Nooooooo!!!

[Devo9]

Just here to share my pain...

So so so sad right now.

 

[foolsgold]

OH NO!!! :smack:
Did you ding the carboy on something? How did it break? That is one of my fears when I'm moving stuff around.

What mead was that? looks like apple or peach slices on the floor... I think I would want to cry if that happened to me.

 

[FermentedFruit]

😭 horrible!

 

[bruteforce]

Arg!

 

[k1ngl1ves]

Damn. At least the carboy was a clean break...

 

[Devo9]

OH NO!!! :smack:
Did you ding the carboy on something? How did it break? That is one of my fears when I'm moving stuff around.

What mead was that? looks like apple or peach slices on the floor... I think I would want to cry if that happened to me.

I just moved it. I picked it up and CAREFULLY put it down. But obviously I was not careful enough...

It was my ginger mead. The pieces on the floor are lemon.

It was a horrible feeling. I put so much work into it and it all went down the drain... :-(

 

[Devo9]

Thanks everyone. It is nice to not go through this tragedy alone... I pray this never happens to any of you. (or to me ever again)

 

[Zepth]

That's a tough one to take. Haven't had it happen to me but I am planning a future without glass fermenters myself. At the very least it looks like a hose-friendly concrete floor. My mistake if it isn't.

 

[balrog]

Sorry for your loss. Glad you have all appendages intact still. Scary.

Plastic milk crate. Don't move without one. Still managed to shatter while cleaning though--the heavy glass, she moves like the ice when covered with slippery PBW.

But seriously, plastic milk crate. Lifesaver.

 

[smizak]

sorry for your loss. Glad you have all appendages intact still. Scary.

Plastic milk crate. Don't move without one. Still managed to shatter while cleaning though--the heavy glass, she moves like the ice when covered with slippery pbw.

But seriously, plastic milk crate. Lifesaver.

+100000000

 

[Hello]

That is rough. How long was it in the carboy? Mead takes so long that I would be sad if I lost some. Best part though is no blood was spilled. With glass, that is sometimes the outcome.

 

[dmcman73]

Sorry for your loss. Glad you have all appendages intact still. Scary.

Plastic milk crate. Don't move without one. Still managed to shatter while cleaning though--the heavy glass, she moves like the ice when covered with slippery PBW.

But seriously, plastic milk crate. Lifesaver.

+1, When I use my glass carboys, I always put them in these: http://www.containerstore.com/shop?productId=10000531&N=&Ntt=milk+crate

$10 for piece of mind, I don't trust those harnesses plus I've seen posts where people have had carboy's break due to the harness. At least if the carboy breaks for whatever reason in the crate, the large pieces of glass that are like razors will be contained in the crate and not flying at you.

 

[max384]

So sorry to see this... but at least you weren't hurt.

Last year I discovered a rather large crack in my glass carboy right after carrying it up a flight of stairs... at that moment I decided to get rid of all my glass and switch to PET. I'm so glad I did.

 

[WVMJ]

You are not setting your carboy directly on the concrete are you? I feel your pain, a ginger mead is on our short list. WVMJ

 

[Devo9]

Sorry for your loss. Glad you have all appendages intact still. Scary.

Plastic milk crate. Don't move without one. Still managed to shatter while cleaning though--the heavy glass, she moves like the ice when covered with slippery PBW.

But seriously, plastic milk crate. Lifesaver.

I will look into this. Thank you

 

[Devo9]

That is rough. How long was it in the carboy? Mead takes so long that I would be sad if I lost some. Best part though is no blood was spilled. With glass, that is sometimes the outcome.

It has been going for about a year now. I was planning to age it for about another 5 years. Yes, I'm still intact. No blood spilt today.

 

[Devo9]

So sorry to see this... but at least you weren't hurt.

Last year I discovered a rather large crack in my glass carboy right after carrying it up a flight of stairs... at that moment I decided to get rid of all my glass and switch to PET. I'm so glad I did.

I really like using glass...but I might have too consider this myself

 

[Devo9]

So sorry to see this... but at least you weren't hurt.

Last year I discovered a rather large crack in my glass carboy right after carrying it up a flight of stairs... at that moment I decided to get rid of all my glass and switch to PET. I'm so glad I did.

Yikes! I'm glad you caught that!

 

[Devo9]

You are not setting your carboy directly on the concrete are you? I feel your pain, a ginger mead is on our short list. WVMJ

Not usually. I have a foam mat that I set then on. I was going to move the mat, so i carefully placed the carboy on the concrete... I won't be making that mistake again!

 

[bernardsmith]

After a year aging this must be so sickening.

 

[Devo9]

After a year aging this must be so sickening.

Actually, I'd have been more devastated if my 3 year old strawberry rhubarb mead had broken instead.

My first thought was "Oh my good...which mead was that"

I was a little relieved that it was the ginger mead... The strawberry rhubarb mead was started just before my wedding, so it has more sentimental value (and it is 2 years older). The ginger mead was just an experiment, so not AS big of a deal. A huge loss, but not a big as it could have been.

However, it smelt SO GOOD as it went down the drain that I think I will try it again.

Don't get me wrong... I had a horrible sinking feeling and it turned my stomach to see all my hard work go down the drain... But i would have seriously cried if it had been my wedding mead.

 

[Devo9]

Ok, ok... I would have cried MORE if it had been my strawberry rhubarb mead. I'm fessing up...

 

[beernutz]

I've broken 4 glass carboys over the last 10 years--2 each 6.5 and 5 gallon ones. One froze, one was dropped, one had a small screwdriver fall on it, and one must have committed suicide or was attacked by gremlins as it broke sitting by itself in a closet. Luckily only one of them was full when it broke but my goodness I'd have cried if something that had aged a year was spilled by a broken carboy. You have my sympathy.

I went to better bottles when I replaced the last 2 and haven't looked back.

 

[Devo9]

I've broken 4 glass carboys over the last 10 years--2 each 6.5 and 5 gallon ones. One froze, one was dropped, one had a small screwdriver fall on it, and one must have committed suicide or was attacked by gremlins as it broke sitting by itself in a closet. Luckily only one of them was full when it broke but my goodness I'd have cried if something that had aged a year was spilled by a broken carboy. You have my sympathy.

I went to better bottles when I replaced the last 2 and haven't looked back.

Oh wow, 4 in 10 years? That's crazy! I'm glad you only lost one be, but that still sucks.

Yeah, I had to cry a bit...

 

[Yooper]

I've only ever broken one carboy, and that was because I dropped it onto a concrete floor and it was empty. But it still irritated me. I can't imagine losing a full batch- that sucks so bad. I just looked around the home office I have, and I have 7 glass carboys sitting around me (full). I have a few plastic ones as well, and we are gradually replacing our glass ones with the plastic Better bottles as they go on sale. I'm not sure I like aging in plastic, but I'm getting older and weaker and they sure are lighter and less likely to cut me.

 

[wardens355]

I can only imagine what words came out of your mouth as this happened... I would have risen my hands to the sky and let out a thunderous, expletive-ridden howl.

 

[max384]

I really like using glass...but I might have too consider this myself

I really liked using glass too. In fact, if you go back through my old posts, you'll my posts about how glass is safe if you handle it correctly. I read lots of these posts about people breaking carboys, but I knew I was good because they obviously must have mishandled them... But as soon as that crack appeared out of nowhere I changed my mind. I 100% definitely DID NOT mishandle that carboy, and it had a big crack. That would have been a messy and potentially painful mistake if it had burst while I was carrying it up the flight of stairs.

My safety (and beer/wine) was definitely worth the cost of switching to Better Bottles.

Yikes! I'm glad you caught that!

Me too!

 

[riderkb]

I have never broken one even though I moved them across the country twice. I had a friend who had a carboy full of stout cleanly separate into two pieces, top half and bottom half, as he was carrying it through his living room. He claims that you can say "oh s##t" three times before you're feet get wet in these circumstances.

 

[Nogud247]

I cannot even imagine losing something that takes this long. I'm not a patient man so I applaud you on your willingness to wait seemingly forever.

 

[WVMJ]

We have that stuff, I am clumsy and have tripped over the edge of it! Another meadmaker friend uses dollies from Northern tools or one of those online tool places, really easy to move the whole carboy and rearange if you have to. They are like 10$ each.

One day I saw a little wine on a table and couldnt figure out where it came from, then kept looking and saw that the bottom of a glass carboy had cracked, still setting there full but with just this little pin leak. GOt the wife to hole a bucket on the table edge and so gently slid it over to the bucket and it held together until it got to the bucket, brave wife, good thing it was one of her favorite wines or she might not have risked it! WVMJ

Not usually. I have a foam mat that I set then on. I was going to move the mat, so i carefully placed the carboy on the concrete... I won't be making that mistake again!

 

[Kblandfo]

Sorry to see this!
What if I added some duct tape to the carboys? I am thinking; a few strips in a grid pattern. I don’t think this wouldn’t stop a break but might it contain the shards from hurting me?

 

[Zepth]

Anything helps. Might turn it into a big pineapple of shards pointing everywhere though. If you would to try it I'd almost say you'd be better off with a fabric liner around the whole thing. Of course then you'd never be able to see whether it was clean or some random chunk sticking to a side out of sight. Would also act like an insulator.

The only winning move is not to play.

 

[fuelish]

I dinged one that broke when I was overcome by a sudden violent sneeze years back (when I brewed beer whilst living in MI...wow, thinking about it, it must have been 16 years ago
) ....lost 5 gallons of my favorite house IPA, but, luckily no blood was spilt and that basement had drains.....the basement in this crappily built newer home we own now has no drains in the basement It's heartbreaking to lose a batch....ever since that day I've used a milk crate and cover the carboy with an shirt of some type when moving them....and keep the moves to the very minimum

 

[Devo9]

I dinged one that broke when I was overcome by a sudden violent sneeze years back (when I brewed beer whilst living in MI...wow, thinking about it, it must have been 16 years ago
) ....lost 5 gallons of my favorite house IPA, but, luckily no blood was spilt and that basement had drains.....the basement in this crappily built newer home we own now has no drains in the basement It's heartbreaking to lose a batch....ever since that day I've used a milk crate and cover the carboy with an shirt of some type when moving them....and keep the moves to the very minimum

Yeah, I will have to figure something out for my carboys as well. I am thinking about making jackets for them out of soft packing foam. Needless to say I'll be a lot more careful from now on

 

[garlicbee]

Oh dear....