Carboy flaws.

[vinny]

Cups were fine, mason jars didn't have a flaw. The measuring cups showed a lot that didn't get picked up by the camera lense. Reds and blues.




Edit. This is sitting on my laptop screen. The image still doesn't do it justice, there is way more colour than what shows up.

The interesting thing is that I have ZERO concerns of that cup failing. Cause its thick? Small? I dunno, but I ain't tossin it!

 

[winemaker81]

Buckets sound like a great back up in case of a carboy crack. However, I would still put the carboy (and bucket) in a milk crate for lifting purposes, and not use the bucket's lifting handle. I say this after having a bucket shatter on me when lifting it up to start a siphon.

At our crush last month, one of the guys had the bottom seam of a bucket split. The bucket was quickly placed in a larger container and I had a spare bucket he could borrow, so his losses were minimal. It could have been ugly.

Always have an extra container and assume the worst will happen. If it doesn't, cool!

 

[vinny]

I did try a white image on my monitor as light source, with a polarizing filter on my camera. I could not see any defects, but I'm not 100% sure that this is working.

I decided to do a clean up of my room, it was getting quite.... Full. I have 11 empty carboys, 7 6 gallon and 4 3 gallon. The one pictured above is the only one to show any flaws. All 6 gallon carboys were crystal clear with nothing but scratches to note if that gives you any confidence.

 

[Shurt1073]

Ok ... I've decided to error on the side of caution with my fermenter and carboy ... carboy wrapped in a warm blanket. Both are secured in a plastic tot just in case something decides to separate.

 

[Raptor99]

I wonder if we are being overly cautious. Is this a one-in-a-million type of event? Who has personally experienced a carboy shattering? If so, what were the circumstances? Moving it, stirring, de-gassing, washing, or ??

 

[Shurt1073]

I wonder if we are being overly cautious. Is this a one-in-a-million type of event? Who has personally experienced a carboy shattering? If so, what were the circumstances? Moving it, stirring, de-gassing, washing, or ??

Well .. I do know a family member who's plastic fermenter failed and stained the grout on his tile plus making a 6 gallon mess. The stains never came out of the tile / grout. His plastic fermenter was showing signs of stress in a few places but he dismissed it because of the thickness of the plastic. Bright white places on the fermenter. During a conversation he asked me how old my plastic fermenters were ..... "well, a little older than yours". Knowing my wife would KILL ME and it would be a CNN - Foxnews situation at my house, I've decided to use the plastic totes. I don't wanna be headline news!

 

[vinny]

I wonder if we are being overly cautious. Is this a one-in-a-million type of event? Who has personally experienced a carboy shattering? If so, what were the circumstances? Moving it, stirring, de-gassing, washing, or ??

After looking at mine, I am not overly concerned. I feel I have done my due diligence on the carboys. I will give my primary's the same attention. I have had some for quite a few years.

I believe I read that @winemaker81 throws his on the ground yearly, and if the survive they get to stay in service for another round.

I know lots of people use crates to move carboys. I am thinking a bucket is just double convenient. A carrying vessel, plus a fail safe. I am setting myself up to only ever need to shift and lift 6 inches. Lift cart and pumps will do the rest. Paint and oil buckets are way heavier duty than fermenting and generic 'food safe' buckets, so a good clean and an experiment are in my future. If it doesn't add convenience, I'm out.

In the event of a failure I am in a mess, into the flooring and under the wall into carpet. I'd never hear the end. If I was in a concrete basement I wouldn't give it much thought.

 

[winemaker81]

I believe I read that @winemaker81 throws his on the ground yearly, and if the survive they get to stay in service for another round.

3 years ago I accidentally dropped a large fermenter off my truck -- it virtually exploded. I have a picture, I'll need to find it and repost.

Note that this one spent several decades in my attic, and the plastic degraded in the heat.

A member of our grape buying group had a fermenter separate along the bottom -- it was an older fermenter, but I have no idea how old.

I considered dropping my old buckets off the truck to check them, but I wonder if that abuse makes a failure more likely? My oldest buckets are from the late 80's/early 90's, so it makes sense to replace them as fermenters.

 

[QuiQuog]

I bought a new fermenting bucket a couple months ago that split on the first use. I was lucky that it just leaked and didn't burst.

 

[winemaker81]

I found the photo -- this was either a 16 or 20 US gallon fermenter. The red line on the right indicates the original height of the fermenter before I dropped it. It went serious BOOM! I'm so happy this happened before I filled it with crushed grapes!

 

[Raptor99]

So far all the stories are about broken plastic carboys or fermenters rather than glass ones. Interesting...

 

[winemaker81]

So far all the stories are about broken plastic carboys or fermenters rather than glass ones. Interesting...

Many moons ago I had a glass carboy crack, and it developed a slow leak. It had been sitting for at least a month at room temperature before it cracked, so I never figured out what caused the problem. I've not had a problem with glass, other than that one. However, I took caution from folks who reported that resting glass on concrete can produce stress fractures, so I put down workout puzzle matting, and I like it.

 

[Rice_Guy]

I did try a white image on my monitor as light source, with a polarizing filter on my camera. I could not see any defects, but I'm not 100% sure that this is working.

To be sure that this setup works, I'd like to see a carboy or glass jar with definite defects, to see how it shows up. What happens when you check a cheap glass jar with this setup?

To do this you need;
light source > polarizing filter > object > second polarizing filter at 90 degrees > sensor
the theory is that two polarizing filters at 90 degrees will extinguish all light, ,, but if a defect exists it will twist the light so that the second filter lets it through, ,,, like the Saran being stretched.

 

[Cap Puncher]

Here is a glass carboy flaw for ya. It happened about 1.5 hrs ago. I was stirring my Washington State Viognier that was down to 1.010 in my cellar that if 59F. I gave it a good stir with the back of a plastic paddle (as I have done for years without issues). I all the sudden notice some liquid trickling from somewhere. Yep, the bottom of the carboy. I was fermenting with about 5.5 gallons in it. I think I lost about 1/2 gallon. I was lucky to have my All-in-one wine pump close by. I basically rinsed my other carboy with star-san and then distilled water (not really properly sanitized but better than nothing).

I investigated and saw the crack must have started by a small bubble in the glass. I going to force Northern Brewer to take it back and replace it. Stirring with the back end of a plastic paddle should never do that. I’ve done that 1,000s of times over 15 years without issues.

 

[winemaker81]

This thread is giving me the urge to invest in stainless steel tanks ....

 

[vinny]

Here is a glass carboy flaw for ya. It happened about 1.5 hrs ago. I was stirring my Washington State Viognier that was down to 1.010 in my cellar that if 59F. I gave it a good stir with the back of a plastic paddle (as I have done for years without issues). I all the sudden notice some liquid trickling from somewhere. Yep, the bottom of the carboy. I was fermenting with about 5.5 gallons in it. I think I lost about 1/2 gallon. I was lucky to have my All-in-one wine pump close by. I basically rinsed my other carboy with star-san and then distilled water (not really properly sanitized but better than nothing).

I investigated and saw the crack must have started by a small bubble in the glass. I going to force Northern Brewer to take it back and replace it. Stirring with the back end of a plastic paddle should never do that. I’ve done that 1,000s of times over 15 years without issues.

You are fortunate it gave while you were there. How old was the carboy?

 

[vinny]

This thread is giving me the urge to invest in stainless steel tanks ....

41 years? and not an issue as of yet? You might be overthinking it.

 

[BigDaveK]

I wonder how many here filled water bottles with pennies when younger and never had a problem?
"They don't make'em like they used to" is such a cliche, but....

 

[Cap Puncher]

You are fortunate it gave while you were there. How old was the carboy?

I think 1.5 year old. Cheap Chinese glass. It was my heaviest glass 6 gallon that I have. I literally have 30 yo carboys from my uncle that have never had issues.

 

[winemaker81]

41 years? and not an issue as of yet? You might be overthinking it.

Nope. Everything fails, eventually. I'm not worried about my old carboys from the 80's, but the newer ones? My wines this fall are also a bit different, in terms of quantity -- I've got three batches in the 8 to 9 US gallon (26 to 30 liter) range, so having tanks in those sizes would be good.

The drawback is that they are not clear, and I suspect they are heavier. Which gives me reason to use my pump more and to not lift carboys.