. Don't know who told you they're hard to use or whatever.

Not hard at all. Get a handle or, better yet, put it where you're fermenting before you put the wort in. I find it much easier to carry 5.5 gallons in an aluminum pot with handles than in a (slippery?) glass carboy.

There are a couple commercial options for handles, or, I have seen people use commercial-grade milk crates. They are very sturdy, have handles, and can keep objects from bumping against your carboy.

ALSO: NO HOT WORT IN GLASS. The thermal shock will break the glass and you will lose all your beer and risk serious injury from glass lacerations.

I would also use a blow off tube instead of an air lock for the first few days. I use a 1" vinyl hose with a stan san soaked rag wrapped abound it and the carboy neck....other end goes in a 1 gallon bucket of weak stan san solution. You can also use 3/8" tubing stuck over the inside of the air lock stem (with the "hat" removed).

Sounds good. I'll prob just start off with the carboy then. Thanks for all the pointers.

I started off using plastic buckets and switched to glass. Now I'm back to buckets since I just had surgery to repair the nerve and tendon I cut in my finger when I was cleaning the carboy. No I wasn't drunk...I hadn't even had a beer. I know it was just one of those freak accidents, but the risk isn't worth it to me. And to be honest, the beers that I fermented in the buckets were just as good as the ones that were in the carboy. I like being able to monitor my fermentation which is why I stuck with glass. In the near future I will probably try a better bottle for the same reason.

Glass is great. I have 1 glass fermenter and 3 plastic ones. The glass is 15 years old, the plastic ones are 30 years old. I prefer the glass.

Some cautions come with using glass, and all point to 'don't break it'.

- It is heavy. Once you have liquid in it, do not move it very far, and be very careful.
- When cleaning, take care. It is big and awkward. It will only fit in my laundry sink (6.5 gallon).
- Don't pour hot liquids straight into it.

I have three glass carboys myself. I have had them all for about 10 years. I'm sure I'm pushing my luck with them though.

I am as absolutely as ridiculously careful as I can be with them. However, that certainly doesn't preclude me from being sliced wide from one of them on some freak 'oops'.

Oh and +1 for the blow off tube suggestion! Depending on what you are brewing, things can go 'oops' to 'holy ****' in a hurry. Always a good idea to start off with a blow off tube.

I just finished my first brew ever and had no problem using glass carboys. A bit heavy and awkward, but no huge difficulty. I enjoyed being able to watch the fermentation take place. Quite a remarkable thing to watch for the first time.

Other than the risk of being severely injured, there is no reason why you can't use glass. In fact, I used glass for both primary and secondary before "it" happened. I read a lot about infections from tiny scratches in plastic, so I was afraid to use it. When a carboy breaks, chances are that you'll have much more than a tiny scratch. I'm still getting used to my permanent stranger.

(I have almost no feeling in my right hand from a broken carboy.)

Get a brew hauler. Or make one. There is a thread on here how to make one with rope. Better yet, don't move it while full. That's not easy though so get a brew hauler.

Do NOT use the metal handles that clamp around the neck to move it when it is full. The neck is not meant to support that amount of weight.

The biggest change for me when I switched from plastic to glass was that I was used to dumping my whole pot of wort into the bucket with a paint strainer bag in it to pull out the hops and break material. You can't do that with the small neck of a carboy. I used the funnel with a screen in it but it kept getting clogged every 10 seconds it seems. my hybrid method became to use my bottling bucket with a paint strainer bag in it. Then use some sanitized hose off the spigot to go into the carboy. This had the side effect of aerating the sort more as I could slowly splash it in the carboy. in the end I have to slosh the strainer bag back and forth to get the last. It of wort out but it works for me. Don't swear it too much if you just dump everything in the fermenter. Plenty of people do it without any issues. Just wanted to warn you that I had no luck at all using the funnel with the screen to try to filter out hops and crap for the kettle. You may have a different experience though.

Nothing too complicated about glass. Just be careful.

hawgwild81 said:

I started off using plastic buckets and switched to glass. Now I'm back to buckets since I just had surgery to repair the nerve and tendon I cut in my finger when I was cleaning the carboy. No I wasn't drunk...I hadn't even had a beer. I know it was just one of those freak accidents, but the risk isn't worth it to me. And to be honest, the beers that I fermented in the buckets were just as good as the ones that were in the carboy. I like being able to monitor my fermentation which is why I stuck with glass. In the near future I will probably try a better bottle for the same reason.

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homebeerbrewer said:

Other than the risk of being severely injured, there is no reason why you can't use glass. In fact, I used glass for both primary and secondary before "it" happened. I read a lot about infections from tiny scratches in plastic, so I was afraid to use it. When a carboy breaks, chances are that you'll have much more than a tiny scratch. I'm still getting used to my permanent stranger.

(I have almost no feeling in my right hand from a broken carboy.)

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Would you guys mind sharing a little about how your accidents happened? I have 11 glass carboys, and I use them for beer and wine. I've never broken one, but I'd sure like to know what not to do from those who have learned the hard way.

Well my first glass carboy (an absopure water jug from the 60's) has made it 50 years so far.....just sayin

billtzk said:

Would you guys mind sharing a little about how your accidents happened? I have 11 glass carboys, and I use them for beer and wine. I've never broken one, but I'd sure like to know what not to do from those who have learned the hard way.

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Mine happened while I was emptying it. It had been soaking in PBW for about a week. I started my sparge and decided to get my carboy ready. I was emptying it out into the drain in my driveway. I was holding the neck of it literally 1 inch off the ground with my left hand, while I supported the back end with my right hand. The Carboy slipped out of my left hand, hit the ground and exploded. Before we left for the ER, I made my wife cover my kettle with foil so the tube could remain in the kettle, transferring my wart from the MLT. She was mad! Lol.

I just have heard so many horrible stories on the internet to want to use a glass carboy. Buckets work just fine for me but its up to you lots of people use glass with no problems.

hawgwild81 said:

Mine happened while I was emptying it. It had been soaking in PBW for about a week. I started my sparge and decided to get my carboy ready. I was emptying it out into the drain in my driveway. I was holding the neck of it literally 1 inch off the ground with my left hand, while I supported the back end with my right hand. The Carboy slipped out of my left hand, hit the ground and exploded. Before we left for the ER, I made my wife cover my kettle with foil so the tube could remain in the kettle, transferring my wart from the MLT. She was mad! Lol.

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Thank you. Yeah, I could see why she'd be mad, but I'd insist on the same thing.

I always make sure my hands are dry and I have a good grip. I made a carboy drain stand from a 5 gallon bucket. I drilled several holes in the bottom. If I'm just draining out cleaning solution or water or anything I don't want to keep, I invert the carboy into the bucket and let it drain. If I'm draining sanitizer or cleaning solution to reuse in another carboy, I do the same thing using a good bucket without the drain holes.

Mine happened while cleaning. It was half full (or was it half empty?) of luke warm soapy water while I scrubbed it with a carboy brush. When that was done, I started to turn it over to drain, and it just broke in my hands. I stood there at the sink, amazed that the frothy soap water had a pink tinge to it. Then I realized that there was a large hole in my wrist, pouring blood. Severed a nerve and tendon in my right wrist, and still don't have feeling in it.

Somewhere around here is a thread where I sacrificed a carboy to test out the effectiveness of Plasti-Dip. It worked pretty well, but I hope to never break another one. I primarily use Sanke kegs to ferment in now, but I still have two 6.5 gal, and two 5 gal carboys that I'll occasionally use. The Plasti-Dip will hopefully save me from myself.

I have one plastic bucket which is nice, convenient, and easier to move around the brewhouse. But the rest of my fermentors are glass, and I really like them. I need to get the brew hauler thing as I grab them by the neck ring and underneath if it's really heavy.

Bonuses are
1. Glass smells clean after cleaning it. The plastic bucket has always smelled like my last brew even after extended soaks.
2. You can watch the fermentation for the 'neat' factor but it also is great for knowing when the krausen drops, beer clarity etc without having to expose your brew to air.
3. No dorky crappy airlock gaskets in the top. Those bucket lids just plain suck in many ways, but the gasket on my NB bucket was ruined in three batches. I love the Carboy caps.

homebeerbrewer said:

Mine happened while cleaning. It was half full (or was it half empty?) of luke warm soapy water while I scrubbed it with a carboy brush. When that was done, I started to turn it over to drain, and it just broke in my hands. I stood there at the sink, amazed that the frothy soap water had a pink tinge to it. Then I realized that there was a large hole in my wrist, pouring blood. Severed a nerve and tendon in my right wrist, and still don't have feeling in it.

Somewhere around here is a thread where I sacrificed a carboy to test out the effectiveness of Plasti-Dip. It worked pretty well, but I hope to never break another one. I primarily use Sanke kegs to ferment in now, but I still have two 6.5 gal, and two 5 gal carboys that I'll occasionally use. The Plasti-Dip will hopefully save me from myself.

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Thank you for the back story. It's very worrisome that a carboy would break under those circumstances. Maybe there was a hairline crack or something.

I haven't heard of plasti-dip before, but I'm definitely going to look into it.

billtzk said:

... Maybe there was a hairline crack or something.

I haven't heard of plasti-dip before, but I'm definitely going to look into it.

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That's exactly what I'm thinking. I didn't notice if there was a crack in it before hand, but I've inspected the remaining carboys, and they all seem fine. I won't use a carboy unless it has the Plasti-Dip on it, I'm too scared of them to do so. Or is that scarred?

Milk crates are great. Took the idea from Revvy's bottling post. It fits a 22oz bomber for blow off, my carboy, and easily moved. When I clean I just soak in my patio, tip on it's side and rinse.

IMO glass is more sterile, and when used with a blow off tube, a 5gal brew in a 5 gal carboy has little head space and blows off a lot of Krausen thus reducing harsh flavors and cleaning up your beer. I hear it's more difficult to harvest your yeast from a carboy v a bucket though.

OP asked if the extra effort (and danger) associated with glass is worth it. I submit that it unequivocally is not. There is no benefit to your beer with using glass. Plastic and better bottles keep out oxygen just as well, are easily cleaned with oxyclean (no scrubbing = no scratches), and plastic buckets will keep out more light.

I know you're a noob and want to watch it do its thing, but promise me it's something you'll get over quickly. If I had to start over again, I would go buckets only. I started with better bottles (plastic carboys) and while they're nice, I just got my first bucket and it's now my favorite fermentor. No need to worry about fishing hop bags and dropped equipment out of it because the lid is big and wide. If the string on my hop bag fall sinto a carboy, I have to use tiny tongs or chopsticks to get it out. Buckets are cheaper, will save you headaches, and work just as well as any other fermentors.

hawgwild81 said:

...Before we left for the ER, I made my wife cover my kettle with foil so the tube could remain in the kettle, transferring my wart from the MLT. She was mad! Lol.

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Respect. :rockin: