The glass carboys that most people use to ferment beer and wine in can be quite dangerous if they break. Here is a collection of stories from people that have been seriously injured by broken glass carboys.

hop bomb
Morebeer
Nov 05, 2007

A friend of mine also cut himself pretty bad. Cut 4 tendons and a nerve in 2 places back in July. Still in rehab and can almost make a fist. Damn thing was barley filled and the carboy was only a year old.I was a big fan of glass, but now use Better Bottles.

Djheater
Morebeer
Oct 19, 2007

My good friend and fellow brewer has been off this week recovering from surgery.

He dropped a full carboy and instinctively tried to save it... putting his hands in the path of the resulting explosion. All that liquid escaping pushes the glass shards out pretty explosively apparently.

He severed 5 tendons in one had and had over twenty stitches in the other.

After telling my wife this story she made me sit down and by a carboy hauler, can't say I blame her.

I guess the lesson is be very damn careful with your vessels, spend the money on safety equipment, and if the carboy is going save yourself, and cry over the lost beer later.

Brewpastor
Homebrewtalk
11/30/2006

I had a 12 gallon carboy crack and slice through a friends hand. He had to have surgery and therapy so he could play his bass again. It really was a bad day of brewing. Besides, all the beer and that great carboy where lost.

johnsma22
Homebrewtalk
03-02-2007

I wasn't physically there while my friend was holding his empty carboy by the handle attached to the neck, and the neck broke off. The carboy hit the ground and shattered. He was cut up pretty bad an required a lot of stitches. His wife called me in a panic. I told her to call an ambulance and I would be right over to watch their kids. I could not believe how much blood there was! I picked up the glass, but I left the blood for them.

Did I mention that my buddy got rid of all of his glass carboys after that and switched to Better-Bottles?

Boxerbug
Northernbrewer
Jul 18, 2006

I know this has been talked about before, but I will do it again. Tomorrow I get to have surgery on my hand to repair the lacerated tendon I recieved from my glass carboy. I was doing nothing more than draining the water out of it when it simply collapsed in my hands.

Please,please be careful with your glass carboys. You definately don't want this to happen to you.

…

had surgery this morning, the tendon was 95% lacerated. doc said it would have snapped completely if we would have let it go

now i get to wear a cast for 5-6 weeks and then have some physical therapy.

btw, it was a 6.5 gallon carboy, and i was not holding it with a neck carrier, i had one hand on the neck and one hand on the base.

…

Well, today is the four week anniversary of my surgery. My present was physical thereapy this morning. I can say with total conviction, that I really hated it. It was painful to move and stretch my wrist that had been immobile for 4 weeks. But, the therapist said that everything looks good, and I should be good as new in another 8-10 weeks.

Little Egypt
NorthernBrewer
Jul 18, 2006

I had let a 6.5 gal glass carboy sit overnight with bleach water overnight. The next morning, I dumped the water and began to carry it up the concrete stairs to the back door of the house. Halfway up, I stumbled and fell. I tried to catch myself on the railing to keep from landing in the glass, but couldn't stop myself in time. My left hand came down and when I lifted it up, it started pulsing out blood.

I went to the ER, where they stitched me up and referred me to a plastic surgeon. Two days later, I met with the surgeon, who told me that I had severed the major nerve in my left thumb and one of the major nerves in my left index finger (along with the muscle that draws the thumb to the little finger).

A week or so later, I was in surgery where he sewed my nerves and muscles back togeter. I spend the next 5 days in extreme pain and on very powerful pain killers. I was in a cast for 3 weeks I think (I don't remember off the top of my head) and then I had to be careful with it for the next 2-3 months (no lifting or strong grasps).

That was ~3 years ago, and I still haven't recovered completly. I have some feeling in my finger and thumb, but not much. After the accident, I switched to plastic carboys and never went back.

BadMange
NorthernBrewer
Jun 24, 2005

One of my good friends had just finished washing out his carboy and was carrying it over to the stove. It was still wet and slipped out of his left hand. He reached to grab it at the same time it hit the floor and shattered in his hand. After surgery and rehab, he's got about 90% movement back in his hand. Since he values playing guitar more than homebrewing, he swore off brewing FOR GOOD. After seeing his hand after the fact, and having a 6 month old son who likes to explore everything around him, I use Better Bottles. I'm a klutz though, so I'm sure I'll break them somehow...

Gabe
Morebeer
Feb 24, 2006

I would like to tell you all of my brewing experience today. I was doing some sanitation in preperation for the upcoming APA for today. I had sanitized a 3 gallon carboy and was trying to drain it into a bucket to re-use the sanitizer. There was some sanitizer that had come over the top and onto the sides and botom of the carboy. The carboy slipped and shattered on the floor.

This particular post is taking me about five times as long to write as it should. You see, I am having to type with only my left hand. I spent 6 hours in the emergency room today instead of brewing. I have been the lucky recipient of 21 stitches in my hand and pinky finger. Alot of stitches, but not as many as I needed to properly close the wounds. The Dr. said it would probably have taken 50 to 60 to close them properly.

I will have to go Monday morning for surgery to repair the nerves that were severed. They will close the finger all the way then. They will also determine if I will need skin grafts to replace some of the areas that they didn't feel would heal properly. I am lucky though, there was no tendon damage and I have full use of my finger as of now. I guess I will have a long healing process ahead of me.

Please, please, please be careful when handling carboys. I have discovered the hard way how dangerous they can be. I think I'll be swtching to plastic in the future.

Poole
Morebeer
May 07, 2004

Hey everyone! I'm new to the forum, but not the site. I've been homebrewing for about a year now and I have to say that it's my favorite hobby. I wanted to share my latest experience: Last monday morning I had just rinsed out my 6.5 gal glass carboy from my last batch and was carrying it up my back steps (concrete) when I stumbled and fell. The bottle broke and my hand came down on it. When I turned my hand over to check for injuries, I watched blood pulse out. Obviously I went to the ER and they sewed me back together and referred me to a plastic surgeon. It ends up that I cut the nerves to my thumb and index finger (no feeling in either) and they will do surgery to sew them back together next week. What am I doing during the wait? Why, brewing beer of course! I went back and bought 2 more carboys (in case one breaks) and have brewed two more batches this week. The moral of the story is this: Be careful with the glass, and if you start to fall, forget the carboy and save yourself. I just thought I would share my experience. I hope I can contribute to this forum as much as it has already enlightened me.