I had a really sweet double batch brew day lined up yesterday; a coffee stout and IPA. It was my first double batch on my Brew Magic so I was pretty pumped. The morning was enjoyable after I resolved a stuck mash. After hitting all my numbers and successfully finishing out the coffee stout I began the IPA. I love IPAs and I love coffee so I was particularly excited about this batch. It was one of the smoothest brews I’ve ever done. What a great day! I had just cooled and transferred over 12 gallons of a gigantic beer into two 6.5 gal. carboys. I moved one carboy into my fermentation cellar (my closet) and picked up the other one to put it in its home as well. I walked closer to my closet ready to pitch the yeast and clean up. As I bent over to set the carboy down, I clipped the side of the one already on the ground. This shattered the bottom of the one I was holding, spilling 6.5 precious gallons all over my carpet. The one I grazed shattered too. Blood and wort EVERYWHERE. Have you ever seen 13 gallons of wort on carpet?! I wish I could un-see it!!! I just finished shampooing the carpet for the 5th time and I think I have another couple times on the horizon tomorrow… Don’t worry… the coffee stout survived and is happily fermenting 8)
Ouch! I hope you are alright. This is why I use plastic primaries. I have not broken a glass fermenter, but I lost a 10 gallon batch once to a pedio/acetobacter infection that arose from the plastic and aging too long in the plastic primary. I have now gone to separate vessels dedicated to sours and others that are dedicated to ales and lagers that are not sour, so I have avoided that issue since then.
Holy sh*t, what a terrible way to end what sounded like an awesome brew day! I hope you’re okay. I used glass carboys for years, but just recently switched to fermenting in kegs. No more worries about breaking fermenters.
It’s amazing more people aren’t maimed or killed by carboys. When something you’re carrying breaks or slips its a natural reaction to grab harder, trying not to drop it. The heavier the thing is the more violent the reflex. Glad you weren’t hurt too bad.
Damn. I think it’s time to retire my one glass carboy for holding emergency drinking water or some other “prepper”-type use. These types of stories scare the crap out of me. Glad you survived!
It definitely seems like I am reading more of the stories over the past few months although I am reading fewer homebrewing forums on a regular basis.
It’s exactly why I never got into glass carboys. I have to transport by fermentors from the kitchen downstairs to the fermentation space upstairs (and back down for bottling) and the idea of carrying a wet, slippery glass carboy up and down the stairs sounds dangerous. Not just for cuts but having the carboy slip out of my hands and knock me off balance and down the stairs. No thanks, I’ll just rely on my bucket and the two better bottles I have to move up and down the stairs once a year (for sours). The only glass fermentors I have are five liter jugs that come with a handle built in. Fortunately I haven’t broken any of those.
I am wondering if it has something to do with the way the glass is made now days. You hear stories of Pyrex exploding because the new formula is different then years ago. Wondering if the same could be said for carboys?
For those that have had disasters from broken carboy, was it a newer one or older? IS there such a thing as an old carboy, or are there no old carboys because they don’t live forever?
I banged a 5 gallon carboy filled with 9% abv Imperial Stout in August with Nesco roaster lid, that caused an inch square hole to open up right where the side of the carboy starts to curve up to the neck. If I was smart, I would have let the beer drain to the point where the beer level was below the hole, but I panicked and tried to lift it up to a counter to start siphoning it into a keg. That caused the entire glass structure to fail.
The cuts on my leg were minor, and it was in the basement next to the floor drain, so clean up was easy. But dang…how come it couldn’t have been a pale ale or a brown ale, instead of Imperial Stout? :-[
Yeah I’m ok guys… Just super sad about my lost wort, cash, and time. (In that order) Both of the ones that exploded were brand new. This is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me during the three years I’ve been homebrewing. This incident has made me want to switch to stainless steel for sure!
My buddy broke a carboy awhile ago and sliced his hand open…now I have his 7 carboys and only use them occasionally like my blueberry wine and my first sour.
I wonder this too. I went close to 15 years never breaking one, and within 2 or 3 years broke two, neither of which was dropped or hit with something. I didn’t notice a crack in either, although I’m assuming there had to be very small cracks in both cases. No wort over 68F max ever went into either, usually cooler. When one of those things break apart, you stand there in shock looking at the huge mess before you realize you’re bleeding everywhere. Not worth it for me.
and picked up the other one to put it in its home as well. I walked closer to my closet ready to pitch the yeast and clean up. As I bent over to set the carboy down, I clipped the side of the one already on the ground. This shattered the bottom of the one I was holding, spilling 6.5 precious gallons all over my carpet. The one I grazed shattered too. Blood and wort EVERYWHERE. Have you ever seen 13 gallons of wort on carpet?! I wish I could un-see it!!! I just finished shampooing the carpet for the 5th time and I think I have another couple times on the horizon tomorrow… Don’t worry… the coffee stout survived and is happily fermenting 8)