Broken Glass Carboy Horror Stories Compendium

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Anyone use the covers on Carboy.net ? I have three for some 6 gallon carboys and have never had any issues. They (at least when I bought mine) seem pretty sturdy, have carried multiple full carboys and have never heard so much of a frightening seam stretching noise from em. Well worth the investment and I still stand by em.
 
Beardless said:
Anyone use the covers on Carboy.net ? I have three for some 6 gallon carboys and have never had any issues. They (at least when I bought mine) seem pretty sturdy, have carried multiple full carboys and have never heard so much of a frightening seam stretching noise from em. Well worth the investment and I still stand by em.
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Do you clean the carboys with the cover on? Cleaning is where over half of the horror stories originate from.

Also $30 for a carboy another $24 for the cover = you are half way to a stainless steel fermenter, almost double the cost of a PET fermenter and more that double the cost of a bucket.
 
I usually use the covers while transporting, not completely while cleaning. They zip all the way down the side, so I usually leave the carboys sitting on the cover with it unzipped so I can see the whole thing while cleaning, then zip it up to use the cover’s handles for dumping. I leave them on during fermentation. Stainless fermenters for $120? Consider me interested.
 
I used a good quality 5 gallon glass carboy for years with no problems. Of course, I never tried to move it when full and was careful about setting it down (empty) and even thermal shock. I still will use this type (if it's the same quality I had before) I lived in the mountains for years... used a chainsaw to cut trees for firewood. No problems, but look on you tube and see many screwups... people do stupid things. Same for guns, knifes, fires, ect. I do suspect the low quality glass is not to be trusted, but why the heck would anyone move a full carboy?
 
doctor strangebrew said:
I used a good quality 5 gallon glass carboy for years with no problems. Of course, I never tried to move it when full and was careful about setting it down (empty) and even thermal shock. I still will use this type (if it's the same quality I had before) I lived in the mountains for years... used a chainsaw to cut trees for firewood. No problems, but look on you tube and see many screwups... people do stupid things. Same for guns, knifes, fires, ect. I do suspect the low quality glass is not to be trusted, but why the heck would anyone move a full carboy?
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To place it in a fermentation chamber? To lift it high enough to siphon to a bottling bucket or keg? To move it from one's outside brew space to an inside area?
 
I would not be surprised to read that ~80% of carboy failures happen with wet hands.
Then you have the dry-handed drops, random collisions with inelastic objects, and the thermal-shocked-bottom-fell-outs...

Cheers!
 
Put in on something before filling so it's ready to siphon later. Be careful cleaning... wear rubber gloves for grip. Set it down gently on hard surfaces... once again, common sense (oh, I forgot... I'm old school... maybe people don't know what that is anymore) If the issue is cheap glass, then I understand. I will do a search and see if quality glass carboys are still available. Got mine 20 years ago.
 
It's all good until it isn't anymore..... Your risk, one I am not willing to take when there are safer alternatives. And in the case of PET, the safety far outweighs the very few negatives. Even buckets. Stainless steel would be my choice if it were in the budget.
 
kh54s10 said:
It's all good until it isn't anymore..... Your risk, one I am not willing to take when there are safer alternatives. And in the case of PET, the safety far outweighs the very few negatives. Even buckets. Stainless steel would be my choice if it were in the budget.
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I’m a sole proprietor. I go down, my business is closed, and I have no income. Have plenty of other chemicals to worry about.
 
doctor strangebrew said:
Put in on something before filling so it's ready to siphon later. Be careful cleaning... wear rubber gloves for grip. Set it down gently on hard surfaces... once again, common sense (oh, I forgot... I'm old school... maybe people don't know what that is anymore) If the issue is cheap glass, then I understand. I will do a search and see if quality glass carboys are still available. Got mine 20 years ago.
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I submit that perhaps you just got lucky. There's no way in God's green earth I'd use a glass carboy for anything, with the one exception of doing a very long term aging of the beer.
 
never had an issue with carboys made 15-20 years ago, they do seem more robust than the ones made currently (and who knows the exact date manufactured). and made in Mexico. remember the old ones were made for "water coolers" were meant to be flipped upside down full to deliver water. some of the new ones made for homebrewing may or may not have this into consideration. do recall the "big mouth" having problems

My oops came when moving a full carboy to a basement that I did not finish the steps completely, tripped from the 3rd step and stumbled half way and to the bottom, damn near saved it all but was stopped abruptly against a post. survived with some skid scrapes got lucky.

2 lessons learned:

1 don't move fresh wort after brew day down steps after a bunch of beer being drunk
2 don't wear cowboy boots to move said wort down steps after a bunch of beer being drunk

glass can be very resistant and last a life time, but is a ***** to clean for a primary vessel.
 
OleBrewing said:
[...]glass can be very resistant and last a life time, but is a ***** to clean for a primary vessel.
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I haven't found that to be the case, but I don't let cruddy glass sit around for more than the better part of one day, either.
A couple of tablespoons of Oxyfree in water matching the glass temperature and left for a few hours will usually rinse clean.

For the record, I would never buy a used glass carboy. My OCD-driven care of glass runs around "11"...

Cheers!
 
doctor strangebrew said:
Put in on something before filling so it's ready to siphon later. Be careful cleaning... wear rubber gloves for grip. Set it down gently on hard surfaces... once again, common sense (oh, I forgot... I'm old school... maybe people don't know what that is anymore) If the issue is cheap glass, then I understand. I will do a search and see if quality glass carboys are still available. Got mine 20 years ago.
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This. I keep my carboys in milk crates, strapped in.
I only use them for long-term bulk aging, I use buckets for regular fermentations.
I also wear a pair of leather- palmed gardening / work gloves when I clean them; this gives me a pretty good grip. I also have the neck handles on a couple of them. I will use them to tilt when full, and when dumping out rinse water. I'll hold the carboy by that handle if it's empty - never when there's anything in there, but most times I lift and carry by the milk crate, not the carboy itself.
 
day_trippr said:
I haven't found that to be the case, but I don't let cruddy glass sit around for more than the better part of one day, either.
A couple of tablespoons of Oxyfree in water matching the glass temperature and left for a few hours will usually rinse clean.

For the record, I would never buy a used glass carboy. My OCD-driven care of glass runs around "11"...

Cheers!
Click to expand...
yeah that is my regimen also. but then I am filling the carboy up again whit 5-7 gallons of water to soak the krausen ring. seems like a waste of water. and I never have the time to do everything on a time.
 
doctor strangebrew said:
Put in on something before filling so it's ready to siphon later. Be careful cleaning... wear rubber gloves for grip. Set it down gently on hard surfaces... once again, common sense (oh, I forgot... I'm old school... maybe people don't know what that is anymore) If the issue is cheap glass, then I understand. I will do a search and see if quality glass carboys are still available. Got mine 20 years ago.
Click to expand...
Or...

Get a non-glass fermentation vessel.
 
doctor strangebrew said:
Put in on something before filling so it's ready to siphon later. once again, common sense (oh, I forgot... I'm old school... maybe people don't know what that is anymore)
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True, true........I'm thinking of digging a hole in front of my ferm chamber, so my kegs will be low enough to siphon in to.........;)
 
I remember reading this thread when I first started brewing a year ago. Was very eye opening(and sometimes eye closing, good god the carnage). When I upgraded from my buckets I went PET carboys. Just wasn't worth the risk to me. I really don't see a downside to PET, except maybe you have to be more careful cleaning since they can scratch. I found a good soak in oxyclean followed by a hot water rinse did the trick, no scrubbing necessary. Now I ferment in corny kegs which is freaking awesome in so many ways.
 
Beardless said:
Anyone use the covers on Carboy.net ? I have three for some 6 gallon carboys and have never had any issues. They (at least when I bought mine) seem pretty sturdy, have carried multiple full carboys and have never heard so much of a frightening seam stretching noise from em. Well worth the investment and I still stand by em.
Click to expand...


The Carboy.net covers are the ONLY reason I still use glass carboys on occasion. The carboys were given to me many years ago and I keep the carboy in the cover at ALL times. I also use buckets but it was a difficult change not seeing those yeasties going to work.
 
I am currently using 3 gallon glass carboy... a bit easier to deal with (and a 2.5 gallon corney keg) By the way, I didn't mean to offend anyone who was injured by broken glass. I don't like buckets for primary because I like to see what's happening during fermentation, including clearing. PET seems like a good choice and less expensive. I use 1 gallon glass jugs for cider... very easy to handle and they have the handle already (I just buy 1 gallon of cheap wine for $12 and get the jug for free) I actually like the cheap wine. It's a chianti made locally.
 
Foot_Cut_Not_Pretty.jpg
Broke a 5-gal carboy full of freeze-concentrated apple juice and learned a lesson about personal protective equipment. The back end of the carboy slipped as I was pouring the juice into a new carbon for fermenting in. Carboy smashed in slow motion and I watched the thick, syrupy juice go down my floor drain. I cursed, put on leather gloves, and picked up the broken pieces. Then I decided to stomp the pieces down in my garbage can... and large shard of carboy nearly sliced my achilles tendon in half. Double damn.

It took about 20 gallons of ~1.045 juice to make the 5 gallons of 1.145 OG juice and I spent a good three weeks not being able to put a shoe on. Luckily my foot healed nicely and I just have a weird "U" scar on my heel now.

LESSON: don't stomp on glass while wearing flimsy shoes.
 
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LostHopper said:
Are 3 gallon and 5 gallon PET carboys the same dimensions as the glass carboys?
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Not sure of diameter but i believe they are slightly shorter and the area around the neck is less sloped. Also they have a wider opening. #10 bung
 
Neanderthal man here. I like the glass carboy for the view and nostalgia. All my carboys are antique store pick-ups for $10 or so, old water cooler bottles.
I keep them in milk crates and all have neck handles for control when cleaning. Cut one side off a milk crate to use to transfer from ferm chamber and back out. And built a carboy cleaner/sprayer from some stuff laying around the garage. Half gallon hot water and some oxyclean gets the job done.
 
For those that talk of older stronger carboys think of this. When they do break you have very strong razor sharp pieces of shrapnel....

Be safe my friends.
 
I've got a 5 gallon carboy that came with my beginner's kit. It gets use every once in a while bulk aging a beer that benefits from bulk aging (Brett Saison right now). It lives in a 25L bucket. Being tapered a little like most buckets, the bottom of the bucket hugs the carboy nicely - I think it actually rests a couple centimeters above the bottom. There's no reason for me to take the carboy out of the bucket in most circumstances and very little chance of getting hurt if it breaks. Heck, I could even salvage most of the beer in that case by putting some kind of filter (for glass shards) on the end of my autosiphon and siphoning the beer out, though it'll probably be a bit oxidized.

I have little interest in participating in the glass carboy sweepstakes so I can watch my krausen grow, but with the carboy in a bucket and an old t-shirt wrapped around the top, it doesn't worry me as an occasional long-term secondary vessel. No thanks on milk crates - I could see a bunch of ways that could go wrong - but a bucket is good by me.
 
FatDragon said:
I've got a 5 gallon carboy that came with my beginner's kit. It gets use every once in a while bulk aging a beer that benefits from bulk aging (Brett Saison right now). It lives in a 25L bucket. Being tapered a little like most buckets, the bottom of the bucket hugs the carboy nicely - I think it actually rests a couple centimeters above the bottom. There's no reason for me to take the carboy out of the bucket in most circumstances and very little chance of getting hurt if it breaks. Heck, I could even salvage most of the beer in that case by putting some kind of filter (for glass shards) on the end of my autosiphon and siphoning the beer out, though it'll probably be a bit oxidized.

I have little interest in participating in the glass carboy sweepstakes so I can watch my krausen grow, but with the carboy in a bucket and an old t-shirt wrapped around the top, it doesn't worry me as an occasional long-term secondary vessel. No thanks on milk crates - I could see a bunch of ways that could go wrong - but a bucket is good by me.
Click to expand...

I can see, with the very small contact only around the bottom rim of the carboy, that you are putting a lot of stress on a very small area of the carboy. I would worry that it will fail because of this....
 
kh54s10 said:
I can see, with the very small contact only around the bottom rim of the carboy, that you are putting a lot of stress on a very small area of the carboy. I would worry that it will fail because of this....
Click to expand...
I've wondered about this as well. Certainly it would be nice to have a slightly bigger bucket, maybe with an old T-shirt or towel between the carboy and the bucket bottom and walls for added padding, but I'm fine as is for now, since the prospect of catastrophic failure doesn't include much chance of grievous injury or five gallons of beer on the floor. If I find the right bucket lying around, I'll be sure to give it an upgrade though.
 
I now age beer in kegs. No chance of cutting anything off with those. Plus zero O2 and zero possibility of light
 
Lost Nutz Garage said:
Neanderthal man here. I like the glass carboy for the view and nostalgia. All my carboys are antique store pick-ups for $10 or so, old water cooler bottles.
I keep them in milk crates and all have neck handles for control when cleaning. Cut one side off a milk crate to use to transfer from ferm chamber and back out. And built a carboy cleaner/sprayer from some stuff laying around the garage. Half gallon hot water and some oxyclean gets the job done.
Click to expand...


Been making wine since the early 70s, and brewed beer ever since 'Jimmy Carter Day' in 1978. Back then, glass was the most common fermenter for primary and secondary, though plastic was also frequently used for primary. I still have 5 5-gallon carboys, some of which I still use with their original milk crates. I also have 4 6-gallon and 2 -6 1/2-gallon glass carboys. There's also an assortment of 3, 2 1/2, 1, 1/2 gallon jugs. I've only had ONE break on me during that 45 year period.

Good luck? Paranoid caution? Don't know. But the one that broke (imploded) was a 6 1/2 gallon one I was using to degas wine under vacuum. Guess it was too much vacuum, but more than likely it was a fault in the glass. That experience led to a series of Better Bottle, Big Mouth, and other plastic ones which are light which saved my aging back but problematic wrt infections and oxygen exposure.

That led to my current process of fermenting both beer and wine in SS Brewtech Brew Buckets and Chronicals. The wine gets transferred into glass secondary and gets clarified and filtered on it's way to bottling. The beer only goes through a single fermenter/fermentation (trub dump and yeast harvest during the time in the conical) unless I Krausen and spund in a keg when gravity drops to 3~4 points of FG.

Expensive? You bet. But at this point in life it's worth it to me. Plus, the wine and especially the beer are much better with steel. AND, I no longer worry about bleeding out from a sliced femoral artery from a broken carboy.

Brooo Brother
 

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