I live on the east coast and wasn't that hot, nope. Somebody else was confused as to why all the beer disappeared and there wasn't a massive mess. I'm sure the bottom didn't crack, there was no messes around. Yes, I've used the same bucket, but I bought a second one I would use before I went to the old one. I thought that too, but I never leave left over wort. I did think of that, and it seems the most reasonable. As far as I checked, I had two batches already in bottles, but I knew what they were, I had just bottled them a couple weeks before. I even realized I messed up and didn't put priming sugar in one of them and had to transfer it all to a key to make it drinkable. So, big mystery. Somebody just gave me a 6 gallon glass carboy and I'm picking up another 5 gallon one this weekend.