Gravity: Still as strong as ever

[Jeff H]

I've joined the crashed glass carboy club!

Sunday night, I just finished up with fining a Shiraz I had going for the last 3 months. I had splita 6 gallon batch into two 3 gallon carboys a few months back.I had been conducting asmall experiment. Anyway....


I had a good grip on the carboy but decided to take my hand off of the bottom (for some damn stupid reason) and you guessed it, I lost my grip. Down it goes about10 inches to the carpet and concrete floor. Glass and wine flew everywhere, except where I was, thank goodness. I ended up with a small deep cut on my hand but it could have been much much worse! Iprobably lost a 6 gallon carboy too. The glass crashed into an empty one so hard it has 2 small scuff marks on it and I'm not sure of it's integrity.


The good side to this is.... at least it wasn't a 6 gallon carboy and I still have the other "control" 3 gallon carboy that is bulk aging. Plus my floor has a nice blue hue to it, it's now very cleanand I get to buy another carpet reminant. Oh well.


Jeff


P.S. I had thought (incorrectly) that a 3 gallon carboy didn't need a handle...lesson learned, class dismissed.

 

[Bert]

That's a hard lesson learned.....To bad about the wine..

 

[joeswine]

well we have either came close to or have lose a friend in that mannor,i lost a 7.5 gallon jimmyjohn (very thin glass vessle)filled with b-brite and was about to empty it ,picked itup from the floor gently leaned it on its side as i had done in the past and expolsion of glass and liquid every where,i was thankful it wasn,t wine ,picked up glass fragments for days//no what you mean!

 

[Joanie]

Oh Jeff!!! Oh no!!!!! I feel for you!! I only lost a carboy. You lost aged wine!!! That's terrible! I still have nightmares about cleaning up 6 gallons of wine and broken glass. I couldn't mop up the wine because it would be full of glass and I couldn't vacuum up the glass because it would be full of wine! I have no shop vac so I would be in deep trouble!

Sorry about the cut too. Those edges are vicious, aren't they?

 

[smokegrub]

I was washing a 6 gallon carboy a couple of months ago and it slipped from my hands. It struck the fender of my pickup and bounced back into my arms. I now use Beiter Bottles except when degassing. I love them! They are extremely light and very safe.

 

[Jeff H]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. My biggest disappointment is that I will not see the effort of my experiment. Easily re-done but still a bummer. Alas, I still have 3 gallons bulk aging so all is not totally lost. As far as my cut, it will heal, with no permanent damage.

 

[geocorn]

I thought I was safe with the 3-gallon as well, so no handle. I was wrong. It has been the only carboy full of wine that I have dropped so far. I have broken a few empties, but that wasjust carrying them from the back of the store to the front. Rick, one of my shippers, managed to knock over a 6 gallon carboy full of Old Vine Cab last month. Joseph and I came close to killing him, but we let him off easy. He felt bad enough as it was and he did get to clean it up.


Glad you weren't seriously hurt.


Oops! Sorry for the typo.Edited by: geocorn

 

[gaudet]

I thought I was safe with the 3-gallon as well, so no handle. I was wrong. It has been the only carboy full of wine that I have dropped so far. I have broken a few empties, but that wasjust carrying them from the back of the store to the front. Rick, one of my shippers, managed to knock over a 6 gallon carboy full of Old Vine Cab last month. Joseph and I came close to killing him, but we let him off easy. He felt bad enough as it was and he did get to clean it up.


Glad you were seriously hurt.

How seriously ?

 

[NorthernWinos]

What a nightmare...

.....
How did you get the wine off the carpet????
We have been lucky to date....Knock on wood!!!!

 

[Jeff H]

What a nightmare...

.....
How did you get the wine off the carpet????
We have been lucky to date....Knock on wood!!!!

NW, It was a inexpensive remnant so I pitched it in the trash. This wasafter I nearly drown my small shop vac in wine. The poor thing was spitting wine out the exhaust port.There weretoo many slivers of glass that I couldn't get out of the carpet fibers, so it had to go.

 

[Jeff H]

George,I guess I got too comfortable moving the 3 gallon carboysaround without handles that I let my guard down. The neck had just a small amount of wine on it but enough to cause me to lose my grip.


This could have been much worse...the glass pieces were so razor sharp that they cut the plastic of my overflow container soit is unusable. I was wearing shorts, a tee shirt and I was barefoot! If the glass had flown towards me instead of the opposite direction this storywould have been much much worse.


Sorry to hear about the OV Cab. It really a sad sight to see your wine spread across the floor.

 

[Jeff H]

Joan, What a bad dream! Your description is unfortunately very accurate. Wine and glass pieces everywhere.


I have a couple of shop vacs and in this case I used the small one I have. If I recall it wasn't that expensive and really came in handy.

 

[Joanie]

I've just decided! I don't ever plan on needing a shop vac!

I had to move my Pinot Noir and made sure the entire outside of the carboy was bone dry! I won't move any from wherever they may be until they are. I can handle the weight, just not if it's slippery. I think OxyClean slippery is the all-time worst kind of slippery!