Broke a Carboy Today.

[homebrewer_99]

Sorry to hear about your injury (forget about the loss of the carboy...life is much more precious).

I know it's too late, but I've used carboys since 1994 and have not lost one to date.

Whenever I add water to one it is ALWAYS in a milk crate. When it's full I will place it on a counter and use my auto-syphon until it is almost empty before picking it up...and then it's still in the crate.

If I need to shake it with sanitizer in in or such it stays in the crate until I pour the liquid out.

Just something to think about.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I like the idea of syphoning it to empty. I'll start doing that too. I have a Brew Hauler strap on all of my carboys, but maybe getting some milk crates is a good idea too. I take the Brew Haulers off when I wash them, so maybe I should get some milk crates to wash them in.

 

[david_42]

Good to hear the surgery was successful. My distrust of large glass containers goes back to a pitcher of iced tea exploding in my hands when I was about 8. I was just moving it from the kitchen counter to the table, when it shattered.

 

[EdWort]

Man oh Man, I'm sorry to hear about this. I'm glad your surgery when well.

I recommend forgetting the web of tape idea and selling the carboys and moving to buckets or Better Bottles (or both). Your back thank you later.

Hang in there.

 

[BoogieBrandBooze]

That really blows...I'm so damn squeamish that if that ever happened to me I'd probably pass out and bleed to death on the floor...glad you fared much better!

Got me thinking about getting something like this: Lift and Transport Wine Carboys and Fermentation Containers

 

[Yambor44]

Rick,

Glad to hear the surgery went well! I think that there had to be a small fracture somewhere near the bottom. Probably from sitting it down a tad too hard when empty. I know I have misjudged the floor a few times with mine and thought I had busted it for sure. I love my glass carboys but as time goes on I feel I am rolling the dice. I busted one full of wine with another full of wort as I was placing it in my deep freezer/fermenter. I have three 6.5 gallon and one 5 gallon left. I just started using milk crates with foam rubber in the bottom this past weekend. I will always do that now.

 

[rarjr]

ouch. good luck in surgery

 

[jpowers1]

Wow, so sorry to hear about your mishap, glad to hear you are recovering. I have a 6.5 I think I will be selling in the near future...

 

[TommyBoy]

I had a carboy get broke about 6 years in a cat fight. It was a Chocolate Covered Cherry Stout. I still can't decide which aspect of the incident I was more upset about. Loosing an expensive batch of not getting to see the fight. I was told that closed fist punches were thrown and landed by both women.

That's what you get sometimes when you work night shift and the party is at your apartment.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Just a quick update if anyone wants to know. I finally got the cast off, and will be working on getting it limbered and strengthened in the next few weeks. I do have a brace, but that's just to prevent further injury until I'm back to normal (whatever "normal" is), and I'm supposed to take it off several times a day. I still have no feeling in my index finger, but the feeling is coming back in my middle finger and thumb. Everything is stiff, but mostly pain free.

Now I need to get brewing again!

 

[bdrinkbeer]

Glad to hear you're doing ok.

I recently started using my corny kegs for fermenting. It works really well and their alot easier to move around. Plus, I now rack my beer with co2 instead of siphoning. It's really cool.

I agree, you do need to get brewing

 

[HopTrap]

At least your middle finger works. That is the one I use the most.

Glad to hear that things are moving in a good direction!

 

[ajs349]

That's it I'm switching to BB

 

[ChshreCat]

Be careful picking your nose. With no feeling in your index finger, you could go too deep and cause brain damage!

 

[IrregularPulse]

Man this is making me want to abandon my glass carboys. I was okay with not dropping them, but just falling apart in your hands..... OUCH. Glad you're relatively ok.

 

[jtrainer]

I have 3 carboys on the shelf. I use the smaller 5 Gal for simple long term aging.... However I realize as I see this thread I haven't touched them in a year plus.

I use buckets after seeing one of these things break 1 minute after being set down..... Suddenly there was a sound of breaking glass, feet were wet and Porter covering the entire floor. No thanks.....

I hope your doing better now...

 

[homebeerbrewer]

My story has gotten some people thinking, and this thread is the result. I'm participating in the testing by sacrificing one of my remaining carboys. There was one promising test done so far, so I'm hoping that my sacrificial carboy fares well too.

I'm still working to get my arm back up to full working order, but six weeks in a cast has left it thin and weak. I'm hoping that two to three weeks from now, the only reminder I'll have is the scar.

 

[springer]

Man this is making me want to abandon my glass carboys. I was okay with not dropping them, but just falling apart in your hands..... OUCH. Glad you're relatively ok.

Don't abandon them


This is what I do with the glass carboy when I use it. It the one on the left inside a 5 gallon bucket. If it goes no shards all over and no beer on the floor.And I can pick it up with the pails handle never touching the carboy.

 

[hexmonkey]

That's great but what do you do when you need to wash them?

 

[springer]

it comes out of the bucket fairly easy but in reality the inside is what needs to be clean and sanitized. The outside I just wipe with dishrag and soap.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Don't abandon them


This is what I do with the glass carboy when I use it. It the one on the left inside a 5 gallon bucket. If it goes no shards all over and no beer on the floor.And I can pick it up with the pails handle never touching the carboy.

I'd like to have it setup to it's high enough to siphon from to my kegs and low enough to transfer to from BK. I need a pump. Then it would never need touch besides cleaning, and picking them up empty isn't my concern.

 

[hexmonkey]

it comes out of the bucket fairly easy but in reality the inside is what needs to be clean and sanitized. The outside I just wipe with dishrag and soap.

But if you take it out of the bucket, then you're holding an unprotected carboy, which can break...which is how the OP was injured...

 

[lustreking]

It's been a while since I've last posted this, and it sounds like I can update it with a couple more.

Broken Carboy Horror Stories

Glad to hear that your recovery is going well

 

[homebeerbrewer]

lustreking, feel free to put my story on there as well. It seems that I'm not the only one that this happened to, but if I was, I'd be happy with that. It's not a fun process.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

But if you take it out of the bucket, then you're holding an unprotected carboy, which can break...which is how the OP was injured...

Yeah, but since it's the inside that needs cleaning, you wouldn't really need to take it out. Just be careful turning it upside down to dry.

BTW, the Plasti Dip stuff looks promising. I'll post my results of the sacrificial carboy test this weekend.

 

[greencoat]

I just ordered my first Better Bottle because of this thread. I'm a fairly clumsy dude and I'm not really into serious injuries.

 

[WC87]

I ordered a 6 gal Better Bottle as a primary because of this thread and because I dropped a glass pitcher 2 weekends ago doing a partial mash sparge and cut my foot, as well as completely threw off my brewing sched!!! Can't imagine the destruction a glass carboy would do.

What do we think about this deal for secondaries? They are 5 gal PET bottles, and a great price.

Two 5 Gallon (PET) Water Bottles

 

[uglygoat]

i have one bb and multiple glass carboys. after losing the 6.5 gal glass, full with freshly pitched yeast to the basement floor i put them all in milk crates. don't ask where i stole the milk crates from...

i've not brewed in a year, and my bb had an old yeast cake in it as well as the blow off ring at the top, all sealed up. it took a rinse, and a twenty minute soak in oxiclean, and the gunk fell right out. no brushing needed. my glass would have required a scrub at least.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

uglygoat, is that Bush with a bong in your avatar?

As far as plastic as a fermentation vessel is concerned, I'm not opposed to it. I'm sure it has as many, if not more, pros and cons than glass. I have two 6.5 gal and (will be down to two after my sacrificial carboy testing) 5 gal glass carboys. I don't want to go out and replace my equipment just yet. Especially when plastic has a limited life span. Glass will last as long as it's intact. I'm saving for a SS conical fermentor, but in the meantime, I need to use the equipment I have now.

 

[uglygoat]

yes. it is off an old mc spoof pic.

linkie isn't entirely work/kiddie safe i think...

http://botanical.com/etc/bushmastercard.jpg