Why I need a strong man around....

when I brew that is. I had my first bad day brewing today. I was so excited to brew, had my kit, and the house almost to myself. I had just finished my brew (a nice wheat) unfortunately the temp had not gone down enough. Now the signs were there that something bad might happen( overflowed the sparge, carboy spilling, water not being cold enough) anyway decided to try and give it an ice bath. Got it in the ice bath and thought Oh yeah forgot to take my reading with my hydrometer.
How did this all end you ask.... with me breaking my carboy and losing 5 gallons of good brew. The horror,the pain of it all. The only good point is that I had yet to pitch the yeast.
SO this leads me to ask how do ypu guys get enough beer to take a reading????

At least you survived the breaking of the carboy! I've read some stories on here of trips to the hospital and many many stitches. If you have an auto-syphon you can take the inner racking cane out and dip that into your wort to take out a sample. Or you can do what many do and get yourself a wine thief. That is probably the easiest way, when I used my auto-syphon I found it didn't seal very well at the bottom.

A turkey baster I've heard works as well but I'm not sure how it works with a carboy, I would think it wouldn't be long enough.

Btw - you may want to think about switching to better bottles if you have to move around full carboys by yourself. They won't break and they are MUCH lighter even when full of beery goodness.

Turkey baster.. crap I shoud have thought of that. And I survived just by dumb luck. My reflexes kicked in fast. I'm really accident prone.

It hurts me to read your story, I am sorry for your loss. I have been having a hard time getting a reading too, so I got a wine thief from AHB. It was about 8 bucks, and I can drop the hydrometer right into the thief itself to get a good reading. I am supposed to get it on Wed, so I cant give you a review of it yet, but from what I have heard, that is the way to go.

I agree with brad that you were not hurt badly by this. I dropped a case of newly bottled beer a few weeks (damn bottom just gave out). Only two bottles broke but I had microscopic shards in my feet and eveywhere in my hallway and kitchen compounded by sticky beer eveywhere, not pleasant!

I usually pull the sample as I'm siphoning but if I forget, a wine thief works very well.

I use this now. Works like a charm especially when you are grabbing samples from a carboy.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_67_363&products_id=1227

otherwise, a turkey baster works well with some sort of graduated cylinder. dont forget to drink the sample either, thats the best part.

atxstanley said:

I use this now. Works like a charm especially when you are grabbing samples from a carboy.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_67_363&products_id=1227

otherwise, a turkey baster works well with some sort of graduated cylinder. dont forget to drink the sample either, thats the best part.

Click to expand...

Sounds really cool. Wish they had a bigger picture.

atxstanley said:

I use this now. Works like a charm especially when you are grabbing samples from a carboy.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_67_363&products_id=1227

otherwise, a turkey baster works well with some sort of graduated cylinder. dont forget to drink the sample either, thats the best part.

Click to expand...

Glad to hear this is working well for you, that is the one that is on its way to me.

I'm gonna have to order one of those. Maybe today. Anything that will keep me from having to lift that darn carboy. The other funny thing is that I bought a carboy handle but the darn thing didn't fit.
Have any of you tried that better beer carboy. They say that it is unbreakable and in light of today that sounds kind of good

bradsul said:

A turkey baster I've heard works as well but I'm not sure how it works with a carboy, I would think it wouldn't be long enough.

Click to expand...

I've never had a problem with a turkey baster reaching into a carboy. Not sure about how it works with the better bottles.

I'm still using carboys and I would recommend anyone still using them to get one of these:
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_53_148_607&products_id=10995

Definitely worth the price to prevent an giant disaster!!!

You can't lift a full carboy by one of those handles anyhow, sometimes the neck will give way and you have the same result. They're just a helper for getting your hand underneath it. You might look into some better bottles if you're accident prone. They're made from special non-porous plastic and according to the guys at b3, you can drop it 6' full and it won't break. Sorry to hear about your loss, glad your hide is intact, however.

I use about half glass carboys and half better bottles. One of my friends broke a 6.5 gallon carboy and cut herself pretty badly, complete with ER visit and stitches. I recommend putting the carboy into a milk crate and pick it up that way. Those handles help some, but aren't meant to carry the whole weight.

After brewing so much, I feel like I don't have to go to the gym- I just go rack some beer or wine and lift the carboys around!

Tip 1: All my carboys have dedicated milk crates...haven't broken one yet.

Tip 2: I use my racking cane for trasnferring every liquid to the half way mark so it's easier to carry. When it's half full... Plus my basement sink is plastic so I can tip it right into the corner and balance it while it's draining.

Tip 3: If you sink's not plastic just fold up a towel a couple of times and lay it across the edge of the sink to protect the glass.

Be careful, that handle is not for carrying a full carboy with...

Thank you, thank you, thank you. First for all the concern, only a fellow home brewer could understand the frustration I was feeling yesterday. Second thanks for all the suggestions.
With all the help I was able to make these adjustments today: Got a new carboy, wine thief, and ingredients for a new batch of brew. Next I went into the basement and found an old milk crate. It works like a charm. So with all this I hope never to have to write a post like this again:rockin: .

About the milk crates...I never, OK, I used to but don't any more, carry them by the top handles. I weave my fingers into the side holes. I did have one handle break on me once...

If you want to place the carboys in a tub with water the crates drain fast and easy.

If you need insulation I cut cardboard pieces and place them in the bottom of the crate for cushion on the glass.

goldengrl said:

Thank you, thank you, thank you. First for all the concern, only a fellow home brewer could understand the frustration I was feeling yesterday. Second thanks for all the suggestions.
With all the help I was able to make these adjustments today: Got a new carboy, wine thief, and ingredients for a new batch of brew. Next I went into the basement and found an old milk crate. It works like a charm. So with all this I hope never to have to write a post like this again:rockin: .

Click to expand...

Glad to hear that you made some adjustments and will have safer brewing experiences in the future. This story, is the exact reason I think Better Bottles are the best investment someone can make!

I usually just take a hydrometer sample from the kettle before transferring the beer to the carboy. Well, actually I use buckets for primary fermentation but the same principle holds.

I got tired of having to sanitize extra equipment to take a hydro reading so I put a 1/4" ball valve on the output of my chiller. Now I just turn a knob and I get a 68 degree sample...

That is sweet!!:rockin:

Mash?

Man, you got some of the best beer porn I've ever seen.

You need to ante up the $15 so you can move those pics over here.

BierMuncher said:

Mash?

Man, you got some of the best beer porn I've ever seen.

You need to ante up the $15 so you can move those pics over here.

Click to expand...

+1 (2345678910)

Get a refractometer.......takes 3-4 drops for OG

Can do FG with a calculation.

Brewer3401 said:

Get a refractometer.......takes 3-4 drops for OG

Can do FG with a calculation.

Click to expand...

Rubbish. It takes one drop. I drink the other two or three drops.