Broken Glass Carboy Horror Stories Compendium

troy2000 said:

Why not? Before the water companies went to plastic, there were plenty of people who spent a lifetime picking up full 5 gallon glass jugs, flipping them upside down and sticking them into water coolers, then pulling them back out and setting them on the floor when they were empty. You might as well say, "if you think you can go 40 years driving cars without getting into a wreck, good luck with that." Lots of people do....

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I don't think you have any info on how many carboys got broken by water companies.As far as the driving analagy, there are no wreck free cars available, but there are other options for carboys even if that were a good comparison the odds are that after 40 years of driving one would have been in some kind of accident. Glass is fragile / very breakable. If a casino could bet on it, they would bet on breakage. But most people already know that and are willing to risk it, and I don't have a problem with that.

Maybe I have a more apt analogy.

One of my old high school friends has made a nice living as a glazier, installing/replacing sheets of glass in windows. As far as I know he has never suffered a major injury. Just the usual nicks and small cuts from handling the edges. Lugging around heavy pieces of glass--whether in the form of sheets or big glass bottles--has some inherent dangers. Being prudent and using the right tools will minimize, if not eliminate, those risks.

I prefer carboys, but I give them a healthy dose of respect. I no longer use the clamp-on handles, and I schlep them around in plastic milk crates. I wash them in the big laundry basin, so that if one does break, it will be mostly contained.

bctdi said:

I don't think you have any info on how many carboys got broken by water companies.As far as the driving analagy, there are no wreck free cars available, but there are other options for carboys even if that were a good comparison the odds are that after 40 years of driving one would have been in some kind of accident. Glass is fragile / very breakable. If a casino could bet on it, they would bet on breakage. But most people already know that and are willing to risk it, and I don't have a problem with that.

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I wasn't talking about water company employees; I was talking about homeowners and office personnel. As I said earlier, the tap water where I grew up wasn't drinkable; almost everyone I knew had drinking water delivered in 5 gallon glass carboys. We all routinely handled them ourselves because water was generally delivered once a month, and I never knew anyone who broke one - although one gal I went to school with pemanently injured her back, loading one into a water cooler at work while she was wearing high heels.

Nothing serious I guess I set it down on the edge a little too hard and blew out the side of my 6.5 acid carboy. I did kill 90% of my 1.097 DIPA that I was going to pitch my yeast on. Worst part for me was I had to go to work so no chance to clean it up. Whole garage smells like hops. And then I left to find it running out the door... New weekend project!!

I am sorry for your loss. That made me hurt. You guys ever though about switching over to sanke's, the fat 1/4 is a nice size. For me I like only having one fermenter to clean, one brew day one fermenter. If you drop this one on your foot, it's going to hurt. Thread jack over, (sorry)

If I could get my hands on a slim 1/4 barrel sanke I would definitely do that. I might start fermenting in cornys anyway and retire some better bottles.

I started looking on probrewer and found a guy who had all the kegs from a brewery that closed. But no slim 1/4 (I wish). The fat 1/4 is a nice size. Keep looking for the sanke's they are out there. Even ask at craft beer festivals, they may have kegs that are about at the end of their usable life or they may let you or your brew club get in on the next order. It's seems like 1/4's of any size are 65$ new or 35$ used. I don't think anyone likes using the slim because you can't roll them easy. Now the thread jack is over, this time I mean it. OVER!!! sorry

I usually clean my carboy outside in the yard but it was below freezing so I decided to do it in the bath tub. The carboy was to tall to fit under the faucet so I tilted it to fill with some water. It was still on the ground just tilted when it all of the sudden shattered into pieces. Cut all the way through the muscle and an artery. Twelve stitches total.

All of a sudden shattered? Really? I'm not trying to be a prick. I feel bad you got such a bad injury. I know about injuries. I have paid 10k in surgery. (Not beer related - well sorta - i was buzzed when injured)

I use glass. Was scared about it spontaneously breaking on me until others in this post mentioned glass just doesn't break on its own. That calmed me down.

Do you think you had spider cracks or did you knock it hard against something while tilting?

ffd520 said:

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I usually clean my carboy outside in the yard but it was below freezing so I decided to do it in the bath tub. The carboy was to tall to fit under the faucet so I tilted it to fill with some water. It was still on the ground just tilted when it all of the sudden shattered into pieces. Cut all the way through the muscle and an artery. Twelve stitches total.

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damn... I swear I'm going to start a Public Service Announcement on the dangers of carboys and the glory of fermenting in a Keg.

I started messing around with a DIY cheap and easy conversion kit for sankey kegs. No major tools needed. For a few bucks and you can ferment and force transfer from any sankey keg. Hopefully I'll have it complete tonight.

It was a used carboy. It definitely didn't bang on anything. I agree glass just doesn't break on its own. It had to have some unseen damage. I guess the weight of the water with it tilted just right one of those one in a million things.

ffd520 said:

It was a used carboy. It definitely didn't bang on anything. I agree glass just doesn't break on its own. It had to have some unseen damage. I guess the weight of the water with it tilted just right one of those one in a million things.

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According to the images on this forum, It doesn't seem to be a one in a million sorta thing...

Was the glass outside or in the garage with the freezing temps? Maybe it was thermal shock?

I had just finished kegging an ipa and was cleaning out the trub and what not. It had been at a steady 67.

ffd520 said:

I had just finished kegging an ipa and was cleaning out the trub and what not. It had been at a steady 67.

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Well good news is you didn't lose the IPA. I guess it goes to show just how unpredictable glass can be.

This thread is like a horror movie.

I feel really bad for those who got injured handling these carboys. Jeez, I'm seriously rethinking how to use and handle them and have gained utter respect for the glass beasts. There are some stainless solutions out there, that maybe not as costly as one would think... Then there's always plastic.

Glass carboys on hard surfaces are not a good match. I keep em off concrete, metal racks, etc. and place them on wood, cardboard, or commercial carpet. I only handle them on soft padded surfaces, like multiple layers of towels or foam cushions. Particularly when full. Tilting a full carboy puts a lot of pressure on that 1/16 square inch of glass that actually touches the floor (> 1200 pounds/sq inch).

ffd520 said:

It was a used carboy. It definitely didn't bang on anything. I agree glass just doesn't break on its own. It had to have some unseen damage. I guess the weight of the water with it tilted just right one of those one in a million things.

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True, it doesn't just break on its own, but there could have been stresses built up, or perhaps some unseen hairline cracks, etc. Right on the edge of structural failure. Could have just been some "tipping point" thing, like the force of tilting it, or a slight temperature difference, and that was all she wrote. That glass is not tempered, just plain old flint glass.

I still prefer glass, but after reading some of these posts, I now handle those things with gloves and milk crates. A healthy dose of fear and respect is a good thing. I'm following that keg conversion thread. Maybe a marketing opportunity for insanim8er to produce some kind of keg conversion kit? Someday, I will want to move away from glass to something safer.

Enough for me to give up on the two glass ones I have. I have numerous Better Bottles and love them.

When they are full of water at 8pounds a gallon, 5-6 gallon carboy, and the weight of the carboy. Would you go the the bench press at the gym and pick-up the biggest plate and set it on a glass carboy? The biggest plate is only 45lbs. They don't break by themselves.

Well, once more I successfully cleaned one of my old water company jugs (this one from 1960), filled it, and got it safely tucked away in my fermenter.

But you better believe I was thinking of this thread every time I touched it, and handled it more carefully than I used to...

troy2000 said:

Well, once more I successfully cleaned one of my old water company jugs (this one from 1960), filled it, and got it safely tucked away in my fermenter. But you better believe I was thinking of this thread every time I touched it, and handled it more carefully than I used to...

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That's the problem. I'm handling mine soo bloody carefully I'm bound to make a mistake. I liked it before when I was ignorant.

troy2000 said:

Well, once more I successfully cleaned one of my old water company jugs (this one from 1960), filled it, and got it safely tucked away in my fermenter.

But you better believe I was thinking of this thread every time I touched it, and handled it more carefully than I used to...

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I think of this thread everytime I touch a carboy...or any glass to that matter.

By way of an update: I officially got lucky. The cut missed the tendon in my thumb by about a millimeter and missed the nerve in my index finger by three... I'll have no long term effects other than s slight scar.

I went out that night and got 4 more better bottles. My wife's uncle picked up the glass ones the next day...

insanim8er said:

I guess it goes to show just how unpredictable glass can be.

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Glass is completely predictable. It's called physics. People are what's not predictable.

ffd520 said:

I agree glass just doesn't break on its own. It had to have some unseen damage...

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Unseen damage? Really?

It couldn't be that cleaning a carboy in a bathtub is just a really bad idea?

...one of those one in a million things.

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Nah, people have bad ideas more often than that.

bja said:

Glass is completely predictable. It's called physics. People are what's not predictable.

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bja said:

Unseen damage? Really?

It couldn't be that cleaning a carboy in a bathtub is just a really bad idea?

Nah, people have bad ideas more often than that.

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Feel better?

Next you're going to tell me because of the laws of nature, we all die. Therefore our death is also predictable.

Maybe you should become a physic psychic and sell your services to keep all these people from the injuries from being caused by these completely foreseen accidents.

Carboys are glass and glass reacts under predicted circumstances--we throw a hammer at it, we cause major thermal shock--but even those set circumstances can fail. And even unexpected actions can cause breakage. Thus making it deterministic.

There's even a name for it, "spontaneous glass breakage." There can be unforeseen flaws in glass during the manufacturing process. Therefore, a person could have done nothing and still have the carboy shatter. This is an unpredictable circumstance...

insanim8er said:

Feel better?

Maybe you should become a physic psychic and sell your services to keep all these people from the injuries from being caused by these completely foreseen accidents.

Carboys are glass and glass reacts under predicted circumstances--we throw a hammer at it, we cause major thermal shock--but even those set circumstances can fail. Thus making it deterministic. Next you're going to tell me because of the laws of nature we all die, so our death is also predictable.

There's even a name for it, "spontaneous glass breakage." There can be flaws in glass during the manufacturing process. Therefore, a person could have done nothing and still have the carboy shatter. This is an unpredictable circumstance...

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So I've been bugging a product engineer buddy about this - supposedly UV light and a good "CMOS chip" would be able to find breakage points. His 2nd son was born yesterday, so I'll be a while before we play with the tech, but I'll let you guys know what I find.

Given how I've treated my carboys this far, I'm surprised none have broken. They're definitely used and abused, have had PBW sitting in them for months, regularly spray with hot water using my cleaner, etc.

insanim8er said:

There's even a name for it, "spontaneous glass breakage." There can be unforeseen flaws in glass during the manufacturing process. Therefore, a person could have done nothing and still have the carboy shatter. This is an unpredictable circumstance...

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You obviously don't know what tempered glass is. Carboys are not tempered.

bja said:

You obviously don't know what tempered glass is. Carboys are not tempered.

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Wooo.... Good thing were not on judge Judy. You might have gotten her to yell at me.

bja said:

You obviously don't know what tempered glass is. Carboys are not tempered.

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What's your point? Are you trying to say that only tempered glass breaks spontaneously, or.....?

Untempered glass is less likely to break spontaneously than tempered glass, but it can and does happen.

troy2000 said:

What's your point? Are you trying to say that only tempered glass breaks spontaneously, or.....?

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Yes.

Interesting thought: would it be possible to heat-treat and temper an ordinary glass carboy, like my old water jugs? I'm betting the makers of glass cookware have ovens large enough, but the composition of the carboy glass may be all wrong.

bja said:

Yes.

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You're wrong. Look it up.

Just wondering how many of these "spontaneous" breakages might be due to cleaning with caustic chemicals, as explained in post #2 of this thread.

troy2000 said:

You're wrong. Look it up.

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I did.

I believe the logical conclusion he's making is, all non-tempered glass is now broken.

I left 3 carboys full of cleaning solution outside a month back. I went on a business trip. I came back and the temp had dropped below freezing for a couple of days. They were all cracked. I tried to brew with them and cut an arm and two legs off. Just kidding. Um..... During the disposal of the shards i put them in a large plastic bin and smashed the large shards with the corner of a brick. I was surprised how much actual force was required to break the glass. These carboys are much stronger than they appear in these horror pictures. I am sure however that they do crack from minimal force on some very special angles and spots.

BeerGrylls said:

I believe the logical conclusion he's making is, all non-tempered glass is now broken.

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"What if two swallows carried the coconut tied to a string...

Could've been an African swallow!

But of course, African swallows are non-migratory..."

You get the idea...

troy2000 said:

You're wrong. Look it up.

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bja said:

I did.

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Both of you have added good information to this thread, but the above isn't included in it.

I was enjoying the thread's original purpose, at least until I became a part of it by making a trip to the ER.

bja said:

I did.

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Then you need to look harder. Spontaneous breakage is less common in untempered glass, but can and does happen. Back when I was a tract superintendent, I had to replace several windows in the second phase of a housing tract in Sunland, CA.

Modern window panes are cut from float glass, and all float glass is potentially subject to inclusions that create the possibility of spontaneous breakage. The most common such inclusion is nickel sulphide, but it's hardly the only one.

I don't know whether there are inclusions in glass carboys that could cause spontaneous breakage, but it seems at least possible....

troy2000 said:

Then you need to look harder. Spontaneous breakage is less common in untempered glass, but can and does happen.

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No it doesn't.

Back when I was a tract superintendent, I had to replace several windows in the second phase of a housing tract in Sunland, CA.

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There are a number of reasons why a window pane would crack without any apparent external forces, none of which is "spontaneous breakage". The most common is improper installation of the glass into the frame causing a pressure point along one of the edges. I've seen this happen several times.

Modern window panes are cut from float glass, and all float glass is potentially subject to inclusions that create the possibility of spontaneous breakage. The most common such inclusion is nickel sulphide, but it's hardly the only one.

I don't know whether there are inclusions in glass carboys that could cause spontaneous breakage, but it seems at least possible....

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Spontaneous breakage in tempered glass is caused by internal stresses which are induced during the tempering process. These stresses are not present in non-tempered glass.

Inclusions in glass are only an issue during the manufacturing process. If they are going to cause the glass to crack, it will happen while the glass is initially cooling. After that it's not an issue.

Why is it that people will not take responsibility for their actions and are constantly looking for someone or something else to blame.