Broken Glass Carboy Horror Stories Compendium

[Firewalker11]

OK, what is the attraction with glass carboys again?

 

[pvpeacock]

OK, what is the attraction with glass carboys again?

1. its clear so light can get in and ruin your beer
2. its very heavy, so it is more difficult to handle
3. its brittle, so you cannot set it down on anything hard (e.g. sink, counter, cement or tile floor
4. it's hard to clean due to the narrow neck
5. you can buy handles to put on the neck,but it's unsafe to use that handle when it is full and the heaviest (e.g. when you need a handle)
6. when it breaks, its pieces are razor sharp and slice through skin, muscle and other tissue
7. its slippery when wet such as when you wash it or spill wort on it while filling it (* using sanitizer like Starsan makes it even more slippery)
8. It makes a nice sound when it breaks!!!!

Those are just a few of reasons to use them.

 

[Firewalker11]

1. its clear so light can get in and ruin your beer
Check!
2. its very heavy, so it is more difficult to handle
Check!
3. its brittle, so you cannot set it down on anything hard (e.g. sink, counter, cement or tile floor
Check!
4. it's hard to clean due to the narrow neck
Check!
5. you can buy handles to put on the neck,but it's unsafe to use that handle when it is full and the heaviest (e.g. when you need a handle)
Check!
6. when it breaks, its pieces are razor sharp and slice through skin, muscle and other tissue
Check!
7. its slippery when wet such as when you wash it or spill wort on it while filling it (* using sanitizer like Starsan makes it even more slippery)
Check!
8. It makes a nice sound when it breaks!!!!
Check!

Those are just a few of reasons to use them.

Off I go then to buy some glass carboys!

 

[flars]

OK, what is the attraction with glass carboys again?

Brewing tradition. Staying with the grass roots of home made beer.

 

[pvpeacock]

Kind of like washing your clothes on rocks in the river?

 

[PLOVE]

1. its clear so light can get in and ruin your beer
2. its very heavy, so it is more difficult to handle
3. its brittle, so you cannot set it down on anything hard (e.g. sink, counter, cement or tile floor
4. it's hard to clean due to the narrow neck
5. you can buy handles to put on the neck,but it's unsafe to use that handle when it is full and the heaviest (e.g. when you need a handle)
6. when it breaks, its pieces are razor sharp and slice through skin, muscle and other tissue
7. its slippery when wet such as when you wash it or spill wort on it while filling it (* using sanitizer like Starsan makes it even more slippery)
8. It makes a nice sound when it breaks!!!!

Those are just a few of reasons to use them.

9. The neck is the perfect diameter to allow mice to climb in, but not out. Extra fun to clean said dead mouse

And I know this because I actually occasionally use (gulp) these dangerous vessels of terror.

 

[Firewalker11]

Brewing tradition. Staying with the grass roots of home made beer.

Um, that would be wood barrels not glass carboys...

 

[Skeller]

OK, what is the attraction with glass carboys again?

When you and your drunk buddies decide to to find a spot for the masses of wine corks you also happen to have (<all hobbies revolve around alcohol>)...you find wine corks conveniently fit through the neck of a carboy, but upon sobering up you realize you will never get them out without breaking the carboy...rendering it a useless cork holder.


Yes I have also broken one...yes I too have bled for my hobby but, sorry no pics it was back in the late 90's and smart phones were not around to capture the moment..

 

[passedpawn]

Carboy + starsan = slippery. Click the pic to go to the thread.

The carboy only slipped about an inch, but that was all it needed to make contact with the pavement.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

This thread has me giving the carboy that came with my brew kit (xmas present this year from my s/o) a questioning glance. Currently fermenting 5 gallons in there but I'm wondering if I'll move to brew buckets after this.

Has anyone tried using a clear ductape wrap or something as a means to contain the glass should the carboy break. Might work so long as I don't break the carboy while wrapping it.

-- Nathan

 

[FloppyKnockers]

This thread has me giving the carboy that came with my brew kit (xmas present this year from my s/o) a questioning glance. Currently fermenting 5 gallons in there but I'm wondering if I'll move to brew buckets after this.

Has anyone tried using a clear ductape wrap or something as a means to contain the glass should the carboy break. Might work so long as I don't break the carboy while wrapping it.

-- Nathan

I've done something similar. I put mine in the recycle bin and took it to the curb. I feel very secure knowing that I will probably never get cut by it when it breaks.

 

[iBrewR]

Wonder if there's a correlation between men who ferment in plastic and men who sit to pee?

Not that there's anything wrong with either. :cross:

 

[chisena]

Wife super pissed about wood floor damage. Me cowering like a kitten for my actions...

 

[chisena]

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

Holy $hit!

 

[MaxStout]

Holy $hit!

You got gashed and your wife was pissed about the wood floor? Yikes.

Hope you're OK.

 

[day_trippr]

People are idiots...

 

[junior]

Wonder if there's a correlation between men who ferment in plastic and men who sit to pee?

Not that there's anything wrong with either. :cross:

ibrewr,
depends on the status of your prostate, some times it's swollen and takes time, better sitting than standing around for five minutes. As for plastic, I switched and love it,just happened to using one for my latest ale.

REgard's

 

[chisena]

People are idiots...

Like... everyone... everywhere?

 

[day_trippr]

Evidentially, yes...

Cheers!

 

[chisena]

I feel really bad for these guys! Sucks to get cut that bad.

 

[bja]

Carboy + starsan = slippery.

Carboy + concrete driveway = lack of common sense.

 

[barnaclebob]

Carboy + concrete driveway = lack of common sense.

Pretty sure a carboy will break if dropped or set down too hard on just about any common flooring surface in a house.

 

[iBrewR]

Wonder if there's a correlation between men who ferment in plastic and men who sit to pee?

ibrewr,
depends on the status of your prostate, some times it's swollen and takes time, better sitting than standing around for five minutes.

Wouldn't want to be behind you in the port-a-john line at a beerfest.

 

[passedpawn]

I just survived a horror and wish to share this experience with all of you. Learn from it, if you can.

A couple days after brewing, I noticed a small crack at the bottom of one of my carboys. I was concerned but not alarmed. I came home, today, and looked at it for the first time in a few days and noticed that my beer level dropped, as you can see where the krausen dried. I checked the crack with my finger and it felt damp. Now I was alarmed. The crack was bigger.

...

 

[passedpawn]

So after reading the horror stories and knowing it would never happen to me, yesterday I managed to drop a carboy with about 4.5 gallons of what I think was really good wort. I got a late start and while I missed my target mash temp by two degrees (so the brown would have been a little drier, no big deal), I think this smoky brown ale would have been a winner. I decided to carry the carboy from the back yard to the side door rather then take the shorter walk through the house. If only I had dropped it outside rather than two feet from the fermentation chamber in the laundry room. I only have one small cut on my finger and phase 1 of the cleanup effort is complete. When I get home from work phase II begins when I pull out the washer and dryer to mop under them. Not sure how the drop happened...it happened so fast! Oh yeah, I have one of the nylon lifting harnesses (it was tucked away in a storage bin at the time).

Click picture for the original thread...

 

[passedpawn]

Just added dry hops and giving the carboy a little swirl. Clink and gush.

 

[RevKev]

Hmm this is amusing and sad.

Glassware is delicate.. on a side note I teach a general chemistry lab and the first thing the students do is check into their drawers. Meaning pulling out glassware inspecting it and putting it back. First lab I ever was responsible for freshman this girl literally crushes a test tube in her hand. Not ****ting you. So I take her off to the stock room her hand gushing and the moral is be careful.

 

[ChocolateMaltyBalls]

I spent a lot of money in college replacing chemistry lab glassware. That's one of the reasons I don't use glass carboys.

 

[passedpawn]

Broke my grandfathers 40 yrs old carboy the other night that baby has had so many alcoholic beverages fermented in it

 

[Stealthcruiser]

That'll make an awesome lamp shade now!

Edit : As a hanging lamp.