disaster!?!?!?!

...first batch of mead in 10 years....

18 lb honey for a 6 gallon batch - beautiful.

But then...the carboy broke....





the good news? no one was injured (except for a tiny cut on my finger...) and the carboy was in the sink...so no real mess was made...and I also managed to salvage 1.25 gallons of must...

the bad news...I lost 3.75 gallons...sad....plus a brand new 6.5 gallon carboy...

now, I have about a 2.5 gallon batch of who knows what kind of mead going...

well, I'm sure it'll be tasty, if not quite the volume I had in mind...

oh, and "why did the carboy break"???

here's my theory - I had 2 gallons of cold water in the carboy, and the carboy was sitting in cold water in the sink....I suspect the cold water bath was too much for the hot must - and as you would suspect, the thermal shock broke the carboy...

duh. I'm investing in a wort chiller....

you might also look at better bottles. Of course you can't put too hot of a liquid in them(plastic), but the benefit is never worrying about a shattering carboy.

Very sorry for the lost of the carboy and the mead. OTOH, I am extremely happy there was no serious injuries!

Sorry about your loss...now you know it has to be cooled before racking to the carboy.

I top off with nearly frozen filtered water. You could do the same in a plastic primary then rack it to a carboy when cooled.

Also, I have all my carboys in milk crates...the ones I move anyway.

considering how little room I have, glass carboys were a major concern. I really have no choice but to move them around. I went the plastic water jug route, cost about half the price of a carboy. the down side is the molding that's done to stiffen them gives the yeast more places to deposit, so I might have to do something different when it comes to the final racking.

thankfully it was in the sink, nearly four gallons would have been a horrific mess!

in the future, the wort / must will be much cooler before it goes into the carboy. and...the carboy will be in the sink every time...

...but I'm taking solace in the bit that I saved - I'll enjoy it twice as much just to make up...

thanks for the replies. tomorrow, making some cider...no boil = no repeat of today...