# I'll Never Use A Glass Carboy Again



## Spartan 117 (5/9/09)

Hey Guys

Made a batch of beer last week and got some advice from Chappo and BribieG to add gelatine to help clear it up. Went to trasfer it into a glass carboy and was going to sit it in an ice bath to chill it down, had about 15L in the carboy lifted it up on the table to stop the syphon as the phone was ringing, after telling a telemarketer that I was not interested in 7 free days accomodation went back to start the syphon again lifted the carboy down, must have hit a sweet spot on the carboy or something because the second in touched the floor the thing shattered spilling my beer all over the place. I have about 8 or so litres left so i suppose it could be worse. Gonna invest in a water cube me thinks. 

Not happy Jan. :angry: 


Aaron

edit: spelling


----------



## buttersd70 (5/9/09)

oh....my....god.  

I understand why the glass lovers use them, but this type of thing is exactly why I don't


----------



## MVZOOM (5/9/09)

Oh man, that's the complete suck. At least you got the 8L left and no injuries.


----------



## olde (5/9/09)

8litres left? Guess you won't be swilling down the dregs like usual then, eh?


----------



## Spartan 117 (5/9/09)

buttersd70 said:


> oh....my....god.
> 
> I understand why the glass lovers use them, but this type of thing is exactly why I don't




yeah they're a birtch to clean aswell, plastic is the way of the future I believe. 





MVZOOM said:


> Oh man, that's the complete suck. At least you got the 8L left and no injuries.



yeah 8 is better than nothing i suppose, but i really had high hopes for this one so if it turns out to be a cracker I'll just have to make it again. 

Cheers

Aaron


----------



## mckenry (5/9/09)

Your method isnt the problem. Its this;



Spartan 117 said:


> got some advice from Chappo and BribieG



They're Qld'ers. And Bribie is an islander at that!

Makes two ticks for mckenry on Chappos hit list :lol: :lol: :lol:


----------



## Bribie G (5/9/09)

Glass is deadly stuff, I worked in a glass factory a long time ago where they made lab tempered glassware etc and before distribution they would just leave the flasks and retorts on pallets for a month. Every now and again one of them would spontaneously explode into a zillion pieces. Then they would ship out the unexploded ones.


----------



## Tony (5/9/09)

You listned to Chappo?

He is too busy posting to brew!!!

Plastic doesnt break.. easily, and the beer taste just as good.

cheers


----------



## Effect (5/9/09)

mate, I am glad to hear that you didn't injure yourself...that stuff is dangerous...

americans love em - or maybe they are just well cheap over there.

Well, if bunnings sold em with red lids, i'd have a few.


----------



## chappo1970 (5/9/09)

That just blows Spartan  I hope whats left is a cracker :icon_cheers: 




mckenry said:


> Your method isnt the problem. Its this;
> 
> 
> 
> ...



As for you McKippersOnToast <_< You just keep racking them up


----------



## Spartan 117 (5/9/09)

Phillip said:


> mate, I am glad to hear that you didn't injure yourself...that stuff is dangerous...
> 
> americans love em - or maybe they are just well cheap over there.
> 
> Well, if bunnings sold em with red lids, i'd have a few.




Cheers phillip, yeah I got this one (22L I think) off ebay for $20 so its not too much of a loss. 



Chappo said:


> That just blows Spartan  I hope whats left is a cracker :icon_cheers:




Yeah, me and all. Just so annoyed at it all, hadn't brewed in months and then finally get the time to put one down and i lose most of it. 


Cheers 

Aaron


----------



## mckenry (5/9/09)

Chappo said:


> As for you McKippersOnToast <_< You just keep racking them up



:lol: I knew you'd be listening Chap Chap


----------



## mckenry (5/9/09)

Chappo said:


> As for you McKippersOnToast <_< You just keep racking them up



Cant get Bribie to bite though....


----------



## buttersd70 (5/9/09)

Spartan 117 said:


> I got this one (22L I think) off ebay for $20 so its _not too much of a loss_.



other than the beer :angry: 



mckenry said:


> Cant get Bribie to bite though....



No, cos unlike ChapChap, Bribie is a _gentleman_. 
edit: even if he _is _a bloody Geordie. ^_^


----------



## Spartan 117 (5/9/09)

buttersd70 said:


> other than the beer :angry:



Yeah the beer is what annoys me couldn't care less about the carboy



buttersd70 said:


> edit: even if he _is _a bloody Geordie. ^_^



lol could be worse....... wait, no it couldn't 

Aaron


----------



## reVoxAHB (5/9/09)

i would never risk setting a glass carboy (especially waited with wort) onto concrete or hard surfaces. if you change you mind and go the glass route again, cart them in plastic milk crates.. that way they'll be protected on all sides (and bottom) and you'll have a crude handle or two.

i've broken them as well (full with 23L) of finished IPA.. still using glass but more cautious now. I also use carboys handles, fwiw. best $10 investment for the carboy. 

reVox


----------



## ausdb (5/9/09)

If you really want to go down the carboy route then look at the Better-bottle ones made out of PET plastic. They are expensive versus standard plastic screw top fermenters but cheap against the cost of glass carboys. 

They do bounce when you drop them, even with 12L of liquid in them  I did an unscheduled experiment whilst cleaning one a while back.

Beware of using too hot water when you clean them though, as Randyrob accidentally did an experiment once with boiling water which did not have a happy ending


----------



## Chad (10/9/09)

I put my only glass carboy in a plastic garbage bin. It has a softer bottom, it helps to keep the light out, it serves as a container to catch the liquid should it break, and it has handles which helps to move it from the kitchen to where it will sit until done.


----------



## marlow_coates (10/9/09)

My LHBS recently had a sale on glass carboys, $45 for a 23L one.
I bought 2.
And now only use the plastic fermenter as a bottling bucket.

Love being able to see the ferment actually happen, and can easily tell when it has dropped bright for bottling.

However, after reading all the horror stories on hear and elsewhere I did not go into this lightly.

My fridges have been put up onto very sturdy coffee tables. This give them the height needed so that when brew is done I use gravity to rack to plastic bottling bucket, then lift plastic bottling bucket up onto bench for bottling.

Also, the glass carboy is lifted into the fridge, and sits on a towel, prior to any liquid going in.
And use the old milk crate trick for extra safety.
I use a sanitised jug, and funnel, to transfer from the cooled pot, or from the cube.
Yeast goes in the same way, then topped up with water to the 21L mark.

The glass carboy is effectively never lifted with liquid, and I am very careful when it is empty.

In terms of cleaning I thought there may be some dificulties, but a dose of napisan, and filled with water, and left to sit for a few days brings it back to sparkling new. Then a dose of bleach and 1L of water, given a swirl occasionally when passing, untill next brew ready to go on.

Would be a pain if I needed both all the time, but with planning will always have a few days between brews to allow for the longer easy clean.

Marlow


----------



## skippy (10/9/09)

Spartan 117 said:


> yeah they're a birtch to clean aswell, plastic is the way of the future I believe.
> 
> 
> Aaron




not if you have access to commercial caustic - cleans them in seconds!

Fermenting in glass demijohns is great as they are less permeable to air than a plastic container, and are more hygenic (considering the porous nature of plastic)

I sit mine in the protective plastic containers which have handles, to enable easy movement, I don't put hot water in them, and I dont let then sit on surfaces that are either too cold (or hot for that matter)

Haven't broken one yet...


----------



## Darren (10/9/09)

Beware cleaning those puppies,

Napisan is very slippery.

cheers

Darren


----------



## Scruffy (10/9/09)

Spartan 117 said:


> I have about 8 or so litres left...



Gotta love Sham-Wow!

...sorry for your loss! My thoughts are with you and your family at this time.


----------



## pdilley (10/9/09)

The glass demis all come in a protective plastic basket already. Seppos have not caught onto Europe yet and they only have a lifter handle as their claim to faim with glass carboys. Ive not had issues with any demis, even had the 34Litre almost full of water and ou of the protective basket on a wooden board on the tile floor to do fish tank heater tests and baselines and it slipped off onto the hard tile when leaning over to poir water down the floor drain and no issues -- but I did stop breathing for a half second 

The glass isnt tough if cleaned after racking. To cheat I kept the original plasic cap and cap em after racking so they dont dry out inside and stay moist for a week before I get around to cleaning.
I have a "cleaning wand"-- plastic arriving from the States that attaches to the kitchen faucet so soon I'll
just wizz around them and blast it clean in less than a minute easy as.

I will say go plastic if you are moving it up and down a lot and want it easy as without slowing down and finessing the last couple of cm's to surface contact when full. I plan ahead and leave them sit on a dedicated bench so Im always racking down with gravity without having to lift them just before hand. But techniques I think are different so you can't swap from plastic and treat glass with the same way you had treated a plastic fermenter. I man-handle my plastic like anything and prefer them when I'm in a rush so long term projectslike the meads and ciders go glass exclusively and the beer goes either plastic or glass and if brewing during a busy month then beers go mostly plastic.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete


----------



## chucke (10/9/09)

Phillip said:


> americans love em - or maybe they are just well cheap over there.



Not so much these days. 

Stories of shattered carboys, sliced feet and the loss of 19 liters of beer- coupled with the sharp increase in price Americans are moving to Better Bottles or other plastic options.


----------



## chucke (10/9/09)

ausdb said:


> If you really want to go down the carboy route then look at the Better-bottle ones made out of PET plastic. They are expensive versus standard plastic screw top fermenters but cheap against the cost of glass carboys.
> 
> They do bounce when you drop them, even with 12L of liquid in them  I did an unscheduled experiment whilst cleaning one a while back.
> 
> Beware of using too hot water when you clean them though, as Randyrob accidentally did an experiment once with boiling water which did not have a happy ending



Melting a Better Bottle is not a pretty sight. Sorta reminds me of the Wicked Witch of the West.




I'm melting!


----------



## pdilley (10/9/09)

They do shatter (better bottles) if dropped from a decent height but you can definitely drop higher than glass


----------



## hoohaaman (10/9/09)

skippy said:


> not if you have access to commercial caustic - cleans them in seconds!
> 
> Fermenting in glass demijohns is great as they are less permeable to air than a plastic container, and are more hygenic (considering the porous nature of plastic)
> 
> ...



Since when was plastic a big deAL,BESIDES SEPPOS


----------



## skippy (11/9/09)

hoohaaman said:


> Since when was plastic a big deAL,BESIDES SEPPOS




????


----------

