Whew! - Close Call

I was cleaning a glass carboy today and dropped it while it was full - on the edge of our concrete patio! Luckily it landed on the really thick rim on the bottom. Took a small chip out of it and a slightly larger one out of the concrete. Had to check my drawers after that!

Q: Has anyone else done such a thing and continued to use it without problems? I'm afraid the dropped stressed it and it will break on me unexpectedly now.

I would toss it. Glass is really weird stuff & a carboy isn't much more expensive than a lost batch of ale. Certainly cheaper than a trip to ER.

Ummm, if there's even a slight chip or crack in it, i'd toss it (well, not literally :cross: ). It's not worth taking the chance of it breaking on you and losing your beer, or worse--you arm!

Siphon the beer out first!!

Toss it, and replace it with a Better Bottle.

the_bird said:

Toss it, and replace it with a Better Bottle.

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Can't - I use a wort wizard. They won't stand up to the vacuum.

While I'm in the camp that says a $30 carboy is a lot less expensive than shards of glass in your flesh, I have to relate this story from the proprietor of my LHBS.

He sold a carboy to a customer who brought it back shortly afterwards pointing out that there was a circular crack all the way around the bottom. The proprietor took it back and gave him a new one (solid of him!). Later he went to dispose of it and the dumpster was empty so he thought he'd have some fun and smash it inside. He threw it in and it just bounced around in there, even with the pre-existing crack!

Now to quote david_42 "glass is really weird stuff" and if he'd thrown a brand new, uncompromised carboy in there in the same way it might well have shattered. Go figure.

Definitely get another one. Same thing happened to a buddy of mine. He fermented his beer fine, moved it around and everything seemed fine UNTIL he hit it with warmish/hot water to clean is. Glass city.

If I've said it once I said it a million times...MILK CRATES!!!

Also, if you are going to do a lot of work on a cement patio you could use a layer of cardboard under your working are where the glass is.

Oh, this is a blessing, and you don't even know it.

Siphon your beer out. Fill the thing with piss or some other wretched substance. Then toss it at someone that has it coming. kablamo. make life interesting.

There's no beer in it. I had already kegged it and was cleaning the carboy.

A milk crate's a great idea and probably would've helped. It gives you something to hold onto and also provides a little impact buffer. It was full of water and I was picking it up to turn it upside down and empty it when it slipped loose. Done it hundreds of times w/out incident.

I was hoping for a few "yeah, I've dropped mine several times and it's still fine" responses. I showed my wife and she laughed that I was seriously thinking about tossing it. It only dropped a few inches and the chip is really small. I'll replace it, but I'm going to brew today and there's no way to get another one in time since I don't have a LHBS. I'll use it this time and pray for mercy from the beer gods.

Just don't brew alone!

You can test the integrity of it with a simple test.

Fill it with banana pudding. Drop it on your concrete patio from your roof.

If it makes a hollow ringing sound its still good.

If it makes a splatter sound you have to replace it.

please film and post to YouTube so we can help analyze the results.

Maybe - after I get a replacement.

jfliv said:

You can test the integrity of it with a simple test.

Fill it with banana pudding. Drop it on your concrete patio from your roof.

If it makes a hollow ringing sound its still good.

If it makes a splatter sound you have to replace it.

please film and post to YouTube so we can help analyze the results.

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Sh*t Why didn't I think of that!

Edit: I just checked all 6 of my carboys and they were all bad. And to think I was going to skip over this thread! 4 cases of pudding is needed for 6 carboys if anyone needs to know.

Lil' Sparky said:

Can't - I use a wort wizard. They won't stand up to the vacuum.

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Get a bucket and drill another hole in the lid.

homebrewer_99 said:

If I've said it once I said it a million times...MILK CRATES!!!

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But practice due diligence in your acquisition.