Broken Glass Carboy Horror Stories Compendium

[BeerGrylls]

That is seriously dangerous. Thank goodness I didn't buy one!

 

[phug]

I now have some small amount of reassurance, as I've checked, and mine's Italian made (not too surprising, given it came from an old school portuguese wine supply store). It will be handled with extreme care, nonetheless.

 

[Arrheinous]

Big Mouth Bubblers from Northern Brewer are very thin. Use care when handling. Click the picture for the whole story.

Note that there is a plastic version of this same fermentor. I don't recall if it's at NB or another supplier.

When these big mouths came out I was sure some day we'd hear about someone cutting their whole hand off in one of these things.

 

[passedpawn]

More fun with Big Mouth Bubblers. Click the pictures to go to the thread in which they were originally posted.

 

[passedpawn]

I like carboys. I've been using glass for 2 years with no problems up until last night. I've heard horror stories about glass but figured that was "other people's problems". This is what my Labor Day Weekend Hefe did last night.

The airlock plugged and the stopper was so tight it blew up.

From: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/why-bother-carboys-blow-off-tubes-488547/index3.html#post6348039

 

[barnaclebob]

How did this happen?

 

[passedpawn]

How did this happen?

from the other thread...

The airlock plugged and the stopper was so tight it blew up.

 

[passedpawn]

Happens to mead makers (mazers) too. Careful out there! For the whole story and more pics, click the picture to be taken to the original thread.

 

[dmcman73]

Reading through this thread, now i am glad that I spent the money on a 7 gal stainless conical. My air lock on the SS conical did plug up on me and luckily, since it wasn't glass, it didn't shatter or become a bomb. The lid on my conical is held in place with spring clamps and according to the manufacture, will flex a bit once more than 5-6 PSI presses against it and will break the seal to vent and reseal once the pressure is gone.

 

[Balog]

I decided against glass carboys when I heard a guy talking about how, when he was a child, he got one of his dad's carboys on its side and tried to ride it like a horse. I can see my toddler doing exactly that.

 

[bja]

I decided against glass carboys when I heard a guy talking about how, when he was a child, he got one of his dad's carboys on its side and tried to ride it like a horse. I can see my toddler doing exactly that.

Why not just keep the carboys somewhere that's inaccessible to your toddler?

 

[Balog]

Why not just keep the carboys somewhere that's inaccessible to your toddler?

I have limited storage space that is inaccessible, even if I decided to dedicate it to holding carboys it'd be a pain to get them in and out, and nowhere is reasonably temp controlled for actual fermenting and also inaccessible.

 

[MrSnacks]

Welp, no more glass for me. Carboy slipped out of the brew hauler onto a granite countertop. Luckily no injuries.

Moral of the story: most brewers use glass, until there's an incident. And then they don't anymore.

 

[barnaclebob]

Welp, no more glass for me. Carboy slipped out of the brew hauler onto a granite countertop. Luckily no injuries.

Moral of the story: most brewers use glass, until there's an incident. And then they don't anymore.

how did a carboy slip out of a brewhauler?

 

[MrSnacks]

how did a carboy slip out of a brewhauler?

Not sure but Googling around it appears other people have had similar incidents.

 

[dmcman73]

I had a brewhauler on one of mine, used it once and stopped using it afterwards. The plastic clips just didn't seem right to me, holding all that weight and the plastic was nothing to write home about either. I moved onto milk crates to move my carboys around, i posted a link to the ones I use from the container store somewhere on this thread.

 

[mikescooling]

I had a brew hauler and the stitching came apart. Total junk

 

[AnOldUR]

Welp, no more glass for me. Carboy slipped out of the brew hauler onto a granite countertop. Luckily no injuries.

Moral of the story: most brewers use glass, until there's an incident. And then they don't anymore.

I once (or twice . . .) got into trouble from drinking too much beer. Luckily no injuries.

Doesn't mean I'm going to quit drinking beer. Just be smarter about it.

Moral of the story: Learn from your mistakes, don't let them control your life.

 

[obie]

after seeing the first post, I went and hugged my plastic big mouth bubblers

 

[MrSnacks]

I once (or twice . . .) got into trouble from drinking too much beer. Luckily no injuries.

Doesn't mean I'm going to quit drinking beer. Just be smarter about it.

Moral of the story: Learn from your mistakes, don't let them control your life.

Apple, meet orange.

 

[passedpawn]

I still think carboys are better than buckets.

Click the pic for the full story.

 

[passedpawn]

More trouble with glass Big Mouth Bubbler. Click pic for full thread on Reddit.

 

[passedpawn]

From Reddit. Click the pic for the entire story.

The carboy was full of StarSan when I picked it up. I tilted it over a 5 gallon bucket to drain it and it exploded in my hands.

 

[flars]

It is much safer to store your Starsan solution in one gallon plastic jugs.

 

[passedpawn]

Some pretty nasty gore here. Click the pic if you really need to see the inside of his leg.

I was hit by a glass carboy too. (****, gore) ... Yeah. Plastic is our friend.

 

[passedpawn]

My carboy exploded yesterday. Not a fancy brew, just a simple Pale Ale and OG was 1.054. I was not home but my wife said the whole house shook. It must have been a clog in my blow off hose because the last time I checked it had a vigorous ferment but nothing unusual. I think I will now stick to primary fermenting in a bucket. In the picture you see the glass (obvious) but you can notice the pool of wort at the left side. It took me over 6 hours to clean. When I started to clean I was mad about having to clean... but then I got sad over losing my batch. Not sure what that says about me...lol.

 

[Rev2010]

First, thanks so much to you guys for sharing these stories and pics! I don't get the least bit queasy looking at such things, but I obviously don't ever want this happening to me and have my fair share, and oh do I have some doozies, of glass related inquiries though not brewing related. I started with plastic fermenters luckily...

... but my question is... how many have switched to plastic/steel as a result of injury and for those that haven't why not? I use the original Coopers plastic fermenters and love them though they were pricey since I had to buy full kits just to get the fermenters, but I found it worth it. I love the big wide open mouth for cleaning, the built in spigot which makes bottling and kegging very easy, etc. So I've always wondered why others stick with narrow mouth glass carboys and other glass vessels that have shown to have an inherent safety risk. I've also never had any plastic off tastes of any kind with my fermenters. Now, this isn't meant to start debate!!! Not at all, I'm merely curious to know who's switched as a result of injury and for those that haven't switched why not? That's all, honest!


Rev.

 

[RPCidery]

... but my question is... how many have switched to plastic/steel as a result of injury and for those that haven't why not?


Rev.

From the beginning, I have just about always done primary fermentation in plastic. My wife bought me a stainless conical fermentor for Christmas, and you can bet it's gonna see some use. IMO, glass carboys are for secondary fermentation or bulk aging only.

 

[beersk]

I switched from carboys a year or so ago, now ferment in corny kegs. I don't think it's worth the risk to keep using carboys when they can break so easily, as is obvious throughout this thread...

 

[vincentAlpha]

I ferment in plastic pails myself, though I've got a couple carboys bought second hand for very little (about as much as the pails) that are about 30+ years old according to the fellow I got them from. I use them mainly for wine and cider since I like to look at it and the narrow neck is nice for keeping air out vs. the buckets which I don't even bother drilling holes for stoppers these days(just snapped down on each side with the bits between loose). I figure if the two carboys survived 30 years of brewing, they'll survive me so long as I'm careful.