13 Gallon Carboy

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Mirage

Mirage

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Merry Christmas! So, I was at my grandparent's house this afternoon, checking to make sure their pump was pumping water (the water table is very high so their basement floods) and while searching for a longer extension cord I saw something in the corner. Low and behold, it was a gigantic glass carboy! I have been wanting a glass carboy for a while now (want to watch the yeasties :)) so I am very excited. It says 1944 on the bottom and also 13 gallons! Sooo big, I can't wait to start doing AG just so I can fill it full of beer! :)
 
Cool! Just make sure it's where you want it when you fill it. Once it's full, you won't be moving it. Also, be really careful around it. 13 gallons of beer would make an awful mess.
 
Nice find. Heck, you could ferment a 10 gallon batch in that. Definitely use a blowoff tube though.

It would also make a great bulk aging vessel for a 13 gallon batch of wine. Most wine kits are 6 gallons. You could ferment two 6 gallon kits of the same type in a 20 gallon Rubbermaid Brute trash can and combine them in that huge carboy after fermentation for bulk aging.

You definitely won't be able to move it when full. Unless.... you go to Harbor Freight and buy one of their rolling hydraulic lift tables!
 
:) That would be cool... Maybe next Christmas, hahaha. I just noticed that it has bubbles in the glass, and the ones that are near the surface on the outside have small indentations. If there are small indentations on the inside, do you think it is alright to ferment in? Thanks!
 
:) I need to pick up a handtruck or something. I don't trust carrying it around the house. It is in my bathtub now, full of oxyclean. Have to try it with water first to make sure it is manageable.
 
Mirage said:
Merry Christmas! So, I was at my grandparent's house this afternoon, checking to make sure their pump was pumping water (the water table is very high so their basement floods) and while searching for a longer extension cord I saw something in the corner. Low and behold, it was a gigantic glass carboy! I have been wanting a glass carboy for a while now (want to watch the yeasties :)) so I am very excited. It says 1944 on the bottom and also 13 gallons! Sooo big, I can't wait to start doing AG just so I can fill it full of beer! :)
Click to expand...

Check with your Grandparents, if old enough I bet they were doing homebrewing during prohibition and this was something that came along after and they could not pass up. Get the history if you can before it is lost forever. That's what my Grandparents did coming from Germany to the US in 1924 thru Ellis Island. Old country bier brewing. My dad recalled telling them that is was not legal back when he was a kid then and Grandma with her German accent would reply and I also remembered what sounded like "BUOYCHET" about prohibition.
What ever you do be very religious about placing a thick rubber mat under it no matter if it's empty especially if full. One small little piece of stone or gravel and it will shatter then what do you have? There may be many internal stresses in the glass made from back then. Enjoy your family treasure. I would build a open box frame with a solid plywood bottom with a pad if it were mine. Congrats and enjoy.
 
That reminds me of a job i was working on and the guy had an old 20 gallon glass carboy from nappa valley winery in his basement and it was over 20 years old... he offered to sell it, said it had been in his basement since he bought the place... He said he wanted 40 bucks for it and i didnt have the money... i was 17 and women were almost as important as brewin then, and the girl friend was expensive... i wish i had bought it now

Cheers
 
Mirage said:
:) I need to pick up a handtruck or something. I don't trust carrying it around the house. It is in my bathtub now, full of oxyclean. Have to try it with water first to make sure it is manageable.
Click to expand...


My 2 cents...fill it...ferment it...don't be moving it around the house w/ anything except air inside!!

OK...you have been warned...brew on and be safe.

Mike
 
greenbirds said:
Cool, could you post a photo?
Click to expand...

Been trying to, can't get the bluetooth set up from my laptop to my phone though, so it will have to wait. :(

Thanks for all the advice on storing it properly. I have only been using plastic buckets for fermenting right now and have no idea about carboys. I guess we will have to think of a way to empty the wort into the carboy and not move it from the kitchen to our room... I really don't want to break it!
 
Mirage said:
Been trying to, can't get the bluetooth set up from my laptop to my phone though, so it will have to wait. :(

Thanks for all the advice on storing it properly. I have only been using plastic buckets for fermenting right now and have no idea about carboys. I guess we will have to think of a way to empty the wort into the carboy and not move it from the kitchen to our room... I really don't want to break it!
Click to expand...

Is it too deep for an autosiphon? I would try and fill it where it will ferment (if thats even a remote possibility) and then pump the wort to a keg or bottling bucket(s) from there. I myself, after using 6 gallon carboys for a year, would not try and move it at with 10 gallons of wort. Great find!
 
Great idea! I do not own an autosiphon but I am sure that, that would work out alright. I should pick one up, I just don't want to make too much of a mess (it ferments in our bedroom). We only do 5 gallon batches right now, so it won't be too full. After visiting my other Grandmother, she has a 5 gallon carboy from making wine that she hasn't used in 20 years and will give me too! What a great holiday season!
 
Hey all, sorry for the long delay. I finally got everything worked out. Here is the new 13 gallon carboy. The second pic is there for comparison purposes. It is next to the new 5 gallon one. Jan19 028.jpg

Jan19 035.jpg
 
I scored the exact same thing off of a job site from a lady. It was 13.5 gallons and said "MC... something" on the bottom. She gave it to me for free. I took it home and started cleaning it with my brush and popped a hole out of it the size of a grapefruit. I cried myself to sleep that night. Mine also said 1945.

Does it say a manufacturer name on the bottom?
 
Yea, mine says the same thing, MC AG STD or something. So it is really fragile do you think? I haven't started brushing yet.
 
mine had some thick spots and some REALLY THIN spots. I was rotating the brush around in there and it popped out like it was nothing. I got in the phone book to see if any glass blowers could fix it. I was so sad.

I would just say be careful.
 
Yea, could you see the thin/thick places? Mine looks pretty uniform except for the bottom and top. That sucks so much, I am truly sorry for your loss. :(
 
It was hard to tell. like you said you saw bubbles in the glass. I think I remember those spots being thinner.
Don't break it for yours and my sake. After I broke that thing I spent the next two weeks trying to find one and didn't even come close. So as far as I know they are EXTREMELY rare.
 
Hmm, I am now contemplating not using it to brew beer in. :( This makes me sad but not as sad as if it were broken. Were the glass blowers able to fix it?
 
I just got a 13 gallon carboy from 1945 last night for $25 and was wondering what stopper you can use with it? It came with a ceramic plug that looks kinda nasty. Any ideas?
 
I think most of the caveats on your find have been covered adequately in this thread....except for the '64 years old.' Glass ages, and not like champagne....it doesn't improve. If I owned this thing, I'd probably start a terrarium in it (I have a 6L Ehrlenmeyer flask that has this strange little garden growing in it, and has for 20 years. I haven't the heart to clean it out to raise yeast).
 

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