Glass Carboy Break at the Bottom

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Sparger

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I ferment (well, used to) in a 6.5 gallon carboy in a temp controlled chest freezer. I use an aluminum neck handle to move it. Went to pick it up Saturday to put it in the house for a diacetyl rest and hear a glass crack and immediately saw a puddle forming. Didn't pick it up all the way and set it down. Immediately got started racking to a new carboy. Got all the beer out and went to pick it up the empty cracked carboy. It then snapped all the way - I had a giant bell-jar, with the bottom circular plate full of yeast. Turns out the entire bottom section cracked round-wise. This is the first "accident" I've ever had with a carboy. The good news - I saved five gallons and didn't create a chest freezer tub of beer (where incidentally I had 4 additional 6-gallons of wine aging). My next purchase - stainless steel fermenter.
 
I don't think that neck handles are recommended for picking up a full carboy. It must be supported from the bottom for safety.
 
After breaking a glass carboy into a million slivers, I went with plastic bottles and love it. Glass is great, but it was so heavy lifting, bringing into my cellar, putting into the freezer, etc.

Plastic carboys aren't indestructible. I put one on the cement floor, and I guess there was a tiny stone there and it made a hole(leak).
 
I decided on no glass carboys when I first started brewing a little over 5 years ago. My decision was because of the weight of a glass carboy and 5 gallons of wort compared to a PET carboy with the same. Since reading all the disaster threads of broken carboys, severed tendons etc. I have never regretted my decision.

Thermal shock in a plastic fermenter will most likely only cause the loss of the beer with no injury. It might only cause the carboy to melt into an unusable shape.

The argument for older thicker glass carboys, or "I have never broken one" is just saying that you are willing to gamble. The thicker glass to me just means the shards will be stronger and might cut you up more effectively.
 
I pretty much stopped using my glass carboys after i saw a few of the "broken carboy horror story threads"
While i loved being able to see active fermentation, I really don't want to have it slip out of my hands one day while cleaning it and have it sever half my arm.
Buckets are also much easier to clean.
 
I purchased it 2-3 months ago, 6.5 gallon from Northern Brewer. It's the type with the squares are over (as opposed to smooth glass). The section that broke was actually the very thick part at the bottom. I only put in chilled wort (70 degrees, etc.). I did keep it in a fridge though, going down to 33 degrees during lagering. The only thing irregular, I'd say is that the bottom may have been a little sticky - but not stuck to the bottom of the fridge. After I get them about an inch off the ground, I will grab the bottom. I suspect the initial torque of lifting it by the handle + a little (not a lot) sticky on the bottom + 6 gallons of beer, some how stressed the bottle too much and I got that weird crack. I immediately put it down and so didn't have a flood. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to sanitize the 5 gallon replacement where the diacetyl rest is going on at the moment (did get to sanitize the racking cane). I hope it doesn't get a bug.
 
I used to do the bucket, then carboy secondary. I read how everybody was just doing primary in glass, so I went that route. I can afford stainless steel, so SS brew bucket is on the shopping list. Probably will go without thermometer, so I can set the whole brew bucket a bucket of ice water to go from 70 post-counter wort chilled, down to 50s for making lagers. I'll drill another hole in the lid for my temp probe. No more racking to go into kegs, more sanitizable than plastic, and much safer than heavy glass. Another thing I might change is to raise my chest freezer about 6 inches off the ground. This time around in trying to get the beer out, I had to pump a lot with my racking wand, because the replacement carboy I was racking into was almost the same height as the carboy sitting in the chest freezer.
 
I am also a glass-to-plastic convert after having my 6.5 gal carboy (from BSG Handcraft) crack similarly to the OP's while cradling it in my bare arms cleaning it out! Thank God I noticed it sounded kind of 'dull-thud-ish' instead of the usual 'gong-ish' when I set it in the bottom of the sink! I look at it and saw a crack over half way around the bottom. Always carried it in a nylon harness and never dropped or bumped it. Since that near-disaster it's BMBs for me. Love that they are accessible, lightweight, easy to clean, temperature-change insensitive, etc..

No looking back.
 
[...]I only put in chilled wort (70 degrees, etc.). I did keep it in a fridge though, going down to 33 degrees during lagering.[...]

You'd have a pretty cold carboy after racking to a keg or bottling bucket, and even room temperature water to rinse it out or to clean it would constitute a huge thermal shock.

Do that enough times, et voila! No more bottom.

The only carboys I use (6.5g Italian glass) I bought new and have treated like live grenades ever since.
Haven't lost one yet and the oldest is now in its 16th year.

And I'd never use someone else's carboy...

Cheers!
 
Interesting - I didn't think about that hot water rinse clearning thermal shock issue! Thx.
 
A chest freezer can stratify temps being much colder at the bottom then the top.

I think using a glass fermenter is a bad idea for many reasons, thermal shock being one of many....

About a year ago I picked up 7 old glass carboys from an older fellow that lived around the corner that had gotten out of brewing a long time ago and was sitting the carboys at the curb.

The carboys had been sitting in a shed for years and were filthy. After washing them, I came to the conclusion that handling them wet was a dangerous proposition and sold them cheap and quick on Craig's list to a winemaker that was happy to have them and comfortable using them.

JMO, many better safer options out there for fermenting beer.
 

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