ebeer
Well-Known Member
Just a note of caution for those who boil and chill in Erlenmeyer flasks. You might be well served to do the occasional visual inspection. I just lost mine this weekend.
I have a glass top stove where I boil my starters in the flask (recommended on Morebeer website) then I chill in an ice bath. Pretty standard stuff and I've been using the same 2L flask for 3-4 years brewing twice a month or so.
This weekend we heard a very strange creaking then saw small drops of work leak out the bottom of the flask onto the burner. I immediately slid the flask off the hot burner, but I knew we were stuck. The leak dropped faster and faster, so I tried to pick the flask up...all I did was touch it and the whole bottom broke lose - a perfect circle - oh and hot wort everywhere.
I got the mess cleaned up, and remade a starter in a new vessel.
I'm not sure if 3-4 years of boil/chill finally broke the flask down or maybe it got a hair line crack somehow an I didn't notice. Either way, I will be doing a close inspection of my starter flask (when I buy a new one) from now on.
Oh, it was a borosilicate flask.
I have a glass top stove where I boil my starters in the flask (recommended on Morebeer website) then I chill in an ice bath. Pretty standard stuff and I've been using the same 2L flask for 3-4 years brewing twice a month or so.
This weekend we heard a very strange creaking then saw small drops of work leak out the bottom of the flask onto the burner. I immediately slid the flask off the hot burner, but I knew we were stuck. The leak dropped faster and faster, so I tried to pick the flask up...all I did was touch it and the whole bottom broke lose - a perfect circle - oh and hot wort everywhere.
I got the mess cleaned up, and remade a starter in a new vessel.
I'm not sure if 3-4 years of boil/chill finally broke the flask down or maybe it got a hair line crack somehow an I didn't notice. Either way, I will be doing a close inspection of my starter flask (when I buy a new one) from now on.
Oh, it was a borosilicate flask.