big garage sale fine

was going down the street this am, when I saw some glass bottles on a table for sale, I thought they were 1 gallon.
they were like 1/2 gallon, I told the lady I was looking for bigger ones.
she said she had 4 that were really big.
when she showed them to me, i ask how much, she said she could n0t use them for water, because they would not fit, and I could have all of them for 10.00
when I got home I looked them up, they are all, OWENS ILLINOIS #5250 5 gallon carboys,with the crackle bottom.. and sale for 89.90 each, and are 70 to 80 years old...
nice find...

Sounds like a great find! The only thing I would try and verify is whether or not the glass is safe to use for wine making first due to its age.

Glad you got em.

seth how do i do that...there is a bunch of white

James, They are glass, They will be great for winemaking! Glass is glass and glass is inert. I never heard of any glass unsuitable for winemaking. PS: I'm glad you took my advice and bought some more carboys!

Pics or it didn't happen.

this is the last one that needs cleaning, this is pretty much how they all looked.

jamesngalveston said:

seth how do i do that...there is a bunch of white

Click to expand...

My only concern would be if they have a large amount of lead in them. But I am not sure this is true. Just something you might want to look into. But, they look nice and sturdy to me. Make sure you clean them out really well to remove any strange stuff they might have been stored in them.

James Great find! You might want to soak them in a star san solution for a couple of weeks then scrub the heck out of them. I have bought numerous old carboys and most looked worse than this one. Star san has never let me down in ridding the carboys of any scale buildup or any other stains. I did have one that took a lot of patience. It took nearly a year to get it pristine. I smile every time I use it knowing how hard it was to restore it.

Tres cool. Nice find.

James
Great find !! a little bit of work and you will have some really nice looking carboys !!

just got lucky steve...

I wonder why they have the crackle bottom...not a lot of info on them

Makes the bottom stronger.

thanks, dralarms...makes sense...i was curious

I've got some just like that, one made in 1960.

they are really thick..i tried to mic one, but I couldnt get my mic down far enough, but by sight, i think there like 3/4 inch thick.

And heavy as crap when full. Do yourself a favor, get the all in one, I'll guarantee that if you pick up one full one time you will understand.

No worries there is no lead in that glass.
The thick base is how they made the carboys back then. Clean it up real good.

great deal !!!!