Carboy brewing accident

[bottlebomber]

The hand should be displaying the extended middle finger, in a clear message to all glass carboys.

Sorry man... That looks terrible

 

[brewmaster89]

Every time I touch my carboy I think of this thread. I am going to stop using glass soon.

 

[krazydave]

Off to buy me a couple more brew-haulers today! I generally wear gloves and clean my carboys on my driveway sitting on a soft rubber pad. But every time I pick up a full one without a brew hauler, it does scare the crap out of me thinking about "what if this thing broke right now?".
Milk crates work also, but they aren't very space saving when you're fermenting in a chest freezer.

On the bright side though, at least when it broke it wasn't full of beer. Then it would be an ultimate tragedy!

Hope the healing goes smooth!

 

[gmcastil]

I made the switch to Better Bottles after reading this thread a few times. I've got two batches left in glass, one of which is getting bottled tonight.

This weekend, I put my first batch into Better Bottles and feel so much more comfortable now.

 

[danorocks17]

wow that's terrible! like you said though, could have been a lot worse. i use glass, and i'm seriously thinking of switching to buckets. I have a couple of BBs for secondary already

 

[micahshaw]

Being the ultimate snob that I am, I was set on glass only till I read a thread like this. I can't work if I had stitches in my hand, and the disability insurance doesn't kick in for 3 months. That's a huge financial risk for minimal reward. I use BB, and for beers I am keeping in secondary to age, I am going to stay using the relatively affordable stainless steal cornys. I am convinced that at the homebrew level, no one can really taste the difference between a few Weeks in a BB verse glass.

 

[corkybstewart]

The only time I'll use glass is for aging cider, mead or vinegar. The carboys sit on a countertop where I can fill them and siphon from them without ever moving them. But still I'm afraid one day there will be a disaster while I clean one of them.

 

[gmcastil]

I've run across a number of people that brew sours in Better Bottles. That was what convinced me that I wouldn't live to regret it.

 

[Swifty]

That sucks.. I opened this thread expecting to see a bunch of glass and a tragic loss of beer. that makes my teeth hurt just looking at it. It could be a good opportunity to meet a neighbor; ask one of them to heft those remaining two and make a brewer out of em!

 

[PistolaPete]

Here are some pics from my accident. I feel I should admit that I was handling the carboy in a way I shouldn't have been.

View attachment 60846

 

[kh54s10]

Reading this thread again makes me wonder why anyone still uses glass carboys.

The only way I would ever consider using one would be if I could figure out how to use one without EVER moving it. And then it would be inside a box or something.

 

[riverfrontbrewer]

Any of you Colorado brewers that are trading your glass for plastic please let me know where I can pick up your useless, free glass carboys

 

[Bradbrewer]

Oh Man Pistola, as if the stiches werent graphic enough! Painful memories. Hope your healing well.

 

[merlin306]

Jeeeeeeeesus.

+1 to the wound picture being worse than the stitches. OUCH!!

 

[planetscott]

This is why I don't use glass. I did win a better bottle in a raffle and use that for secondary fermentations. If I like it, I may get another for primary.....

 

[jazzman2012]

Yep, I didn't think it would happen to me and it did. I was cleaning my carboy and it barely tapped the side of the sink when it broke cutting my left palm and middle finger. No tendon damage but I almost lost an inch off the top of my middle finger. I'm switching to plastic.

View attachment 65441

View attachment 65442

View attachment 65445

 

[bottlebomber]

Another one?? Jesus...

 

[rhamilton]

Another one?? Jesus...

If there is one thing I learned in chemistry, it is don't f*ck with glass.

 

[H-ost]

I didn't think it would happen to me

... no one ever does...

 

[gmcastil]

The idea that one broken carboy could potentially lead to a loss of hand or finger function pretty much convinced me to swear off of glass carboys. To some degree, I prefer the Better Bottles over the plastic, but I definitely miss the ability to scrub them out with a brush. As long as cleaning isn't a problem, I'm sold on the idea of BB over glass.

 

[johnnytaco]

Ditto!

 

[pmcint01]

Definitely going to be wearing gloves when washing these out now. I might need welders gloves to protect my forearms.

 

[adiochiro3]

I got rid of the 6.5 gal. carboys because of this thread. I have one 5 gal. that is bulk-aging a dopplebock right now, and I am thinking of jettisoning it after that is done.

I have a couple of 3 gal. glass carboys I use as primary fermenters for half batches. I feel these are somewhat safer as they are smaller & lighter than 5 or 6.5 gal. carboys. False sense of risk, or logical? What say y'all?

 

[PaintedRat]

I've got four 5gal and one 3gal glass carboys. I've thought about replacing them with Better Bottles, but lack of employment negated any equipment purchases. As I sit here at my new job reading this thread, I think it's time to reevaluate new gear.

Our circle of brewers have had one 5gal break for no apparent reason (bottom fell out while swirling 1/2 gallon of rinse water) with no injuries, and a few carboy bumps that didn't break luckily.

 

[PaintedRat]

A buddy broke his 2ND carboy last weekend without injury. He still won't get rid of the rest of his glass. Both that broke were old blue glass water jugs, and the rest of his are new brew carboys, but damn.

EDIT: Same buddy as my previous post.

This one just fractured up the side after filling it with chilled wort. It was the last of 6 batches over the last several days filling his last carboy. I got a frantic call at 11:30pm that his beer was leaking out and he needed to borrow a carboy. I told him he had to come get it. When he got there I offered an autosiphon, and he tried to tell me he was going to lift this full, cracked carboy onto a counter to gravity feed. I told him he was taking the autosiphon, and transferring it where it sat or I was disowning him. I wasn't there to see how he cracked it, but he swears it was room temp, and he didn't bump anything to break it. This guy is like the main character in Final Destination with these carboys.

 

[Newsman]

Does anyone know of a plastic fermenter that will hold 6+ gallons? Viewing this thread has me scared of using my 6.5 gallon acid carboy.

 

[PaintedRat]

Brew buckets come in 7.9 gallon, as do Speidel plastic fermenters. Plastic conical come in a huge range of sizes. Not sure if clear PET plastic carboys come bigger than 6.

 

[Newsman]

Brew buckets come in 7.9 gallon, as do Speidel plastic fermenters. Plastic conical come in a huge range of sizes. Not sure if clear PET plastic carboys come bigger than 6.

I don't think I have seen any clear PET plastic carboys bigger than 6 gallons. Don't know why they don't make 'em bigger, but they don't seem to.

 

[Newsman]

Well, I answered my own question. Better Bottles DO come in 6 gallons. Amazon has 'em for $25.00 + shipping. Or you can get PET plastic 6 gallon carboys here: http://homebrewohio.com/pd-vintage-shop-6-gallon-carboy.cfm for $30 + shipping.

 

[passedpawn]

Well, I answered my own question. Better Bottles DO come in 6 gallons. Amazon has 'em for $25.00 + shipping. Or you can get PET plastic 6 gallon carboys here: http://homebrewohio.com/pd-vintage-shop-6-gallon-carboy.cfm for $30 + shipping.

Here's 6 of them Newsman, all 6 gallons. I do like my better bottles.