Oops! ...I did it again

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

squirt in the turns

Well-Known Member
Joined
23/4/10
Messages
281
Reaction score
34
Some members of this forum are already familiar with this tale of implosion and heartache. One would think, after that experience, that I would have learned my lesson. Yes, I did re-read the title I gave that original thread and appreciate the irony.

Yesterday I was preparing a 5 litres of wort for a starter in an Erlenmeyer flask. As per usual there was a lid fashioned from foil. The difference on this occasion was that I added (no points for correct guesses)... a layer of cling wrap and a rubber band.

Why? Well, I was originally intending to test a minimal water usage method of chilling the flask that I thought up. The idea was to recirculate coolant (water) over the flask with a shower head, to cool it by losing heat through evaporation. Hence the cling wrap to prevent unsanitary coolant getting into the flask (which I supposed to be more effective than foil alone). Anyway, I didn't even get to testing this idea as I was running late and expecting the friends SWMBO and I were going to dinner with to show up any minute. Needless to say, in any case, the evaporative cooling idea has been shelved. I ended up just using a bag of ice to chill. As the temperature, and of course, pressure, in the flask dropped, the cling wrap sucked in nice and tight against the foil. In hindsight, this is a clue that warranted closer scrutiny.

So everyone's ready to go out, the wort's at the right temperature, I figure it'll take a minute to chuck the yeast in, and we'll be off. I pick the flask up out of the ice bath with the neck in my right hand, and support the base with my left. Next thing I know there is a pretty loud bang. I'm covered in wort. The garage, including the ceiling, is covered in wort. People are screaming in confused panic. 3 fingers on my left hand have not insignificant gashes in them. I consider myself pretty lucky that that was the extent of my injuries (physically, anyway). Most of glass fallout was contained in the bucket I was chilling in.

The potential for explosions in brewing is well known. The dangers of implosions, I feel, are discussed far too infrequently. Tell your children, fellow brewers: DO NOT CHILL IN SEALED CONTAINERS THAT ARE NOT DESIGNED TO BE FLEXIBLE! I made this mistake twice so that YOU DON'T HAVE TO! :D

PS: props to Damien13 for his mad bandaging skillz.

20140112_135401_resized.jpg

20140111_233601_resized.jpg
 
I chill my starters in the saucepan in the sink and then decant into the flask. I know the flasks are designed to handle temperature changes (if not pressure changes), but I trust the integrity of stainless steel a little more than glass. Glad the injuries weren't too serious.
 
Wow, so glad wrap is stronger than the glass. I quite often use glad wrap and rubber band on my 750ml flasks when collecting coopers yeast. Hope the wounds heal without any effect on your hand. Thanks for sharing.
 
Darn. I was expecting to see gashes and blood.

jk. Glad you escaped with it. Hope it heals quickly.

PS: was this lab quality borosilicate or some cheapy version? Looks a bit like the temp difference from your hands caused a pretty quick inside/outside gradient for that glass considering the thermal mass of the wort and the vaccum inside won!
 
That's a rough way to make a starter. Hope your fingers heal up soon.

So this was caused from using both alfoil and then gladwrap/elasticband over that to seal the flask....then chilled on ice, direct contact to ice...no slurry. I'm asking as I use alfoil only and was thinking on gladwrap after cooling and for whilst on the stirpad.
 
Cheers all.


practicalfool said:
Darn. I was expecting to see gashes and blood.

jk. Glad you escaped with it. Hope it heals quickly.

PS: was this lab quality borosilicate or some cheapy version? Looks a bit like the temp difference from your hands caused a pretty quick inside/outside gradient for that glass considering the thermal mass of the wort and the vaccum inside won!
Haha, sorry to disappoint. There was plenty of blood, no time for photos unfortunately. The wort was already cold and the vacuum formed, so I think it was just handling it that caused the integrity of the glass to fail, more than any temperature difference caused by my hands. The flask was from Craftbrewer, definitely borosilicate and I'm sure decent quality (I'll be buying another).


Pratty1 said:
That's a rough way to make a starter. Hope your fingers heal up soon.

So this was caused from using both alfoil and then gladwrap/elasticband over that to seal the flask....then chilled on ice, direct contact to ice...no slurry. I'm asking as I use alfoil only and was thinking on gladwrap after cooling and for whilst on the stirpad.
It was ice slurry - sorry, wasn't clear about that. Glad wrap after cooling I'm sure wouldn't cause any problems as it's easier for the internal pressure to lift it a bit and allow CO2 to escape. I always wrap and secure with a rubber band after pitching yeast and the CO2 finds it way out. I think the implosion happened because the cling wrap gets sucked down and forms a very good seal, the layer of foil already there just strengthening it.
 
I think that I will continue with the alfoil only.
 
I use a foam sponge (sanatised) from Northern Brewer - good for gas exchange and no unwanted flies in my starters - and its rinse and repeat
 
Back
Top