Catastrophic Failure!!

Brewing a 5.5 gallon batch of Two-Fisted Tales IPA from Tuxedo Park Brewers last night. Everything was going amazing! One of those nights when the moon and stars align and you hit all you numbers and it just goes smooth! Had a very experience brewing buddy helping me out. Pitched the yeast into my 6 gallon carboy picked it up to aerate and mix...BOOM!! I now have a multiple piece carboy and 5.5 gallons a great beer all over the garage floor!!

Either I hit the carboy on the zipper of my jacket or the carboy was flawed. I like to think the later but most likely it was the zipper. I couldn't sleep at all last night I was so upset about losing the beer.

The question: Should I move toward the Better Bottle or stay with the glass carboy? Merely looking for opinions, I have found a few very helpful posts that have given great information.

 

I only brew with plastic buckets, sorry for your loss

 

I use a BB ale pale & a Cooper's micro brew FV's. Maybe get a better bottle for next time. Or ale pales to br safer. That's why I don't fill fermenters to total volume till it's where it's going to sit while fermenting.
In my case,my fermenter stand.

 

I have one BB and 5 plastic buckets.

 

I LOVE my Better Bottles!!

 

All safer,lighter,& easier to handle,certainly. Safer being the key word here. I hate reading how a member went to the hospital with those glass carboys.

 

Very true, I feel lucky I didn't end up with part the carboy in my body!

 

Seems like we a have big population of Indiana members on this site

Sorry to hear about your loss, I picked up a Better Bucket last time I was at Tuxedo Park. I have been really happy with it so far. I have a couple buckets and the BB.

 

Sorry to hear man. Yes go to better bottles, you wont regret it. Just remember you can't sue and brush on them. Get some PBW cleaner and a carboy washer and you will be able to get everything out.

I lost my first batch to a careless placement of a bottling bucket. You never forget it but it becomes a funny story later on. Get a new carboy and get back on that horse.

 

I have 5 better bottles. I also broke a glass carboy and I'll never buy one again (full disclosure, I still have 2 glass carboys that I do long-term sour aging in).

Also,

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/vs-pro-con-analysis-109318/

 

I like my Better Bottles and I would bet you could salvage most of the beer if you drop one, pending you picked it up right away. Never used glass, other than 1 gallon jugs and have no plans to use anything else.

 

I'm having a hard time understanding how a zipper would cause a carboy to break?

 

The op said he may've had a weak spot in the carboy that hit the zipper pull enough to shatter it?...idk,it's possible I guess.

 

I don't understand why they don't make these glass carboys out of tempered glass or something?! They seem to fail far too often.

 

Pyrex would make more sense for something that big.

 

Bummer!!! Same thing happened to me 6 months ago, here's the thread

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/first-screw-up-boy-pic-264043/

I bought better bottles and will never ever go back.

 

Sorry for your loss, more importantly very glad you did not get hurt! Glass carboys belong in a milk crate. Use the milk crate handles to barely lift the carboy off of the ground and shake like hell. Works every time and no broken carboys. You'll get 'em next time slugger.

 

Fishers, IN reporting in.

Sorry for the loss, glad nobody got hurt. Now, quit typing and get back to brewing!

 

Another Indy resident checking in. I mostly use plastic fermenters and only use my glass carboy on rare specialty beers.

 

Another Indy resident here. I feel your pain. Been there done that.

 

Another Indy brewer here. Sorry for the loss. Let me know how the kit from Tuxedo Park turns out if you end up brewing it again. They had a few kits that looked interesting when I was there last weekend.

And brew in 6.5 gallon plastic buckets mostly, but I have a five gallon glass carboy as well. The buckets just make it easier for taking samples to test things like that, but I do like the carboys because you can see what's happening in them during fermentation.

 

Yet another Indy brewer (Greenfield). How do you like Tuxedo Park vs. Great Fermentations? I've always gone to GF.

I can't give up my 6.5 glass carboy. Too addicted to my 6 gallon batches & it's easy to view and add a blowoff if needed. Sorry to hear you about your beer/carboy loss...

 

I prefer Great Fermentations. Nothing against Tuxedo Park, but GF has a much friendlier and more helpful staff, they've got a much bigger selection on most everything, and their store is much, much cleaner. The only thing I liked about Tuxedo Park more (besides the fact that it's so much closer to my house than GF) is that they had some pretty decent looking kits they make up there.

I may go back to Tuxedo Park at some point to try one of their extract/grain kits, but besides that I'll keep driving an hour to Great Fermentations.

 

Is this an Indy thread? Shelbyville here. I have not been to GF, but I like Tuxedo, they have been very helpful and it's pretty much on my way home from work. The prices seem good too.

 

Sure seems to be now! West Lafayette is now represented, too. (Can't weigh in on the Great Fermentations vs Tuxedo Park threadjack because I do my shopping at Butler Winery in Bloomington---long way from WL, but I get down there a lot to visit family.)

I have just started brewing and since I have little kids around, I decided early on that there was no way I was going to have big glass bottles around. I have two Better Bottles and they seem great to me. I just make sure to pull the air lock out of the hole in the stopper before moving it, otherwise the flex tends to suck the fluid into the bottle.

 

I throw better bottles off my roof just because I can.

Sorry for your loss. That would cause me to lose sleep too

 

I just ran across this while playing on YouTube. You already know what happens when a glass carboy meets the same fate.

 

NWI checking in... I have four glass, a bucket, and two 3 gal BBs. I love my glass but honestly live in fear of them... They were accumulated very cheaply over time and I can't justify swapping out. Getting Brew Haulers to help move them improved my plight tremendously, and I have a stir rod for aeration so I don't shake.

For my own part, milk crates work for moving, but I still prefer my Brew Hauler as I generally don't have to bend as much. If your carboys are in high traffic areas, however, a milk crate or other protection is vital.

Part of the beauty of the glass is seeing the beer in action IMHO. Also, they'll last forever (at least theoretically, zipper issues notwithstanding), and will not scratch or impart favors. The major Better Bottle advantage is weight and general ease of mind, safety-wise.

Eventually I may switch over, especially as my back continues to age and bark at me over time... Just hoping I don't get forced into wishing I'd made the decision earlier by suffering a similar disaster as the OP.

 

This is why I don't buy my zippered hoodies from the Wolverine collection. The adamatium pulls seem nice, until something like this happens.

Sorry for your loss.

 

+1 for polyethylene terephthalate.

 

Sorry for your loss. If you like glass, try using o2 to aerate. Only thought of this because I'm going to order one tuesday.

 

Yes it does :rockin:

 

Thanks everyone for the thoughts! I ran out today and picked up two 6 gallon BB and built a kit using BeerSmith...crazy easy! I am going to brew the newest batch and try to forget the failures. But I have learned!!

 

Looks like thermal shock to me. I would be willing to guess you poured the wort into the carboy still warm, then tried to further cool it in an ice bath. As an engineer, I must say that's a big no no with ceramics. I wouldn't necessarily blame the carboy. Also that kind of handle would create a lot of stress on the carboy. That is literally the worst place to lift it. Make sure to lift from the bottom.

 

Because it couldn't unless it was the size of a softball.

 

mpenn35, Thanks you for the compliments. I am the manager at GF and it's good to hear that we're hitting the mark. Please let me know when you're in next and introduce yourself!

Bill

 

Will do! Unfortunately, your store is 45 minutes to an hour for me, so I've only made it over there a few times. Or maybe it's a good thing, because if you were any closer, I'd probably be spending way too much money there...

 

lol...it's 1.5 hours for me but but I do go from time to time. I've always love there selection and friendly staff as well. I've never been to Tuxedo Park, just recently found out about it.

 

Yep, True that !

 

Glad you weren't hurt with the breaking glass and good move on getting the Better Bottles. It is stories like this that makes it certain that I will never use glass. Well maybe in 2 gallon size or less.