very bad brew day

[brewskibob]

Today was my worst. I had just finished pitching the yeast in and aerating my colonial ipa in a glass carboy. So I put the airlock & stopper in, and go to put it in my brew closet. Well my closet was full of kegs and a c02 tank, so i set the carboy down and pick up the tank to move it, and i barley tap the carboy with the tank. GUSH. It broke the carboy. Very depressing, but i have learned my lesson, I am going to be 100 times more careful with carboys from now on.

 

[SavageSteve]

Ouch, that sucks. Sorry to hear of it-- I bet it was going to be a great beer, too.

I have yet (knock on wood) to break a carboy, but I'm going to be switching over to Better Bottles before I do.

If it helps, I once had to dump 10 gallons of beer (two batches) because they became infected. 10 gallons of beer and a few tears, all down the drain...

-Steve

 

[BrosBrew]

or put a towel underneath the area where you're gonna put your carboy to give a little cushioning. Sorry though, that sucks.

 

[brewskibob]

thanks guys. Yeah the towel thing wouldn't have helped me though, because my tank hit the side of the carboy.

 

[Jimbob]

I have banged carboys so hard I knew they were broken. Sure enough you hit one just right and it cracks. That sucks man...I feel your pain

 

[brewskibob]

by the way jimbob, is the blonde ale your brewing very alcoholic? ive been thinking of making one, but im in college so alcohol content is a very big deal to me haha.

 

[BearsWickedBrew]

I just purchased a kit that included a 5gal glass carboy for secondary...I wanted to swap it out for a better bottle...and the owner said sure, come back in a week when I get it in stock. A week has gone by..and prior to reading this post...I said f it..I'll just stick w/ the glass....I am now reconsidering.

 

[Jimbob]

by the way jimbob, is the blonde ale your brewing very alcoholic? ive been thinking of making one, but im in college so alcohol content is a very big deal to me haha.

LMAO...I can't remember off hand but I think it was about 4-5%. One thing you can do to bump the alcohol content is by some kind of booster. You're local Homebrew shop probably has something like that.

 

[Cape Brewing]

broken carboys suck... could be worse though. A guy in my brew club who I would definitely call and "expert brewer" tapped a carboy and broke it about a month and a half ago. Worst part is he was in flip-flops and a large chunk of glass came down and sliced his foot open right next to his achilles. He took about a dozen stitches.

It sucked pretty bad when it happened but now he sees it as a badge of honor... now he's got actual a "brewing scar".

 

[Winston_Smith]

Put your carboys in milk crates, makes them easy to carry and you can't smack the side and have them shatter to easy.

 

[brewskibob]

yeah the milk crates are a good idea, I also think that my carboy's temperature had been changing too much prior to my "accident" and I "suppose" that could weaken the glass? because i really barley tapped the side. And thanks for the info jimbob. I feel like I'm betraying good beer by adding a little corn sugar to boost alcohol content, but you gotta do what you gotta do.....to get schwasted.