Tragedy

after bottling my IPA I was cleaning my carboy the next day getting ready to brew a euro bock and I dropped the carboy about a inch from the ground, I was bleeding but mostly just hurt inside. I have seen pictures with carboys with a handle attached at the top, where do you get these? I cant find them if anyone can help or just share a equally bonehead memorie it would be appreciated.

Milk Crates have been accepted as the superior Carboy Transport Device.

Those handles are NOT made for supporting the weight of a carboy, much less a full one; they put a lot of stress on the neck.

I'll second the milk crate suggestion, and also be the first (of many) to recommend transitioning to Better Bottles. They work great, no O2 permeability (they're PET), great for long-term storage, very lightweight, and you you drop it you won't bleed out on the kitchen floor.

Hopsalot might have described your method of locomotion.

+1 on what the_bird said.

One thing that saved my @ss when I bobbled a carboy from 4 feet off the ground, was a nice...rubber backed indoor/outdoor carpet under my brew bench.

You could set a glass carboy down on concrete as gently as possible and still chip or crack that darn thing.

Yep…that carboy literally bounced about 3 inches after hitting the ground.

Thank God for scrap carpet.

+1 for better bottle.

I only use the handle for maneuvering during cleaning, other than that I use milk crates too.

I confiscated some plastic hanging file crates from SWMBO. She doesn't need 'em any more.

+1 for better bottles.. just switched my stock all to plastic, couldnt be happier

Am I the only one that uses THESE?
I have them on all my carboys (5 of them) and I also have the handles on the necks.

What you need to do is get yourself a stainless steel conical. That'll solve your problem.

+100 for Better Bottles.

How many times do we have to hear about someone dropping a carboy and cutting themselves or even just losing a batch of beer before people get it ?

FSR402 said:

Am I the only one that uses THESE?
I have them on all my carboys (5 of them) and I also have the handles on the necks.

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i love mine, only have one btu that is all you really need

TheJadedDog said:

I only use the handle for maneuvering during cleaning, other than that I use milk crates too.

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Yeah, me too.

FSR402 said:

Am I the only one that uses THESE?
I have them on all my carboys (5 of them) and I also have the handles on the necks.

Click to expand...

I have both my glass carboys in them and have handles, they work great, I did just pick up 5 & 6 gallon bottles with the racking adapters today to add to my arsenal

TheJadedDog said:

I only use the handle for maneuvering during cleaning, other than that I use milk crates too.

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Ditto. The handle ONLY gets used when empty...

Haven't dropped any of my 24 carboys yet (14+ brewing years), but I always use a milk crate.

FSR402 said:

Am I the only one that uses THESE?
I have them on all my carboys (5 of them) and I also have the handles on the necks.

Click to expand...

I got these too, and they work as well as my milk crates and take up less room.


Cheers

I've never dropped a glass carboy in 20 years, but when the Better Bottle came out, I sold ALL 7 of my glass carboys and bought Better Bottles.

What a difference. Easy to handle and clean. No safety issues and pretty much unbreakable.

Better Bottles Rocks and my back says thanks every time I pick a full one up to rack.

A lot of people here seem to be recommending the Better Bottles. One reason I haven't gone with the bbs is they don't make a 6.5 gallon one and I don't want blowoff. I do 5 gallon batches.

Where could I find milk crates?

The Drizzle said:

i love mine, only have one btu that is all you really need

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Yeah you're right, but I'm to lazy to switch it from carboy to carboy. lol

mew said:

A lot of people here seem to be recommending the Better Bottles. One reason I haven't gone with the bbs is they don't make a 6.5 gallon one and I don't want blowoff. I do 5 gallon batches.

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They have a six. It's been sufficient for me.

Do you guys prefer the ported or non-ported better bottles. The ported look convenient but is there contamination issues?

Liquidicem said:

Do you guys prefer the ported or non-ported better bottles. The ported look convenient but is there contamination issues?

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I only have one and it's not ported. IMHO it would be a ***** to clean and be sure it is clean.

I was thinking about better bottles but was concerned about scratching.

It may be a baseless notion, but I don't think I would ever brew in plastic. Using it to transfer from one vessel to another is one thing, nut when it comes to letting my beer sit for weeks or accaisionally months at a time, I'd just as soon use glass.

BTW, I have those handles on all of my carboys and love them. While I always try to get one hand under the bottom before I pick one up, I have lifted them full by the handle MANY times, and never had the slightest issue,

Not all plastics are the same, though. I wish I could put my hands on it, but someone a while back posted a table with all the relevant specs regarding the PET that the Better Bottles used versus the plastic that traditional buckets are (HDPE, I think) and other common plastics; MUCH, MUCH better than HDPE plastic, and not too far off from the numbers for glass.