Broken Carboy Club

[JoeyChopps]

I'm part of the broken carboy club as well. I broke my first glass on my first ag. It was full of one step and it slipped fell a few inches and shattered. You know its been a while since it happened like a year and I'm not scared of glass I'm pissed I dropped one. Will continue using glass. Question do u think if u dropped a full carboy in a plastic mike crate would the glass break?

 

[AUEnder]

I was cleaning a carboy in a tiny apartment bathroom years ago. While drunk. And butt naked. Shattered the carboy on the side of the solid iron 1920s bathtub. I don't know how I didn't cut my manhood off or even draw blood anywhere else. I still have nightmares about it.

 

[PTBYOOJ]

Then again, this is a forum about homebrewing, not surfing or sea diving. But your point is well taken.

 

[hypergolic]

I got rid of my glass and only use better bottles now. I still remember as a kid carrying a 2 liter of coke(glass) up from the basement for my parents. I dropped it on the concrete floor, it broke and I fell in it. Not a good day.

I also shake my head every time I see my buddy carrying his carboy by just the handle. He is an accident waiting to happen.

 

[kh54s10]

I for one will never join the club. I cannot stand the sight of blood - especially my own!
So when I started this summer I opted for Better Bottles and added a bucket.

If you get injured from glass you will probably switch to plastic.
If you get bitten by a shark you will probably stop swimming in shark infested waters.

 

[krenshaw]

If you get injured from glass you will probably switch to plastic. If you get bitten by a shark you will probably stop swimming in shark infested waters.

just like a hockey player not wearing a visor.. the first time they need stitches and/or surgery to repair what could have been prevented with a visor, they'll never go back to not wearing one..

i know, this isn't the hockey forum either.. i just like analogies

 

[bctdi]

I don't use the better bottles for primary because it needs more head space so I can end up with a full 5 gallons in the keg. I will use them if I need to secondary though. I still like my buckets....they are just so easy to deal with , and I haven't had any infection issues since my first home brew. The only downside to buckets is not being able to see what's going on.....now if somebody would come up with a see through plastic lid for my buckets , that would be cool.

 

[NoCornOrRice]

I've been fermenting in kegs exclusively for the last six months, except once a couple of days ago, filled a carboy. Lost my grip with it full of beer, but I always cradle it so that if the bottom hand slips its at an angle to it falls into me so I can catch it in theory. That one was close. Only issue was the star-san slippery airlock went flying and smashed on the tile floor... beer is safe, and so am I. I'm going to keep my carboys for now, but fermenting in kegs is the plan from now on.

 

[Norlin]

Broke my first carboy about a week ago, I think. Basically, I had just sanitized it in preparation to receive a new batch of beer. I left it on the kitchen floor, and when I came back about half an hour later, it had a spider crack in the side of it. Can't figure out if my son threw something at it (he's 3) or it got hit by a kitchen cabinet handle when someone tried to access a cabinet. Maybe it was already cracked previously and I didn't notice while sanitizing it, but seems less likely. Recycled it and bought a new glass one.

 

[passedpawn]

I don't use the better bottles for primary because it needs more head space so I can end up with a full 5 gallons in the keg.

I see this a lot. All of my better bottles are 6 gallon. I'm not sure why anyone would buy the 5g one.

 

[JeepDiver]

I see this a lot. All of my better bottles are 6 gallon. I'm not sure why anyone would buy the 5g one.

They come with most of the kits. My BIL just decide to scale back his wine making and donated 5 6-gallon Ported BBs to my beer making. Now I just have to find time to brew more.

 

[J8D]

Froze a triple decoction munich helles because I didn't have a temp control on my lagering fridge. Shattered the carboy which then allowed the beer to run out of the fridge and all over the garage floor. The only injury I had was some serious tongue abrasions from licking cold concrete for 45 minutes. So now I always use a temp controller.

 

[bctdi]

I see this a lot. All of my better bottles are 6 gallon. I'm not sure why anyone would buy the 5g one.

My bb are 6 gallon also, but with blow off and yeast sediment I come up shy of 5 gallons.... Of course it depends on what kind of beer I'm making. I wish bb were 6.5 or even 7 gallons. I like having a good amount of head space. It's a little less problematic.

 

[Carter1932]

I'm still using glass, but I don't get drunk on brewday, and I haul it with either the brew hauler straps or milk carton. Never a good idea to handle these with your hands, particularly when they are either wet, full, or both. I also inspect after I empty them each time just to make sure there are no defects or cracks. In nearly 20 years brewing I've never had one break. /knock on wood/

You got to respect the glass or it will get the best of you.

 

[BetterSense]

It should be possible to spray-coat the outside of the carboy with plastic to make the whole thing much safer and tougher. It would be the same principle as that 3M film you put on window glass to make it shatter-proof. Can someone steal my idea and make millions of dollars on it already?

 

[H-ost]

I happen to have several spray cans of Plasti-dip at my house right now but I am just not convinced that it would do anything to prevent breaking if it was dropped while full. Anyone know of a youtube video test dropping a plasti-dipped carboy??

 

[nukinfuts29]

Thank you everyone for reminding me why I use plastic!

Sent from my Galaxy S 4G using Home Brew Talk for Android

 

[JoeyChopps]

Thank you everyone for reminding me why I use plastic!

Sent from my Galaxy S 4G using Home Brew Talk for Android

I have never seen a glass zip lock bag. That's why u use plastic for your hooch

 

[jfrizzell]

I broke a 6.5 gallon carboy after brewing my very first batch. This was 18 years or so ago. I was washing it out in the bathtub and it slipped out of my hand and shattered. One particularly large shard glanced off the palm of my hand. Cut me pretty good and I probably needed a few stitches but didn't bother with the doctor. No lasting effects other than the knowledge that carboys can be dangerous. Mine never leave a milk crate now and I also use a 6 gallon BB.

 

[millaj92]

I'm sure more people die in car wrecks every day than people that get injured by glass carboys. I have heard so many horror stories but I have yet to hear a story about someone using glass and nothing happening.

 

[BigUgly]

Over 40,000 people die in car crashes every year in the USA, yet everyone still gets in one multiple times a day. Yet, you hear 20 stories about people getting cut by glass from a broken carboy and you swear them off for life.

Makes no sense to me...

 

[jfrizzell]

I'm sure more people die in car wrecks every day than people that get injured by glass carboys. I have heard so many horror stories but I have yet to hear a story about someone using glass and nothing happening.

That's because stories about using glass and nothing happening are boring...nothing happened.

I brewed a batch two weekends ago and transferred the wort to a 6.5 gal glass carboy, brought it in from my garage and carried it down to my basement. The end. See, pretty boring.

 

[BigUgly]

That's because stories about using glass and nothing happening are boring...nothing happened.

I brewed a batch two weekends ago and transferred the wort to a 6.5 gal glass carboy, brought it in from my garage and carried it down to my basement. The end. See, pretty boring.

I have HUNDREDS of those stories. Mine are more boring than yours, though. No stairs for me!

 

[squirrelly]

The end of glass carboys for me was when I washed my double IPA down the brew house drain and swept up broken glass until 3 am. It's all stainless conicals from there on out. That incident was the final convincing chord needed for the wife to agree to the first two conicals.

By the way that was the only carboy I had ever broken and it was the fault of a brand new brew hauler the wife got me for Xmas. The buckle broke on the first use and in slow motion I watched my 8 hour brew day crash to the floor in 100 pieces.

This episode was still not enough to ever make me want to go back to using anything plastic, however. Stainless is more durable than plastic, and much easier to clean. Plus being able to pull my yeast off the bottom of my beer is really handy. I guess the broken carboy was just a blessing in disguise.

 

[dcHokie]

I'm sure more people die in car wrecks every day than people that get injured by glass carboys. I have heard so many horror stories but I have yet to hear a story about someone using glass and nothing happening.

Somebody here should invent a glass carboy Baby Bjorn*



*I will accept royalty kickdowns if this becomes an actual product

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I joined the club a couple years ago. Here's my story.

I use Sanke kegs to ferment in now. I still have two 6.5 gal, and two 5 gal glass carboys collecting dust in the basement.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

It should be possible to spray-coat the outside of the carboy with plastic to make the whole thing much safer and tougher. It would be the same principle as that 3M film you put on window glass to make it shatter-proof. Can someone steal my idea and make millions of dollars on it already?

See my above link. I sacrificed a carboy to test the plasti-dip, and it worked pretty well. It didn't prevent tiny shards from escaping, but it did hold the large pieces.

 

[kh54s10]

Over 40,000 people die in car crashes every year in the USA, yet everyone still gets in one multiple times a day. Yet, you hear 20 stories about people getting cut by glass from a broken carboy and you swear them off for life.

Makes no sense to me...

Wonder what the percentages are. People that drive to deaths compared to people who brew to broken carboys.

Billions of miles traveled in cars to # of deaths. Compared to gallons of brews in glass carboys to cuts.

Most people more or less have to drive a car, unless you have a horse and carriage. No one has to use a glass carboy!

Why take the risk? I'm thinking as much about losing a batch as I am an injury.

 

[wildwest450]

Why take the risk? I'm thinking as much about losing a batch as I am an injury.

Because there is no risk if you take the proper precautions, that's why, mom.


_

 

[passedpawn]

Because there is no risk if you take the proper precautions, that's why, mom.


_

There's no risk if you don't use them. Otherwise, the risk is always there.

I broke one (sheer stupidity, take my word for it) and spent most of the night cleaning it, and 5g of hefe wort, out of my pool. I have 5 better bottles now, love them. I still have 2 glass ones, buy they are for sours / long-term aging.