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

[obie]

Salad Tongs IPA

If those salad tongs are aluminum, put some pbw in there and let it corrode to nothingness and pour the junk out

 

[Homercidal]

Cut a hole in the bottom and pull it out.

Then use that carboy as a conical! Put an airlock in the hole you just cut and let the yeast and trub drop down through the neck.

I can't believe nobody's thought to do this before!

 

[Mdsutton]

That's pretty close to a goner.

BUT, make a loop with a hanger that's the same diameter as the mouth of the carboy. Lower it down, get it under the tongs, then bring it up. It might close the tongs enough to pull them back through the carboy mouth.

I think this may be a winner! Great Idea Passedpawn

 

[Hello]

Go ruin one of his toys.

 

[NervousDad]

If you can get two stick with string attached (like nun chucks) wrap around then cross them should close the tongs.

 

[Psylocide]

Go ruin one of his toys.

Best. Answer. Ever.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

I can picture my 2 year old doing this. I need to see how this plays out, and I agree with others this needs a live blog!

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

I can picture my 2 year old doing this. I need to see how this plays out, and I agree with others this needs a live blog!

 

[tomchukj]

Sorry have little ones of my own and this made my day cause I can relate. So glad they have not done this to me.

 

[HiImBrian]

This thread is epic! Subscribed!

 

[Pyg]

See attached pic, illustrating price paid for poor supervision of brew equipment, and kids.

Any suggestions for removing it without destroying the carboy are welcome!


View attachment 287842

Havin kids who like to play with the bottles, carboys, brew equipment I sympathize. However I darn near did a spit take on my monitor and laughed for 10 minutes. I have looked at this photo repeatedly to for a laugh. I just could not tell anyone in the office why.

 

[JonM]

Sub'd. This is awesome.

 

[Singletrack]

Just keep pushing more toys and stuff in there. Something interesting is bound to happen. Lead weights and fishing lures? Sure! Tinker toys? No doubt! Screw drivers? Of course! Old food? Why not?

If that doesn't work for some reason -- pretty sure it will -- top off with coca cola to dissolve it all.

Good luck!

 

[JonM]

When you do get it out, the procedure will be called the "johnodonovan." Oh, you got tongs stuck in your fermenter? Just johnodonovan it. Here's a link to the thread with instructions.

 

[balrog]

Use The Force, Luke.

 

[bacgabe]

Already some great ideas tossed out there. One variation that might work as well is to suspend a piece of twine or fishing line with a sliding loop in the carboy, then use a wire hanger to guide it over one of the "grabber" ends of the tongs. Pull tight, then with the wire hanger, spin the tongs a couple times while looping the tag end of the line over the other grabber end. Then, with the hanger still in the mouth of the carboy (to keep the line secure around the midsection of the tongs), pull up and (hopefully) out.

I almost wish that was my carboy so that I could try all these ingenious solutions.

Edit: Variation on the above would be to bend a little swirl at the end of the coat hanger that would help hold the line while doing the above maneuvers.

 

[BrotherGrim]

1. Get two lengths of butchers twine and a section of pvc pipe 1".
2. Put slip nooses on the end of each one.
3. Slip nooses over silicone pads (one over each)
4. Fish the loose ends of the twine through the pipe.
5. Slide pipe down into carboy while pulling twine tight.
6. Tongs will close up.
7. Lift pipe and tongs out of carboy.
8. Send check for brilliant idea to BrotherGrim.

 

[Staestc]

Muriatic acid. Get it from the pool store. The post the picture and we will figure out how to get the silicone bits out!

 

[Psylocide]

1. Get two lengths of butchers twine and a section of pvc pipe 1".
2. Put slip nooses on the end of each one.
3. Slip nooses over silicone pads (one over each)
4. Fish the loose ends of the twine through the pipe.
5. Slide pipe down into carboy while pulling twine tight.
6. Tongs will close up.
7. Lift pipe and tongs out of carboy.
8. Send check for brilliant idea to BrotherGrim.

This sounds like a winner.

 

[bacgabe]

Actually, just hooking the base with a coat hanger and pulling up might work, as it looks as if the contours of the top of the carboy might cause them to close right up and slide right out.

Edit: reading comprehension is a good skill...just saw that this was the first suggestion from TallDan.

 

[bbohanon]

This is the greatest post I have ever seen here.

+100..One for the senior class yearbook when to remind them of the pain and suffering they have caused you in their youth.

 

[LAHammer]

OK - I forwarded this to some folks at NASA and they have 3 teams that are going to simulate your problem and come up with a solution that will allow the equipment to survive the process. Please don't try anything until we've heard back from them.

Any attempts to remove this without proper safeguards could lead to severe scratching - and we all know that may cause future infections.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!

 

[balrog]

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.

 

[sakeyfour]

Use two pieces of cloths hanger wire with u bends on the ends bent up 90 deg. put one on each side. as you pullup the tongs you squeeze them together. If the spring in the tongs is stronger than the wire pulling up might use the sloped sides as mentioned earlier.

 

[bacgabe]

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.

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

 

[GuitsBoy]

I say two wire hangers, straightened out, but leaving the hook part at the end, like a long candy cane. Try to hook each hanger around the silicone bits and pull them across one another to close the tongs up, as you pull them up towards the opening.

 

[Bobb25]

You can still get wire hangers ?????

 

[TallDan]

OP, please come back and post saying that something worked. Even if you didn't actually try anything yet, just come back and post saying it's done. After 50ish posts with variations on the theme, I think we're running low on ways of using stiff wire to scratch up the carb.. err... get the tongs out.

 

[DNKDUKE]

Go ruin one of his toys.

You don't have to actually ruin one......all you've got to do is NOT FIX one he has ruined.....:rockin:

 

[JonM]

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