terrible tragedy

[wilsojos]

I came home from work today excited to check on my two batches I had fermenting. Opened the basement door and headed down. About three steps down I smelled beer, uh oh. I raced around the corner and there lies one of the fermenters on the floor. I brewed the second batch last night and sat them on a big plastic container. Before I left this morning I was thinking to myself that I really need to do something different. The plastic broke which let it tumble. Crap, crap, crap. Idiot, idiot, idiot.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

So sorry for your loss.
Also sorry for the cleanup you're gonna have to do.

 

[KellyK]

I feel your pain. We both brew, but my hubby brewed 10 gallons of Wit last summer with 5 going to a co-worker. He had it all down the in the basement, yeast pitched, perfect brew day. He was moving the second carboy into its fermentation place when he tapped it against a shelf. Must have hit the glass just right as the carboy exploded, 5 gallons of beer hitting our carpeted basement floor. At least it wasn't a stout.

 

[ThePonchoKid]

at least your basement smells delicious :\

 

[Garr-Ro]

at least you still have half of the days work left to eventually drink on....pending no more plastic failures!

 

[jrobidoux]

I brew 2-gallon batches with my two little 1-gallon carboys. The thought of possibly having an experience as epically tragic as this is almost enough to stay away from 5-gallon carboys forever...

 

[Jayhem]

I brew 2-gallon batches with my two little 1-gallon carboys. The thought of possibly having an experience as epically tragic as this is almost enough to stay away from 5-gallon carboys forever...

Do not fear 5 gallon batches! Just use plastic Better Bottles and set them on a SOLID wooden table or on a pad of carpet on the concrete floor as I do. I carry my better bottles all the time with 5 gallons of beer and they are super stable compared to trying to carry glass and no fear of breaking them if I bump them on a corner or something.

 

[Homercidal]

And yet more examples of why we homebrewers need to remember to FILM our beercapades all the time.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Did you at least slurp some of the wort off the floor?

 

[Rogsterman]

That's a bummer man. If it was a glass carboy, that's a MAJOR bummer. That's one of my bugaboos during transferring.

 

[pwndabear]

mildly off topic one of the best purchases i recently made was a carboy carrier instead of just trying to do it myself or use the top handle.

i would hate to lose a carboy with all that beer in it

 

[Kaleco]

I try to keep my carboys on the ground at all times. If I need to transfer, it's only up on the table long enough to transfer and if I have to move one, I try to keep it just a couple inches off the ground.

Where are the pictures?

 

[brewit2it]

mildly off topic one of the best purchases i recently made was a carboy carrier instead of just trying to do it myself or use the top handle.

i would hate to lose a carboy with all that beer in it

Agree completely. If you brew in glass carboys the 2 best purchases you can make are an auto-siphon and a carboy carrier. I worked without either for quite a few batches and after getting them thought what an idiot I was to have waited.

 

[bigbeergeek]

at least your basement smells delicious :\

Give it a day or two and it won't.

 

[GoodDogShelby]

My prayers go out to you and your family. Chip up little trooper, they are growing more grain & hops as I type.

 

[kwingert]

Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

 

[wilsojos]

After much grieving, I am now counting my blessings. There was 5 gallons of ipa sitting there too. The only reason it survived is because it got hung up on the door jam. Sorry, no pictures

 

[chinkson]

So sad

 

[H-Balm]

at least your basement smells delicious :\

Optimism.

Awesome!

 

[grindzombie]

Ahhh that sucks dude. Yaknow- in honor of your loss Ima go move that BB I have perched on an old Christmas tree stand in the basement... it has not been for nothing!

 

[Krazykripple]

i feel your pain OP. i lost half a batch to poorly manufactured bottles a while ago. it was a hard time

 

[avidhomebrewer]

Man, that sucks.

I had a similar incident a few years back, but it didn't end up bad (for the beer).

I finished batch and was in the process of bringing the carboy downstairs to pitch/ferment. I had a few in me by this time and missed the last few stairs, falling to the floor. In my hands was 5 gallons of precious wort and I wasn't going to let that carboy shatter all over my carpeted floor (the wife would have had my backside if that would have happened.)

So, instead of risking the beer, I attempted to 'catch' it. In the process, I twisted my ankle something fierce and needed to wear an aircast for about 2 weeks. When I went into work the next day, my co-workers asked what happened and I told them, but I also pointed out that I saved the beer.