Glass carboy with hole on top

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bahed

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Aug 29, 2013
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Location
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I thought I would give it a shot. It was a bit nerve racking for the 10 minute cut time.... but I am jazzed now. I have yet to make a stand for it, but I hope to employ it to ferment 5-gallon batches and be able to rack off trub and hopefully harvest and re-use the yeast. Here are some pix:

Glass carboy top with hole.jpg


Glass carboy top with bubbler.jpg


Glass carboy bottom.jpg
 
That is the plan. I've had the cap laying around for a dozen years or so. When the upside down carboy systems came out (can't recall the Mfr name) the idea was better than reality. I was lucky to get half the trub out, forget about harvesting yeast and the CO2 bubbler tube often got debris in it if you weren't careful and became partially, or worse, clogged. I hope this design works a little better.
 
I just cracked the bottom of my new glass carboy - maybe I could salvage it this way! How did you cut? I'd like to see how this works out for you.
 
I want to see this in use! Looks good so far. How'd you cut it? When are you going to use it?
 
You could put a hose clamp on the cap if you had to.

You have to use a spade shaped glass cutting bit to drill holes in glass.
 
That orange cap that is on the bottom was used for several brews 10+ years ago and I never had a problem with it coming off. The picture below shows what I used. That is a 1-3/8" OD diamond coated hole saw chucked into my Ryobi hand drill. The reddish cup is designed to help you keep your spot steady until you bite in, typically used for cutting ceramics. The cup is supposed to also hold water... but the surface has to be pretty dead flat, which the bottom of a glass carboy is certainly not. I just kept a cup of water handy and stopped whenever the work began to run dry. When I started back up each time I started slowly, slightly pulling the bit off of the glass and then built up speed in a few seconds. I really didn't push down and let the weight of the gun do the work, on high speed. It took about 10 minutes to cut through... and then about 5 more minutes trying to get the glass plug out of the inside! The bit and cup are sold together and can be bought at Lowe's/Home Depot in their tile tool section for about $30.

Tools for cutting carboy.jpg
 
Great idea, but like others I'm wondering if you're going to try to stick with the orange cap or go with something different. I have some of those and they work fine when used how they were designed to. But when you get the full weight of your beer pushing down on it, I would be very surprised if it doesn't come all the way off or atleast leak around the sides.
 
I'd be concerned about being able to seal the bottom but more importantly, the structural integrity of the carboy now that you've put a hole in the base.

Be careful man; I could see all kinds of bad if you load it up full of liquid and that thing decides to split at the hole you created.
 
Wow, that glass is thick on the bottom. I've been meaning to document my attempt at shatter proofing a carboy. Maybe tomorrow
 
i would like to see as well... my friend tried a similar type design with out the hole (a modified racking cane to vent co2) and found the angle of the carboy neck was not steep enough to drain the yeast properly. it should be around... what 60deg or something? if you figure that out you may be onto something
 
I'd highly recommend annealing the cut surface of that hole. I'd be concerned of tiny glass flakes getting into my beer and that surface wearing with use....it will happen.

I can see the attraction to this but if you have to spend $60-70 between the carboy and a special drill bit, you might as well go buy a plastic conical.
 
I seem to remember that the issue with using carboys as conicals was that the shoulder angle wasn't steep enough to allow the yeast to be pulled out of the bottom...

Cool idea, I don't know if its going to work as a true conical though..
 
Because plastics don't belong in brewing.

You are entitled to express an opinion, even if you are wrong. Not everyone can afford the 500$ conical, or the 50$ glass carboy. For the majority of the home brewers this is just a hobby. I take this as serious as the rest and will say there is nothing wrong with a better bottle. I could be just as wrong as you...
 
I hope to remove the majority of the trub as it settles and before the yeast starts to settle out. Even though it's not 60 degrees, there should be ample yeast making it's way to the lower neck and I intend to have a racking tube up in the neck a little ways (adjustable) to suck down some of the yeast as well. All up in my head right now... all theoretical. I hope to brew in 2 weekends - a lot of soccer games coming up for my two boys that are on the two soccer teams that I coach!

Also, I looked into annealing. 1000 degrees F is not something I can achieve. You mentioned 'surface annealing'. If you have a technique that is feasible - I am all eyes and ears!

Yep, the glass on the bottom is very thick there: ~0.62" thick!

Yes, I had 2 glass carboys... just in case... good sleuthing there!

Finally, the hoses are used for an infinitesimally small moment of a beers life as it is being moved. I like glass... I am a voyeur when it comes to the process! I saw a challenge, weighed the benefits/risk/cost and felt it was worth it.
 
Hoptimistic said:
hahaha insense burner huh? :drunk:

Yeah. Not to cover up any other smells. ;) Just because I like incense. I burn it all the time in the garage. It was a blue wine bottle and the stick of incense hung down inside. Reminded me of a genie bottle with the smoke coming out the top. I need to make another one. That one got thrown out a while back.

To the OP: I didn't even think about a hole saw. That's pretty slick. The bit I used looked like a little spade.
 
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