No more glass carboys for me

[dnitty]

So after reading the horror stories and knowing it would never happen to me, yesterday I managed to drop a carboy with about 4.5 gallons of what I think was really good wort. I got a late start and while I missed my target mash temp by two degrees (so the brown would have been a little drier, no big deal), I think this smoky brown ale would have been a winner. I decided to carry the carboy from the back yard to the side door rather then take the shorter walk through the house. If only I had dropped it outside rather than two feet from the fermentation chamber in the laundry room. I only have one small cut on my finger and phase 1 of the cleanup effort is complete. When I get home from work phase II begins when I pull out the washer and dryer to mop under them. Not sure how the drop happened...it happened so fast! Oh yeah, I have one of the nylon lifting harnesses (it was tucked away in a storage bin at the time).

I've order two PET plastic FerMonster carboys from Morebeer and I'm going to brew this recipe again as soon as they arrive.

I just needed to share this with someone who would understand. Glad my wife was away on business travel.

 

[bruteforce]

Glad you're mostly ok! That really blows though, good luck on the cleanup.

 

[jrcrilly]

I believe that you will like the Fermonsters. They are a nice upgrade from the plastic carboys I had been using (I don't do glass either).

 

[Murphys_Law]

And man are they easier to clean! I rarely put anything in glass now. Either buckets or these.

 

[dallasdb]

That stinks! I was hoping for some pictures though...

 

[dnitty]

Here you are. I'm glad I didn't take one of the full horror. I just stood there for a moment not believing what had happened. These are the larger pieces but there are many small ones in the trash.

 

[dallasdb]

Holy cow!!! That is crazy.

Did the wort shoot up and get all over the walls and ceiling?

 

[Thorsbrew]

Ugh sticky wort everywhere after a long brew day

At least you're basically fine and didnt slice your legs open and have to rush to the ER.

 

[mashinary]

Sorry man. I had a near miss when I started brewing and haven't used carboy since. Count yourself luck only some beer was lost.

 

[JonM]

Ugh. A while back I overflowed a growler while filling it with root beer. That required moving the tool cabinet, the dryer and a ton of other crap. Man, the cleanup was a gigantic never ending pain in the arse. It was like "Whew, I'm finally done. Oh crap, there's more under the shelf. Of and there's some on the rug. How the hell did it get all the way over by the dehumidifier?!" Yuck.

 

[dnitty]

Not that I know of. I do think that I'll be cleaning for a while this evening. I work close to home and drove home to let the dogs out. One of the dogs ended up in the laundry room licking the floor and that was a spot I thought I had gotten fairly clean already...Really looking forward to the Fermonsters! Had I dropped one of them I think it would have survived. I'll also be using the nylon harness to keep it low to the ground even thought it's plastic.

 

[JonM]

Swing by Home Depot and grab some milk crates. Those things are perfect for carrying around fermenters.

 

[GPP33]

Sorry to hear about the loss. I'm still in the "it'll never happen to me camp". Maybe one day I'll try the fermonsters. I like the idea of a 7.5 gallon since I can't seem to reliably yield a full 5 galls form a 6.5 gallon carboy and just being able to stick my arm in to wipe it out sounds a lot better than messing with a brush.

 

[Thorsbrew]

Sorry to hear about the loss. I'm still in the "it'll never happen to me camp". Maybe one day I'll try the fermonsters. I like the idea of a 7.5 gallon since I can't seem to reliably yield a full 5 galls form a 6.5 gallon carboy and just being able to stick my arm in to wipe it out sounds a lot better than messing with a brush.

Can you reach your arm all the way to the bottom? Right now i've got a big mouth bubbler but i'll be getting fermonsters when i need more. The mouth opening is a bit smaller than the bubblers (off the top of my head the fermonsters are 4 inches while the bubblers are 5.5, i might be wrong but thats what i recall).

 

[dnitty]

I'll let you know about the opening when they arrive in a few days.

 

[petrolSpice]

I had one crack on me randomly during secondary. Luckily I was nearby and heard it crack. It leaked out slowly and I was able to transfer to another carboy and only lost 1/2 gallon.

I had another who's bottom broke out a couple days into fermenting a IIPA. I was really pissed about that because it was a $100+ batch.

No more glass for me. Now I use a Speidel 30L fermenter and a 6 gallon better bottle.

 

[GPP33]

Can you reach your arm all the way to the bottom? Right now i've got a big mouth bubbler but i'll be getting fermonsters when i need more. The mouth opening is a bit smaller than the bubblers (off the top of my head the fermonsters are 4 inches while the bubblers are 5.5, i might be wrong but thats what i recall).

I don't need to get all the way to the bottom, just above where the top of the beer sits. That's where crap sticks to the walls.

 

[Murphys_Law]

Can you reach your arm all the way to the bottom? Right now i've got a big mouth bubbler but i'll be getting fermonsters when i need more. The mouth opening is a bit smaller than the bubblers (off the top of my head the fermonsters are 4 inches while the bubblers are 5.5, i might be wrong but thats what i recall).

It depends on your arm!

I have the 6 gallon version and I can clean the bottom easily.

 

[dallasdb]

Ugh. A while back I overflowed a growler while filling it with root beer.

 

[UndeadFred]

I believe that you will like the Fermonsters. They are a nice upgrade from the plastic carboys I had been using (I don't do glass either).

Second. I really like mine. Only thing I think I'd like better is a SS conical. The 7 gallon size is nice because I make six now, and get a FULL keg, a growler (I leave flat and use for cooking) +/- trub. And it still has a gallon headspace so it rarely overflows.

Only issue I've had is that the lid often seals TOO well, unlike the reports of the BMB's not sealing. So put it on just finger tight and make sure the threads are clean when you do it.

 

[UndeadFred]

Can you reach your arm all the way to the bottom? Right now i've got a big mouth bubbler but i'll be getting fermonsters when i need more. The mouth opening is a bit smaller than the bubblers (off the top of my head the fermonsters are 4 inches while the bubblers are 5.5, i might be wrong but thats what i recall).

Short answer to this is yes. I suppose if you had a REALLY fat arm, maybe not..

 

[foam_top]

Not sure how the drop happened...it happened so fast!

Reminds me of an off-road bike accident I was in. I didn't technically do anything wrong but I was already half way through the crash when I realized it was happening.

Best of luck on your cleanup. Cheers!

 

[seabrew8]

Glass carboys suck.

 

[PADave]

Swing by Home Depot and grab some milk crates. Those things are perfect for carrying around fermenters.

That one of the downfalls of the Fermonster, they are hard to pick up full unless in something. Mine always goes into a milk crate. That's one of the reasons I prefer to use my Spiedel, handles.