The Exploding Carboy Club...

[eschatz]

What I did was to go get a Rug Doctor from the supermarket (I rented it). I bought the shampoo and other crap that comes with it. It sucked but it worked and I've been happy since. No mold, no smell, no problem.


Oh yeah, Welcome to the Club!

 

[eschatz]

Ok, I've got one that I never thought would happen here. I brewed a Raspberry Wheat yesterday. Finished at 10 pm. I get home today at 4 pm and the bottom has blown out of my carboy because the airlock got clogged!

It threw a little fan that I had sitting next to the carboy across the room! Luckily it was in a swamp cooler that caught most of the mess. It really pisses me off to brew and loose a beer like that.

Man down..... (taps playing)

 

[ODP]

Man! I'm in the process of choosing my first setup and after reading this I think it's a no brainer to go the BB route...stitches and carpet cleaners sound no fun.

 

[eschatz]

Yeah, after 2 carboys I think I'm throwing in the towel....

 

[stokems]

I am soo in that club twice over. I've got 4 glass carboys left but I also use a few better bottle now. Theres something to be said about drunk proof fermenters.

 

[BADS197]

My carboys get lifted up onto the counter to siphon out for bottleing... but other than that they are preloaded into my fermenter/igloo cooler beforehand, and the I fill while they are in there and move it with the wheels on the igloo.

I'm going to make the switch away from glass one day, hopefully this year.... but it will be to a stainless conical of some sort.

 

[eschatz]

Ok, I've got one that I never thought would happen here. I brewed a Raspberry Wheat yesterday. Finished at 10 pm. I get home today at 4 pm and the bottom has blown out of my carboy because the airlock got clogged!

It threw a little fan that I had sitting next to the carboy across the room! Luckily it was in a swamp cooler that caught most of the mess. It really pisses me off to brew and loose a beer like that.

Man down..... (taps playing)

I still haven't found the cap from the three piece airlock.... It's blown off somewhere.

 

[Stef1966]

I also belong to this club. I dropped a beutiful Kolsh all over my garage!\ I now carry my carboy's in a plastic milk crate. I load them up and move them with ou fear!

Yeah milk crates are the way to go.
I do not find lifting a full 5 gal glass carboy to be a heavy lift, but after reading a couple of horror stories about em i have quit doing so without them being seated in a plastic crate.

Best yet, the last 4 batches of beer i made were all done without racking to secondary (glass carboy), just 2 weeks in a plastic primary bucket then off in the bottles they went, then i give them an extra 2 weeks in the bottles and drink em.

And i assume my palate must not be of the fussiest kinds cause i cannot tell the difference in taste compared to when i used glass, the beer is very good and i get to keep all my body parts intact, (exception made of my liver of course but thats another story).

So for me, glass is pretty over and my carboys have been gathering dust for a few months now.

 

[passedpawn]

I broke a glass carboy in my pool. I use the pool as part of my chilling system. 5g of hefe instantly mixed with the pool water.

I thought about throwing in the yeast and making a 17,000 gallon batch of 1.001 wheat beer. I spent weeks fighting an algae bloom.

I have 3 BB now.

 

[desertbronze]

Do you ferment 5 gallons in a 5 gallon keg?

I ferment in corny kegs - I usually brew 8-9 gallons and split that between two kegs - or 13-14 gallons and split that into three kegs. I use anti-foam drops to minimize foaming. Works very well for me - cornies are the best thing I have used for fermenters.

Unbreakable
Built-in handles
No issues with light
Easy to clean
Transfers using CO2 - no more siphons

 

[weirdboy]

When I first got into homebrewing years ago we had a massive explosion in the middle of the night when a blow-off hose got clogged. There was glass covering the kitchen and two adjoining rooms. If anyone had been in the room they would have been seriously injured. I stopped anything to do with homebrewing for years because of that incident.

So, when I finally decided to try it again I went with a plastic bucket for primary and Better Bottle for secondary. Also if I think I'm going to have a vigorous fermentation I won't use an airlock or blow-off and instead just cover with aluminum foil.

 

[underdogadam]

not to revive an old thread....but i just had my first carboy explode, and i felt the need to tell someone. i was just being lazy/drunk. i had just brewed my first 15 gallon batch, but i didn't prepare enough plastic jugs, so i just threw the last 5 gallons into a ...5gallon glass carboy. i woke up this morning, 12 hours into fermentation, it had exploded hard. splashes of yeast were found 12 feet away covering a wall. and now i'm at work, so i had no time to clean. it gets an extra 8 hours to sink into the carpet before i can devote a whole night to this recovery effort...

not a bad club to be in though! its very grounding to lose a batch. good thing i have 10 more gallons of hte same brew that didn't explode. Better Bottles from here on in!

 

[Starderup]

Holy ancient thread revival.
Although they can be dangerous, you can bypass that by NEVER moving a full carboy, no matter how you do it.
Position it, siphon into it, siphon out of it. Problem solved.
My last glass vessel slipped onto the concrete floor from about an inch above, and the biggest piece left was the neck.

 

[deepcdan99]

Oh yeah...I am a member. I'm also a member of the Damn-I'll-Never-Use-Glass-Again club. VIVA LA BETTER BOTTLE!!!

I am also a member of the "I'll never get married again club!"