Cracks in carboys

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Question:

: These cracks are on the outside of the carboy; I can feel them when I : drag my fingernaiils over them. I wouldn’t call them scratches, just : very small cracks that encircle the neck. I just took a close look at all my carboys, and I found that I have one with exactly what you describe. I examined it as I was cleaning it for use as a secondary. Now I’m too spooked to used it – I grabbed one of my trusty plastic carboys instead and racked the cleaning solution into it. I’m going to get rid of this glass carboy. I’ve been using it for 5+ years, and it may be fully sound, but I don’t want to chance it. — Bill

Response:

Amen. A long time ago, I brewed and bottled a batch which turned out to be infected. The additional pressure in the bottles turned them into time-bombs, one of which went off with a nasty little "pop" while my girlfriend of the time was handling them. Fortunately, the damage only required three stitches (cut down nearly to the tendon on the ankle), but could have been much, much nastier. Now imagine scaling that up to carboy-sized pieces. Even sturdy shoes might not protect your (or anyone else’s) feet, and glass doesn’t just go sideways when a big bit shatters on the ground. It goes up, too. I have a carboy in the garage, but I’ve only used it once. I don’t plan to use it ever again. It’s difficult to move when full without attaching some hack of a handle, it’s a bitch to clean, and it’s just an unnecessary risk. Plastic buckets don’t shatter when you bump them, or when you pour hot water into them. You can clean them easily, they’re stackable, you can put spigots into them. They’re cheap. They last a long time. If you get the ones that have white pigment in them, then you don’t have to worry about UV from sunlight skunking your fermenting brew. They’re thinner than glass and don’t provide as much of a thermal barrier, so a stick-on liquid crystal thermometer strip will give you a more accurate reading (insofar as they’re accurate anyway). They have handles. When you’re not brewing in them, you can use them to store and carry ingredients or equipment (if you’re careful not to scratch them). Take the cash you save on buying carboys and buy a lava lamp if you crave the sight of blobs wobbling up and down, but the carboy is a relic best forgotten IMHO. — C. (phew, that didn’t start out as a rant… sorry) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The chances of your carboys breaking while you are handling them is very good. There is a saying in the glass business that when a piece of glass "runs" so do you. Here are a couple of things to consider. 1. It is the nature of glass to crack under bending types of pressure. It does this without warning. I make arrow heads out of volcanic glass but before I got my ton of Obsidian I made them out of beer bottle bottoms. To get a bottom off a beer bottle I would insert a large nail or file into the neck of the bottle and start a crack at the outside edge of the bottom. A few more blows and the crack would run around the bottle and the bottom would pop off. You never knew which blow would do it. 2. Broken glass is the sharpest edge known to man. Obsidian cleaves to one micron (five times sharper than surgical steel.) and Pyrex to two. I have received cuts requiring medical attention from broken glass on occasions when I did not know I was touching it. If you are dealing with a carboy with a crack in the bottom and are telling yourself it’s no problem stop kidding your self before you or a loved one looses a foot or sustains a serious injury. says… | | I have cracks in two of my carboys, but they are at the bottoms of both | carboys and are circular. I suspect this may have happened when I poured | the hot wort into them; perhaps there was not enough cold water in them | before adding the hot wort. At any rate, they do not leak so I don’t have a | problem with them. | | FWIW, I’ve never heard of carboys leaking. I have heard plenty of stories about | the bottoms falling out of them when they are lifted full of liquid. If they | have temperature stress cracks, they are probably going to fail at some point. | | | Recently, I noticed two of my carboys have series of small cracks of | scratches at the base of the neck. These scratches may run half an | inch long and are horizontal with the carboy. They circle the neck | and are numerous. | | What would cause this? I don’t pick my carboys up by the neck (though | I do tilit them by the neck to get my other hand under them). What | are the chances of these things breaking? | | | Phil | visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild | http://www.homebrewersguild.org | | |

Response:

Sounds to me like it is a defect caused by the manufacture of the glass (too cool? Formed to quickly?). Certainly, these cracks will reduce the strength of the glass. Because they are in the neck, it is up to you, but I personally would ditch them and buy new ones. They run no more than the price of a batch of beer. You would be risking precisely that each and every time you used it. Tom Veldhouse

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Are they cracks or scratches? My carboy necks have all kinds of scratches in them from years of using those stupid carboy brushes, where the metal part is rubbing against the glass while you are scrubbing the sides with the brush. Now I just let PBW do the scrubbing. These cracks are on the outside of the carboy; I can feel them when I drag my fingernaiils over them. I wouldn’t call them scratches, just very small cracks that encircle the neck. Phil visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild http://www.homebrewersguild.org

Response:

: I wonder if there is any kind of film that can be fixed to a carboy to reduce : the danger if it were to crack?? I may check out some window safety film and : see how that works on one of my carboys. That’s a good idea – I’ve heard that even simply wrapping saran wrap around a carboy will make quite a difference.

At the very least, the Saran Wrap might keep the carboy glass together if it shattered. Phil visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild http://www.homebrewersguild.org

Response:

Are they cracks or scratches? My carboy necks have all kinds of scratches in them from years of using those stupid carboy brushes, where the metal part is rubbing against the glass while you are scrubbing the sides with the brush. Now I just let PBW do the scrubbing.

These cracks are on the outside of the carboy; I can feel them when I drag my fingernaiils over them. I wouldn’t call them scratches, just very small cracks that encircle the neck. Phil visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild http://www.homebrewersguild.org

Response:

I agree with all the pros you list for plastic buckets. I love them too. If they get old and scratched and stained you can use them for non brewing purposes too. But, do you secondary your beers? Because, I make a few strong beers that need time to secondary. Also, i don’t want so much yeast in my bottles as straight out of primary. I have a few plastic carboys (they were gifts) but i wouldn’t hold beer in them for more than a few days. John – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Take the cash you save on buying carboys and buy a lava lamp if you crave the sight of blobs wobbling up and down, but the carboy is a relic best forgotten IMHO. – C. (phew, that didn’t start out as a rant… sorry)

Response:

These cracks are on the outside of the carboy; I can feel them when I drag my fingernails over them. I wouldn’t call them scratches, just very small cracks that encircle the neck.

We had a customer return a carboy for having, for want of a better term, a "spall" partially around the neck right where you want to grab it to pick it up. It was one of the sharpest things I can remember ever coming across. — Dan Listermann Check out our E-tail site at www.listermann.com Free shipping for orders greater than $35 and East of the Mighty Miss.

Response:

That’s how I found the very same type of crack in one of my carboys. I had it on the cool concrete when I poured warm sanitizer into it. The next thing I know, it’s got a little puddle under it. I put it in a box and broke it so nobody would take it out of my trash and hurt themselves. I agree that fuddle should ditch them. A carboy is the epitome of a monolith. Even the slightest introduced flaw compromises the integrity. With the carboy full, what you have is basically a razor with a 40 lb weight behind it! -Brett – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have cracks in two of my carboys, but they are at the bottoms of both carboys and are circular. I suspect this may have happened when I poured the hot wort into them; perhaps there was not enough cold water in them before adding the hot wort. At any rate, they do not leak so I don’t have a problem with them. Have you ever known glass to "leak" before? It’s not going to start gently dripping, it’s going to shatter and distribute numerous incredibly sharp pieces of heavy glass over a wide area. You only get to have a problem with them once, and then you’ll really wish you hadn’t. Any carboy with the round crack as you describe should be taken out of service immediately. The $13 you’re saving on a new carboy won’t cover your medical insurance copay. ben

Response:

I have cracks in two of my carboys, but they are at the bottoms of both carboys and are circular. I suspect this may have happened when I poured the hot wort into them; perhaps there was not enough cold water in them before adding the hot wort. At any rate, they do not leak so I don’t have a problem with them.

Have you ever known glass to "leak" before? It’s not going to start gently dripping, it’s going to shatter and distribute numerous incredibly sharp pieces of heavy glass over a wide area. You only get to have a problem with them once, and then you’ll really wish you hadn’t. Any carboy with the round crack as you describe should be taken out of service immediately. The $13 you’re saving on a new carboy won’t cover your medical insurance copay. ben

Response:

I try to keep my carboys in milk crates and lift the assembly by the crate. All the holes and slots allow for a good grip, and if things are a little wet, it doesn’t get slippery. Bill

I always lift my full carboys off the ground and place it on the counter. I grab the neck, and hold the bottom. Is this something I should quit doing? I don’t have any cracks in mine.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – says… I have cracks in two of my carboys, but they are at the bottoms of both carboys and are circular. I suspect this may have happened when I poured the hot wort into them; perhaps there was not enough cold water in them before adding the hot wort. At any rate, they do not leak so I don’t have a problem with them. FWIW, I’ve never heard of carboys leaking. I have heard plenty of stories about the bottoms falling out of them when they are lifted full of liquid. If they have temperature stress cracks, they are probably going to fail at some point. Recently, I noticed two of my carboys have series of small cracks of scratches at the base of the neck. These scratches may run half an inch long and are horizontal with the carboy. They circle the neck and are numerous. What would cause this? I don’t pick my carboys up by the neck (though I do tilit them by the neck to get my other hand under them). What are the chances of these things breaking? Phil visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild http://www.homebrewersguild.org

Response:

I always lift my full carboys off the ground and place it on the counter. I grab the neck, and hold the bottom. Is this something I should quit doing? I don’t have any cracks in mine. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have cracks in two of my carboys, but they are at the bottoms of both carboys and are circular. I suspect this may have happened when I poured the hot wort into them; perhaps there was not enough cold water in them before adding the hot wort. At any rate, they do not leak so I don’t have a problem with them. FWIW, I’ve never heard of carboys leaking. I have heard plenty of stories about the bottoms falling out of them when they are lifted full of liquid. If they have temperature stress cracks, they are probably going to fail at some point. Recently, I noticed two of my carboys have series of small cracks of scratches at the base of the neck. These scratches may run half an inch long and are horizontal with the carboy. They circle the neck and are numerous. What would cause this? I don’t pick my carboys up by the neck (though I do tilit them by the neck to get my other hand under them). What are the chances of these things breaking? Phil visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild http://www.homebrewersguild.org

Response:

Personally, If i had any kind of crack in a carboy I would toss it… Glass can just fail on you , BANG! , when you aren’t expecting it… once it has a crack or chip it just isn’t as strong any more John – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -FWIW, I’ve never heard of carboys leaking. I have heard plenty of stories about the bottoms falling out of them when they are lifted full of liquid. If they have temperature stress cracks, they are probably going to fail at some point. Recently, I noticed two of my carboys have series of small cracks of scratches at the base of the neck. These scratches may run half an inch long and are horizontal with the carboy. They circle the neck and are numerous. What would cause this? I don’t pick my carboys up by the neck (though I do tilit them by the neck to get my other hand under them). What are the chances of these things breaking? Phil visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild http://www.homebrewersguild.org

Response:

: Phil, I’ve seen the cracks around the neck as you describe on many carboys. I’m : not sure what type of hazard they are. I think most of the comments about the : dangers were in reference to the post about cracks in the side or bottom, but : I’m not sure. I have those little scratch-like marks on the neck of all my carboys – I really don’t know if that means they’re at risk of shattering or not. : I wonder if there is any kind of film that can be fixed to a carboy to reduce : the danger if it were to crack?? I may check out some window safety film and : see how that works on one of my carboys. That’s a good idea – I’ve heard that even simply wrapping saran wrap around a carboy will make quite a difference. — Bill

Response:

says… I have cracks in two of my carboys, but they are at the bottoms of both carboys and are circular. I suspect this may have happened when I poured the hot wort into them; perhaps there was not enough cold water in them before adding the hot wort. At any rate, they do not leak so I don’t have a problem with them. I can’t see my problem occurring as a result of thermal shock or expansion as the cracks are on the top of the carboy. I guess I have to go check all my carboys now. And I haven’t lost one yet. Damn it.

Phil, I’ve seen the cracks around the neck as you describe on many carboys. I’m not sure what type of hazard they are. I think most of the comments about the dangers were in reference to the post about cracks in the side or bottom, but I’m not sure. I wonder if there is any kind of film that can be fixed to a carboy to reduce the danger if it were to crack?? I may check out some window safety film and see how that works on one of my carboys.

Response:

I can’t see my problem occurring as a result of thermal shock or expansion as the cracks are on the top of the carboy. I guess I have to go check all my carboys now. And I haven’t lost one yet. Damn it. Phil visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild http://www.homebrewersguild.org

Response:

Recently, I noticed two of my carboys have series of small cracks of scratches at the base of the neck. These scratches may run half an inch long and are horizontal with the carboy. They circle the neck and are numerous. What would cause this? I don’t pick my carboys up by the neck (though I do tilit them by the neck to get my other hand under them). What are the chances of these things breaking? Phil visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild http://www.homebrewersguild.org

Response:

I just went out and checked some carboys in the garage. They didn’t have any cracks. My advice is to chuck them. Once I found a pea sized star in the side of a carboy while cleaning it and decided to take it out to the trash. I put it in a cardboard box and was interrupted on my way to the trash. I set the box down (not gently) and the carboy exploded. I couldn’t believe the number of shards. Fortunately in the box. The price of a carboy isn’t worth a trip to the hospital. Medford, NY swap net.optonline to reply via e-mail

Response:

I had that happen to me, except mine was full of freshly brewed wort! A real letdown to a long day of labor. Needless to say, my wifes ears are still stinging these many years later. Tom Veldhouse

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Recently, I noticed two of my carboys have series of small cracks of scratches at the base of the neck. These scratches may run half an inch long and are horizontal with the carboy. They circle the neck and are numerous. What would cause this? I don’t pick my carboys up by the neck (though I do tilit them by the neck to get my other hand under them). What are the chances of these things breaking? Phil visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild http://www.homebrewersguild.org I just went out and checked some carboys in the garage. They didn’t have any cracks. My advice is to chuck them. Once I found a pea sized star in the side of a carboy while cleaning it and decided to take it out to the trash. I put it in a cardboard box and was interrupted on my way to the trash. I set the box down (not gently) and the carboy exploded. I couldn’t believe the number of shards. Fortunately in the box. The price of a carboy isn’t worth a trip to the hospital. Medford, NY swap net.optonline to reply via e-mail

Response:

It is not worth the risk (I lost a batch of fresh wort via a bumped carboy). You will never cease kicking yourself when it happens. The cost of a new carboy is no more than a batch of all-grain brew. So, just replace it and forget about it. Tom Veldhouse

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have cracks in two of my carboys, but they are at the bottoms of both carboys and are circular. I suspect this may have happened when I poured the hot wort into them; perhaps there was not enough cold water in them before adding the hot wort. At any rate, they do not leak so I don’t have a problem with them. Recently, I noticed two of my carboys have series of small cracks of scratches at the base of the neck. These scratches may run half an inch long and are horizontal with the carboy. They circle the neck and are numerous. What would cause this? I don’t pick my carboys up by the neck (though I do tilit them by the neck to get my other hand under them). What are the chances of these things breaking? Phil visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild http://www.homebrewersguild.org

Response:

FWIW, I’ve never heard of carboys leaking. I have heard plenty of stories about the bottoms falling out of them when they are lifted full of liquid. If they have temperature stress cracks, they are probably going to fail at some point. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Recently, I noticed two of my carboys have series of small cracks of scratches at the base of the neck. These scratches may run half an inch long and are horizontal with the carboy. They circle the neck and are numerous. What would cause this? I don’t pick my carboys up by the neck (though I do tilit them by the neck to get my other hand under them). What are the chances of these things breaking? Phil visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild http://www.homebrewersguild.org

Response:

You’ll be one sorry assed brewer when the bottom falls out and you should never pour hot wort into a corboy unless it’s borosilicate glass. Even then it stresses the glass. Medford, NY swap net.optonline to reply via e-mail

Response:

| | I have cracks in two of my carboys, but they are at the bottoms of both | carboys and are circular. I suspect this may have happened when I poured | the hot wort into them; perhaps there was not enough cold water in them | before adding the hot wort. At any rate, they do not leak so I don’t have a | problem with them. | | FWIW, I’ve never heard of carboys leaking. I have heard plenty of stories about | the bottoms falling out of them when they are lifted full of liquid. If they | have temperature stress cracks, they are probably going to fail at some point. | |

| Recently, I noticed two of my carboys have series of small cracks of | scratches at the base of the neck. These scratches may run half an | inch long and are horizontal with the carboy. They circle the neck | and are numerous. | | What would cause this? I don’t pick my carboys up by the neck (though | I do tilit them by the neck to get my other hand under them). What | are the chances of these things breaking? | | | Phil | visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild | http://www.homebrewersguild.org | | |

Response:

The chances of your carboys breaking while you are handling them is very good. There is a saying in the glass business that when a piece of glass "runs" so do you. Here are a couple of things to consider. 1. It is the nature of glass to crack under bending types of pressure. It does this without warning. I make arrow heads out of volcanic glass but before I got my ton of Obsidian I made them out of beer bottle bottoms. To get a bottom off a beer bottle I would insert a large nail or file into the neck of the bottle and start a crack at the outside edge of the bottom. A few more blows and the crack would run around the bottle and the bottom would pop off. You never knew which blow would do it. 2. Broken glass is the sharpest edge known to man. Obsidian cleaves to one micron (five times sharper than surgical steel.) and Pyrex to two. I have received cuts requiring medical attention from broken glass on occasions when I did not know I was touching it. If you are dealing with a carboy with a crack in the bottom and are telling yourself it’s no problem stop kidding your self before you or a loved one looses a foot or sustains a serious injury.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – says… | | I have cracks in two of my carboys, but they are at the bottoms of both | carboys and are circular. I suspect this may have happened when I poured | the hot wort into them; perhaps there was not enough cold water in them | before adding the hot wort. At any rate, they do not leak so I don’t have a | problem with them. | | FWIW, I’ve never heard of carboys leaking. I have heard plenty of stories about | the bottoms falling out of them when they are lifted full of liquid. If they | have temperature stress cracks, they are probably going to fail at some point. | | | Recently, I noticed two of my carboys have series of small cracks of | scratches at the base of the neck. These scratches may run half an | inch long and are horizontal with the carboy. They circle the neck | and are numerous. | | What would cause this? I don’t pick my carboys up by the neck (though | I do tilit them by the neck to get my other hand under them). What | are the chances of these things breaking? | | | Phil | visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild | http://www.homebrewersguild.org | | |

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