I have several crates that used to hold cases of half liter deposit bier bottles in Germany. The crates are pretty much the same size and shape as milk crates. My parents used them as shipping containers when they moved back to Florida from Bad Aibling. Their friends at the brewery there gave them to my parents.
Milk crates are sold at many big box stores here in The States. No reason to steal them.
Just being funny. Not looking to accuse.
I used to rock them back and forth on the floor in a “thump thump” fashion to slosh the wort around. Carried them up and down stairs, probably a few times with wet hands. Amazing I never broke one. Nothing but plastic for me this time around.
My wife got me one of those as a gift. It was hard to act grateful when I knew I would never use it.
I’m she sure did the same with the vacuum she got :
I’m getting old enough that I don’t like to carry carboys up and down stairs, so I bought a 2wheel cart from menards that is designed to carry plastic buckets. I just bungee cord the carboy to it.
I have all my glass carboys in Home Depot Homer buckets, which then sit in milk crates. I also have a brew hauler that I rarely use anymore. I got rid of my orange carboy handles, seems I am just tempting fate with those. Now a days I only use my glass carboys for Wild/Sour beers, as they sit a long time with out being touched.
I have many glass carboys and have yet to break one. I also don’t use glass for primary fermentation so they are never exposed to temperature extremes nor sitting directly on concrete. They are only used for secondary fermentation and bulk aging.
My 6.5 gallon carboy has a threaded neck, and it came with a plastic cap that screws on nicely. I used to cap the wort and roll it back and forth on the carpet vigorously to aerate. Can you imagine what a mess that would have made? :o
I’ve used buckets for years now with no problem, but for some reason I’m starting to reconsider and thinking about using the glass again. I have two 3-gallon glass carboys that are nice to use. The smaller size makes them way easier to handle. I might use them to bulk age some bigger beers.
I’m seriously interested in the big mouth bubblers that just hit the market. Waiting to hear some more feedback on those after extended use.
>:(was using brew hauler. 5gallon shifted when I picked it up, the straps spread and it slid out. 6 inches off concrete floor. All it took. Glass beer everywhere. Going to plastic.
Sorry about that. Brew hauler needs to give you a refund! 
I’ve had good luck with my Brew Hauler, but this is a good warning to make sure the straps are secure and don’t trust the hauler blindly. Thanks for the warning!
I’m sorry you lost your beer and I’m glad (hopeful?) you weren’t injured.
That said, it’s hard for me to imagine how this could happen if you took the time to make sure the straps were flat against the glass, evenly distributed around the carboy and as snug as you could tighten them. Doing this and lifting squarely from the handles I’ve never had any problem and find my BruHaulers to work great. Moved 13 gallons last night out of chest freezers without a problem.
I’d never heard of one slipping out of a brew-hauler before - good to know this is a possibility. I figure if the straps are adjusted correctly, this kind of mishap shouldn’t happen. I also employ the help of my wife when carrying a full carboy downstairs - I just can’t see carrying that thing on my own, even with the brew-hauler.
That’s why I switched to better bottles a couple of years ago. You have to clean them right away, but other than that they work well. I’ve dropped one full of wort and only lost a pint (note: the blue carry handles only work with the hard plastic stoppers, not rubber ones!).
This lets me use my no-muss, no-fuss, auto-shake aeration method:
Awesome. I bet those two would love to destroy dough balls in the mash tun, too.
That picture pretty much sums up why I went back to buckets and BBs. My beer is just as clean.
Great picture. Looks like a couple of great brewing assistants there!
Damn I got to get me some of those brew-dwarves. I bet they work for peanuts…
I thought they were gremlins trying to get his beer.
This. I cracked a glass carboy with one of my kids near enough to freak me out. Got rid of them thereafter (the glass carboys, not the kids).