• Please visit and share your knowledge at our sister communities:
  • If you have not, please join our official Homebrewing Facebook Group!

    Homebrewing Facebook Group

Smashed the carboy

Homebrew Talk

Help Support Homebrew Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Buckets sh!t heads!!;)

I have used glass for many years and have never broken or came close to breaking one. It's all about respect for what product you are using and on this forum. Buckets and Better Bottles are not the solution to everything. Just because my car has airbags I don't drive around recklessly running into things.
 
Glass aside, BB's and carboys are a PITA to clean.

Rip open a bucket, hose it out, sanitize, nuff said.

If you are still needing to "see" fermentation, knock yourself out.
 
I have used glass for many years and have never broken or came close to breaking one. It's all about respect for what product you are using and on this forum. Buckets and Better Bottles are not the solution to everything. Just because my car has airbags I don't drive around recklessly running into things.

+1

Glass Carboy + Handle + Care
 
Soak in oxyclean for a few days in the sun and everything melts away. I like how glass smells new after every clean, unlike plastic.
 
No matter how many times you say this it won't make it true.

............OK Harry Potter.

Since my wand is in the shop and I must wash with water and stuff, you are funny.

Bucket = BIG OPENING

Carboy/bb = tiny opening.

Also my little cleaning fairies are in the shop.

I will agree that glas cleans up better and prettier.

I hate to drink out of plastic, so I agree, but the breakable (especially sh!tty if filled with beer) and the PITA (unless your hands are MUCH smaller than mine) to clean make it a no brainer.
 
............OK Harry Potter.

Since my wand is in the shop and I must wash with water and stuff, you are funny.

Bucket = BIG OPENING

Carboy/bb = tiny opening.

Seriously, no faries needed. As long as the opening is big enough to pour a scoop of OxyClean in with hot water that thing will be spotless in no time with no scrubbing. A good rinse after and things are set for the next time. I mean, you can just watch that stuff work, nothing short of amazing.
 
Seriously, no faries needed. As long as the opening is big enough to pour a scoop of OxyClean in with hot water that thing will be spotless in no time with no scrubbing. A good rinse after and things are set for the next time. I mean, you can just watch that stuff work, nothing short of amazing.


Hmmmm! Good to know.

I still prefer my carboy fairies though.;)

For people that primary in carboys with krausen and hop residue, the same holds true?
 
Hmmmm! Good to know.

I still prefer my carboy fairies though.;)

For people that primary in carboys with krausen and hop residue, the same holds true?

Have you ever seen a carboy cleaning brush? Works slick as snot on a door knob!
 
I have one, but never oxyclean.

Cleaning krausen out of my bb 1 time with out oxyclean was enough for me.
 
Hmmmm! Good to know.

I still prefer my carboy fairies though.;)

For people that primary in carboys with krausen and hop residue, the same holds true?

Yes, I primary and Oxyclean. I just did a porter, added the hot water and Oxyclean once I washed the yeasties. The next day I rinsed it and things were spotless.
 
You couldn't resist what?

Pointing out that they can break, once I was proven wrong on the "hard to clean" point. Just messing with you.

He probably could, if he tried hard enough. :D


I don't oxy my buckets, and I can hardly get the lid off when there is wort/beer in them, but I may take more steps to make sure he can't get to them for a number of reasons.
 
A word of caution, DO NOT use hot water in glass carboys.

Oxyclean is great though.


And don't wash them after midnight...

Sorry fellas!!! Glass is elegant, you radical "I also like to live dangerously" freaks.

Buckets are cheap, spicketable, WORK, don't shatter dangerously (I think a carboy full of beer breaking anywhere but outside in the yard would be grounds for SUICIDE) and require minimal caution.

I respect you all, but for me.....
 
I've never broken a glass carboy, but I thought I came close a couple times. I finally switched to a 10 gallon corny keg which lets me move it around without fear, and I can move beer under CO2 instead of siphoning out of a carboy. I pop the poppet valve out of the gas intake and put a 1/2" tube around the fitting with the end sitting in a jar of water/idaphore for a blowoff. I cut the outflow tube off about 1 1/2" so it sits on top of the trub, so I don't get much if any gunk. Works great, no glass anywhere, and my beer never touches oxygen after it gets into the primary.
 
Pointing out that they can break, once I was proven wrong on the "hard to clean" point. Just messing with you.

Nobody ever said that they couldn't break. The point was that you need to be very careful with them. If for some reason you're clumsy and don't trust yourself, or you make a habit of getting fall down drunk while brewing, then yes, you should probably use buckets.

I have 5 glass carboys and 2 buckets I ferment in, but I rarely use the buckets. Usually only when the carboys are full.

Hint: Get some plastic milk crates to keep your carboys in. They make it very easy to carry them when full.
 
Nobody ever said that they couldn't break. The point was that you need to be very careful with them. If for some reason you're clumsy and don't trust yourself, or you make a habit of getting fall down drunk while brewing, then yes, you should probably use buckets.

I have 5 glass carboys and 2 buckets I ferment in, but I rarely use the buckets. Usually only when the carboys are full.

Hint: Get some plastic milk crates to keep your carboys in. They make it very easy to carry them when full.

I am not -that- clumsy, and I don't ever drink while brewing. I use buckets because they are cheaper, more convenient, easier to carry, and, IMHO, inherently safer.
 
A word of caution, DO NOT use hot water in glass carboys.

Oxyclean is great though.

I think what he means is, do not use BOILING water in glass carboys. Hot water from the faucet at about 110-120 (or whatever your hot water heater is set at) should be fine. However, boiling water, when poured into a confined space like a carboy with a small opening requiring a funnel tends to produce steam and that coupled with the normal air that your displacing tends to create a large spout of boiling hot water as they try to escape back through the water filled funnel. I tried this once for fun and was wearing an apron and raincoat with gloves and it soaked the whole basement with boiling ass water. Kinda cool, but also very dangerous. Clearly, if you wanna learn how not to brew, then I'm your man.
 
Actually, I meant hot tap water. The only way you could safely use hot water at any temp would be to pre heat the carboy evenly before filling it. The stresses caused by uneven heating is enough to break a carboy. Think about it, you start filling the carboy with hot water, the bottom starts to heat while the sides are still cool, the expansion of the glass at the bottom is faster than the sides. This could cause a failure, and possibly a trip to the emergency room.
 
PBW + warm tap water + hour = clean carboy.

No scrubbing, no PITA.

I do not like the deflection in the BB when they are moved. I do use buckets for primary, but for secondary and lagering i like the limited head space of the carboy.
 
Back
Top