As I was flushing a sanitized carboy down in my basement in prep for a rack it slipped a bit. The concrete floor's eyes widened, but I latched on tightly and finished the draining. It got me to thinking what would happen if I dropped it.
Do they shatter into a million pieces, split into a few sections, or just bounce?
Depends on how hard you hit 'em. I just broke two of them when the pallet dolly that I was transporting them on slammed into an immovable object. Two of them slammed into each other and they split into a few sections. In the interest of full disclosure, the carboys were probably 40+ years old.
Steve
"Bounce"? Yeah, right. In your _dreams_! (I'm assuming a glass carboy. The plastic ones do bounce.)
Carboys are not tempered glass, so they don't shatter into a million pieces. They break into a number of large pieces and lots of small pieces - all of which are razor sharp and guaranteed to cut you if you try to clean them up by hand.
Tom S
Nick - I've broken two of them over the years. One was full of new wine. I gently set it off my two wheel cart and heard a sort of click. Then all of the wine poured over the cellar floor...what a mess not to mention loss of a years work. The second slipped out of my hands while I was washing it. Broke into many pieces including one that bounced up and cut my hand sending me to the ER for six stiches. Best to be careful with these.
Bill Frazier Olathe, Kansas
I brke one a couple of weeks ago and just got the stiches out of my arm... The break into large peaces that can do serious damage to you... They also leave small, very sharp pieces all over the place.
Later, A.J. Rawls Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Over many years I have never had one break into pieces on me. But I have been "lucky" in that I have had two that developed "cracks" in the glass when the impacted with something and I then racked off into different containers and dumped the damaged ones in the local recycling depot. I have been speared by a couple of breaking bottles though and had stitches in my hand and felt lucky it wasn't worse. I was so glad when I got my floor corker!!!!!!
Handling the 23+ litre glass carboys is always a risky business though and I have been lucky a few times when cleaning them out and they have slipped. It is bound to happen one day although I am always careful when handling them. Very dangerous objects! I do believe that the most dangerous time is when they are being washed and sanitised and tend to be much more slippy. When they are full they are difficult to move anyway and one is perforce much more circumspect in their handling
Certainly much more serious business than my original light-hearted approach that started this thread. I may change my current sanitizing method in the interest of safety.
I usually put in a tbsp of BTF and then fill a 5 or 6 gal. carboy to the top, wait 10 minutes and then empty, rinse and empty. Tipping a full carboy is where I almost lost it. Maybe in the future, I'll just fill up half way and spend a little time with a brush.
Also, I suppose it's time to spring a few dollars and get the carboy handle.
I consider myself well warned.
The slippery when wet, and heavy when full, bits have made me switch to a new method. Also, I damaged my wrist when twisting a full carboy around to empty it once (SWMBO won't let me forget it).
I now siphon most of the cleaner / sanitiser out before I pick it up. Being only 1/5 full makes a big difference in the weight, and makes it much easier to handle. Also, I rinse the outside off well, so that it's just wet - not slippery with cleaner; I also rinse hands well as I use chlorine as sanitiser and it makes your hands slippery (that being your skin turning into soap ;)
S>...Tipping a
See above!
YMMV, but I got a couple of those and they just seemed to get in the way. See if you can borrow one from another brewer first, you might find the same thing. And I've got small hands for a bloke, but still find it easier to grab the neck of the carboy myself than use that damned handle.
Just re read this and realised that "slippy" should be "slippery". I wondered why the spellchecker didn't like it the first time! And now it is suddenly obvious!
I like "slippy" better. Time for a new word in the English Language. Maybe it could be defined as similir to slippery or sloppery but pertaining to winemaking.
Nick, Have you thought about using a siphon to bring down the level before picking it up? I use my auto siphon when I fill my carboy's up to that level.
Brian - I use a gravity siphon and I've been filling from the sink to a c/b that's on the floor. However!...I've made some room on the table next to the slop sink and will be implementing your suggestion tonight! All the more reason to be glad I thought to attached a 3ft piece of 3/4 inch poly hose to the end of the faucet. Thanks, Nick.
I've also had the bottom just plain drop off of one as I was carrying it. Seems to me that that one was a cleaner break. At least it was beer, so only a few weeks attachment :)
But I think you just answered my question on how long to wait to bottle.
:)
hawk
Now you're scaring me. Maybe I should stick to beer.
Only one ER trip from that (OK, 2, but that's only if you count my looking at the people in the first ER and fleeing :). Someone threw a cheap green canadian beer bottle in with my good american longnecks (bad beer; great bottle), and I felt sensations I should have--more surprise than pain.
My wife ordered me to get a kegging kit.
It cost less than the stitches.
hawk
Is there any diffrence in the taist of the wine when useing glass or plastic?
-- Richard The Blind Typer Lets Hear It For Talking Computers.
Maybe not in for short term storage, but glass or stainless steel are preferrable for long term because they are not oxygen permeable.
Tom S
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