Help! My 1y/o kid just shoved a salad tongs into a carboy, backwards.

[normonster]

Just brew around it.

 

[WPStrassburg]

I am thinking there has to be some solution that involves ping pong balls and liquid nitrogen...

freeze the tongs with said liquid nitrogen, whip the carboy on the ground, tongs xplode into little frozen stainless and silicone bits, and then just pour out the carnage.

 

[Konadog]

Looks like a job for Bill Nye the science guy .... David Copperfield.... Harry Potter..... the Avengers......

Good lord, the suspense is killing me!

 

[balrog]

Well, now at least we know exactly how to whip up forum enthusiasm.

 

[Konadog]

Well, now at least we know exactly how to whip up forum enthusiasm.

Could be worse, it could be a goat stuck in the carboy

 

[madscientist451]

Like someone already said,
I'd try reaching a thick bent wire in to reach the hole at the hinge, and pull upwards. If the wire isn't sturdy enough, and bends, get a piece of wood or any metal bar stock and put a bolt through the end to go through that hole. You may need a second piece of wood or metal to compress the tongs as you bring them upwards. Having someone hold it upside down or sideways may help.

 

[ChemEng]

Subscribed. i can't believe this hasn't happened to me yet....

 

[drainbamage]

I feel bad for laughing at your misfortune, but this thread is awesome.

 

[BreezyBrew]

Could be worse, it could be a goat stuck in the carboy

Yeah, or beer in there! 😆

 

[sablesurfer]

Mentos and coke? Shoot it right out of there?

 

[sablesurfer]

Skin his pet, cure the leather, cut into strip, wet and stretch the leather, put strip into carboy, roll around to get strip wrapped around tongs.

Set out in hot sun in a desert to heat shrink the leather. Get the closed tongs out.

Hand him back the leather thong and say, "Here's puppy."

 

[TallDan]

This wouldn't have happened if you used a glass carboy (smaller opening, tongs wouldn't fit). Thus proving, once and for all, that glass is better than plastic.

 

[johnodonovan]

Don't try this at home kids. It will drive you nuts!

Thank you all for the input!! I'm sure that some of the suggestions here would have worked, but alas, the order in which I tried them was a critical factor. I first tried to hook the loop at the bottom and use the wall contour to close the arms. Unfortunately, this method bent the tips of the tongs inward. Definitely not the winning suggestion, or implementation of it, at least The 2-noose idea would likely have worked if I had tried it first, but since the tips were bent, it just pulled off one of the silicone ends.

At this point of extreme frustration, it would normally be off to the recycler. It is just a cheap polycarbonate bottle. But since the post got so much interest, I am going to keep it around as a challenge for visitors and give updates. I'm also going to try a large wire noose around the bottom when I have some more time. Maybe that can bend the tips back to the right angle.

It's last beer was an American IPA dry hopped with Citra, obviously now called "Salad Tongs IPA". It is cold conditioning now and will probably taste like salad, garnished with tears of frustration.

 

[johnodonovan]

 

[Silentdrinker]

NO NO NO NO NO!
Too simple.
We are, in aggregate, an unstoppable force of multi-dimensional, out of the box thinking power, capable of delivering highly sophisticated, over analyzed, scathing solutions to literally ANY possible situation, without much thought to logic, cost, or time commitment. And burp the alphabet. But that's another thread. Or it should be.

I'm thinking a magnetically linked drill, and some sort of ratcheting device, plus a little duct tape and some Gummy Bears, and we'd have a YouTube video of the Tong Extraction Event that would garner more views than any Taylor Swift video.

That beats my gum on a stick idea.

 

[iijakii]

I vote for using it as a sour fermenter. You know how people put in oak to give the bugs a place to nest? Maybe silicone salad tongs are the new secret weapon.

 

[Silentdrinker]

Don't try this at home kids. It will drive you nuts!

Thank you all for the input!! I'm sure that some of the suggestions here would have worked, but alas, the order in which I tried them was a critical factor. I first tried to hook the loop at the bottom and use the wall contour to close the arms. Unfortunately, this method bent the tips of the tongs inward. Definitely not the winning suggestion, or implementation of it, at least The 2-noose idea would likely have worked if I had tried it first, but since the tips were bent, it just pulled off one of the silicone ends.

At this point of extreme frustration, it would normally be off to the recycler. It is just a cheap polycarbonate bottle. But since the post got so much interest, I am going to keep it around as a challenge for visitors and give updates. I'm also going to try a large wire noose around the bottom when I have some more time. Maybe that can bend the tips back to the right angle.

It's last beer was an American IPA dry hopped with Citra, obviously now called "Salad Tongs IPA". It is cold conditioning now and will probably taste like salad, garnished with tears of frustration.

Damn those cheap ass ikea tongs.

 

[Rhaop]

I vote for sour carboy

 

[balrog]

+1 on leaving it around. Better than any of those great blacksmith puzzles. "To drinketh from mine home brew altar, thou must pass the severe logic test of the Carboy Prison!"

 

[Peruvian802]

Hang on, don't do anything. I have to get another beer first.

 

[Peruvian802]

Okay, I'm back. What did I miss? I'm refreshing every 10 seconds.....

 

[Homercidal]

Get some duct tape.

hold on while I figure out the rest...

 

[balrog]

I think it's over dude. Veni, Vici, Postus-Ad-Nauseum, Benti (he came, he saw, we posted, then he bent the suckers)

....but wait---Never Give Up, Never Surrender!

 

[bacgabe]

Based on those pictures of the silicon prongs, I'd say the difficulty level just went to 11, given that they probably cannot fit through the mouth of the carboy now.

 

[balrog]

Electrician's bit. Long and small. Drill hole through the end of each of the silicone tips. Thread string through both holes and back out, using extra long hemostats. From watching MASH years ago, I know there are hemostats lying all over the place. Just ask Radar. Pull thread and it will raise the tips, pull them together, with enough pull it should straighten out the bent tip on the way.

Or you'll drill a hole in the side of the thing during step 1. Then you can use @Homercidal duct tape.

 

[Bilsch]

Personally for the ease of it, I liked the hydrochloric acid (aka muriatic) idea someone else proposed. Even a dilute (easy to manage) solution and time would dissolve everything except the silicone and those parts would be easier to remove as separate entities. This would happen even faster if placed in a warm location. Reaction products, aluminum chloride and weak HCl solution would be non staining and easy to rinse out but best of all non toxic and no chance of scratching or staining your carboy. Cheaply available as concrete cleaner in any hardware store.

Also more complicated but more fun would be to get a conductor hooked on the metal beam, fill carboy with salt water, slip in a cathode, hook up to a low voltage power supply and watch your metal parts dissolve.

 

[balrog]

i give up. second dbl post today. clearly i'm not supposed to hbt and work

 

[ImNoExpert]

Step one: Cut a hole in that carboy

Step two: Getch yo junk outa that carboy

Step three: ??????

 

[ImNoExpert]

That, or blow it up with fireworks on Saturday.

Please post video to this thread.

 

[TallDan]

Personally for the ease of it, I liked the hydrochloric acid (aka muriatic) idea someone else proposed. Even a dilute (easy to manage) solution and time would dissolve the PET plastic carboy.

FTFY. More proof that glass>plastic. You can use HCL to clean out pesky stains like salad tongs.