Glass Breaks

[lslbrew]

My father used to be a microbiologist in a lab and he had two sayings.
1. Round objects roll.
2. Glass breaks.
The meaning was to watch when you put down a thermometer or hydromerter. They will roll right off the table and when they hit the ground...glass breaks. Also for glass breaks, never trust a flask.

So I was disappointed but not surprised to find this today. Looks like the stir bar got thrown off center and went right thru.

 

[jasonclick]

That sucks. But true. I’ve broke 2 of my 3 specialty hydrometers

 

[CJ-3]

As far as breaks go that one is fairly clean

 

[MaryB]

I only lay my hydrometer on a folded towel so it can't roll. I bumped a flask against a canning jar and it turned to glass pieces in my hand! No cuts but what a mess all over the floor. Now I only buy name brand lab flasks, they seem to be tougher. Ones I am using are Kimax.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I never break glass things. Well, unless they contain mercury, then sometimes yes.

 

[PADave]

I never set my hydrometer down. It's always either in the sample container to take a reading, or in the plastic tube it came in. As soon as I take a reading, I clean it off and back into the storage tube. Works so far, still using my original one.

 

[InLimbo]

Don't you hate it when you find yet another thing your father was right about...?

 

[MaxStout]

I only lay my hydrometer on a folded towel so it can't roll. I bumped a flask against a canning jar and it turned to glass pieces in my hand! No cuts but what a mess all over the floor. Now I only buy name brand lab flasks, they seem to be tougher. Ones I am using are Kimax.

I learned the hard way about that Chinese-knockoff "student-grade" labware. Pyrex/Kimax or GTFO.

 

[day_trippr]

Wow, that's bizarre, such a clean hole, I would not have believed that was even possible...

 

[BrewZer]

That glass looks REALLY thin.

 

[MaryB]

No name lab ware is not only thin but really brittle compared to Pyrex/Kimax one of my cats knocked my Kimax flask on the floor last night and it just bounced... the cheap flask from NB(came as part of their Fast Ferment canned wort intro) would have shattered in a million pieces...

And I bought the Kimax on ebay new in the box for 1/2 the price NB charges for the no name! I picked up 3, one is still in the box, 2 in use. I always have a spare for every fragile piece of brew equipment!

That glass looks REALLY thin.

 

[lslbrew]

This flask was a Kimax #26505 2000ml. It would have come out of one of Dad's labs years ago when the lab was disposing of equipment. In the flask's defense, I autoclave my starters in a pressure cooker so they have had many cycles of intense heat and cooling. That alone could have weakened the glass.
I will agree it was shocking to see such a clean break. The hole diameter matches the length of the stir bar. Maybe it was spinning as it hit but who knows.
I still had a good brew day. Had to pick up a smack pack of yeast at the brewing store to replace this starter but worse things could have happened.

 

[JugDog]

I recently cracked my 6 gallon glass carboy while pitching a starter. I poured in the starter and quickly uprighted the flask. The bottom edge whacked the carbon and spread a horizontal crack about 6 inches long. I managed to save it by siphoning into a different vessel.

I’m done with glass fermenters. Switched to a fermonster.