Carboy brewing accident

[Stephen_mc]

I bought a 6 gallon fermenter on morebeer.com for 20 bucks. Their own brand, actually holds about 6.25 gallons.

 

[PaintedRat]

Austin Homebrew has 6 gallon PET carboys for $16 right now with flat $7shipping.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Thats great to see home brew ohio links on here. Thats my lhbs a couple minutes away from me in sandusky ohio!

 

[OakPond]

I know this an old thread and is probably the wrong take on your accident, but your doctor was a hell of stitcher. Stitches are not as easy to put in as it looks and as someone who has seen their fair share of botched stitching jobs in the hospital I am impressed.

Edit: That said, I've only brewed a few batches, just started last November. But I have glass carboys and haven't had any issues so far.

 

[akillys]

I'm new to this and wish that I would have known how dangerous glass carboys were before I bought my homebrew kit. When I bought my kit I specifically looked for one with a glass carboy because I heard they were better to use. After reading this thread I was freaked out enough to get on amazon and buy a pair of kevlar gloves for 5 bucks. I hope these can stop me from ending up in the E.R. until I can save up and get a plastic carboy.

 

[passedpawn]

I'm new to this and wish that I would have known how dangerous glass carboys were before I bought my homebrew kit. When I bought my kit I specifically looked for one with a glass carboy because I heard they were better to use. After reading this thread I was freaked out enough to get on amazon and buy a pair of kevlar gloves for 5 bucks. I hope these can stop me from ending up in the E.R. until I can save up and get a plastic carboy.

If you're really careful you'll be OK. Many people carry those glass carboys around in a milk crate. Also, although we are brewers and drinkers, you really really shouldn't be handling those carboys when imbibing. It's asking for trouble. If you decide you just can't live with that carboy, post it for trade in the Want To Trade forum we have here. I'll bet you could get a 1-for-1 trade for a Better Bottle.

 

[blues_N_beer]

I'm glad those of you that posted these accidents are OK. I have to thank you (and others in this forum) on warning about the dangers of glass carboys.

I'm placing my first order for brewing equipment today, and after reading a number of different posts, I've settled on buying a plain ol' fermenting bucket. :rockin: Some of the veterans here use them for award winning beers, and John Palmer recommends them for beginners. What more do I need to know?!! Plus, I have a 7 year old son who likes to follow me around when I'm "working," so I can only imagine what might happen if I had a glass carboy accident when he was near. It's scary just thinking about it.

Thanks again, and I hope others take note and either don't go with glass carboys or take extra special care when handling them.

 

[zanderbz]

I dropped my glass carboy whilst sterilizing a week ago. My hand wasn't quite as bad as the OP but did have one pretty good slice taken off the side. I've switched to a BB fermenter and actually like the ease of handling a lot better. I'm not ruling glass out but can still hear and feel that glass carboy crashing into my kitchen sink.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[AlCophile]

More bad press: Neighbor gave me a muddy 'boy, had to be cleaned. Thought it was a bargain: FREE. It was 6.5 gal., had a biggass DOT logo on bottom and weighed 15lbs.!!! Surely it was mfg'd. according to DOT specs???
When cleaned I noticed the 8in. crack by the intersection of wall and bottom.
The worst part was that the sides of the crack were out of alignment, implying that the damn thing was not annealed properly when mfg'd., leading to a helluva lot of internal stress. Any glass chemists out there?

 

[jessup]

Old thread, but new victim. After 11 years of brewing I had a very bad broken carboy accident. Was dumping carboy full of pbw & it slipped, hit asphalt & shattered while cradling it. Lucked out with only a somewhat major laceration. No nerve or tendon damage luckily. Very lucky! Finished the 25 gallon batch though

 

[Yambor44]

This thread alone should convince anyone that BB's are well worth the cost. I have been using two with the spigots for about a year or so no and love them. I have 2 glass CB's in the attic that are complete with the All In One Covers that I was juuuuuuust getting ready to pull out for a secondary coming up in a week. Nope. Not after seeing these wounds. Ordering two more BB's as soon as I post this!

 

[Yambor44]

This thread should be a sticky.

 

[passedpawn]

This thread should be a sticky.

I added some of the stories here into the much bigger Broken Carboy Horror Stories thread. I've thought about stickying that one, but I'm not going to sticky my own thread. Plus, as you can see in that thread, the defenders of glass get irrationally angry when anyone suggests there are any safety concerns when using them. I like to avoid irrationally angry people

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=376523

 

[Yambor44]

I added some of the stories here into the much bigger Broken Carboy Horror Stories thread. I've thought about stickying that one, but I'm not going to sticky my own thread. Plus, as you can see in that thread, the defenders of glass get irrationally angry when anyone suggests there are any safety concerns when using them. I like to avoid irrationally angry people

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=376523

I see what you mean....smh.

Some of those replies remind me of a saying I used to hear when I was a "younger" man..."Roll on wagon wheel, you've done been thru all of that ****..."

 

[flars]

I didn't think I was irrational. Time to see the shrink.

 

[smcinco]

I added some of the stories here into the much bigger Broken Carboy Horror Stories thread. I've thought about stickying that one, but I'm not going to sticky my own thread. Plus, as you can see in that thread, the defenders of glass get irrationally angry when anyone suggests there are any safety concerns when using them. I like to avoid irrationally angry people

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=376523

What's irrational about arming teachers with carboys?

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Several years ago, I broke a carboy, severing a nerve and tendon I'm my right wrist. I still have no feeling in my index finger, but some feeling is coming back in my other fingers. Soon after the incident, I was posting about it here on HBT (Broke a Carboy Today), and someone suggested PlastiDip. Well, I had another carboy that I decided to sacrifice to try it out. Here's my results: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=1469578&postcount=62

 

[kh54s10]

The irrational defenders that get me are: "You must have one of the newer thinner Chinese or Mexican ones, you need the thicker Italian ones!" To me this means that the shards will be stronger and sharper and will cut you to ribbons MUCH BETTER!

 

[Keger8tor]

Wow! I only have 1 carboy left, and it stays in its milk crate.
I am so sorry to see that happen, I hope it heals well!

Now you will have to think up a much cooler story of how you got the scar. Like a knife fight defending your wife's honor or something.

That story is cool enough on it’s own!!!
I was recently sanitizing a carboy and was only about to place it on a bottle stacker to drain it, and it rolled right out of my hands. Luckily I was only inches above the floor. Needless to say, I am sticking to my buckets from now on. That was scary enough.

Thankfully your injury wasn’t as bad as it could have been man!

Cheers!

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

The irrational defenders that get me are: "You must have one of the newer thinner Chinese or Mexican ones, you need the thicker Italian ones!" To me this means that the shards will be stronger and sharper and will cut you to ribbons MUCH BETTER!

I never had one of the italian ones break. Those things are very solid. However, I did have one of the cheaper mexican ones break on me.

After that I got freaked out about using glass... switched to PET Carboys (vintage shoppe brand) and haven't looked back.

Beers taste exactly the same and much easier to deal with. You have to be careful to grab it from the very bottom and neck so you don't suck in O2 or airlock fluid when moving it. And you need to use warm/hot (not scolding hot water) to clean it.

I should have been using these years ago, but was hanging out in the snobby glass carboy camp for no good reason

another plus with the PET is they hold up to 15PSI so I can do pressure transfers with CO2 and don't have to worry about exploding glass shards

 

[Broothru]

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.

+1.


I still make a lot of wine, and bulk age both reds and whites for extended periods in glass. Better Bottles, Big Mouth Bubblers, etc., just don't cut it (too soon?). I primary in a steel conical, gravity (not siphon) transfer into glass for secondary until terminal gravity, then stabilize and clarify in the same carboy. After dropping mostly clear, I vacuum transfer from the glass secondary to a glass carboy for bulk aging for 2 to 10 months before bottling.


My fermenting, transfer, aging, bottling and cleaning spaces aren't more than ten steps away from each other. I've been making wine for more than 40 years and consider myself extremely lucky to have only broken one carboy. That imploded during a vacuum transfer (actually I was foolishly trying to degass using a closed loop vacuum; worked like a champ...up until the carboy shattered under the negative pressure).


With wine I only handle glass carboys maybe twice in twelve months per batch. But when it comes to beer, I haven't used glass, except when I fill bottles for competition, in years. Just too much risk. Besides, how do you think I talked SWMBO'd into letting me buy three stainless conicals?


Brooo Brother

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

+1.


I still make a lot of wine, and bulk age both reds and whites for extended periods in glass. Better Bottles, Big Mouth Bubblers, etc., just don't cut it (too soon?). I primary in a steel conical, gravity (not siphon) transfer into glass for secondary until terminal gravity, then stabilize and clarify in the same carboy. After dropping mostly clear, I vacuum transfer from the glass secondary to a glass carboy for bulk aging for 2 to 10 months before bottling.


My fermenting, transfer, aging, bottling and cleaning spaces aren't more than ten steps away from each other. I've been making wine for more than 40 years and consider myself extremely lucky to have only broken one carboy. That imploded during a vacuum transfer (actually I was foolishly trying to degass using a closed loop vacuum; worked like a champ...up until the carboy shattered under the negative pressure).


With wine I only handle glass carboys maybe twice in twelve months per batch. But when it comes to beer, I haven't used glass, except when I fill bottles for competition, in years. Just too much risk. Besides, how do you think I talked SWMBO'd into letting me buy three stainless conicals?


Brooo Brother

Wouldn't a corny keg work well for bulk aging too? I bulk age beer in them with great success

 

[Broothru]

Wouldn't a corny keg work well for bulk aging too? I bulk age beer in them with great success

Absolutely. I have 12 kegs but they're always in use either fermenting, spunding, conditioning or serving beer! Kegging my wine would simplify my processes considerably as well as decrease my risk exposure to life and limb.

Unfortunately my average wine volume per batch is usually 6~6 1/2 gallons. It might be worth my while to look into some 1/6 barrel or 1/4 barrel sanke kegs though.

Brooo Brother

 

[Coffee49]

Last night was an eventful night. I was sterilizing a couple of glass carboys to use for second fermentors. While I was draining one of them into the sink the carboy gently bumped the side of the sink and broke in my hands. I was surprised how little it took to break and even more surprised by the size of the gashes it slashed in my right hand. I had to rush to the emergency room. I ended up with 15 stitches in my palm and middle finger. There doesn't seem to be any nerve damage but I did manage to severe a tendon, which will require the recommendation of an orthopedic surgeon. Becareful with glass carboys. I am making the switch to Better Bottles, as I am a little freaked out by how easily the carboy broke.

View attachment 52705

I inspected my five glass carboys prior to a juice run last weekend and discovered a 1/2" crack on the shoulder. I do not care to use this jug as it is cheaper to buy an empty jug than a one full of 12 month old red.