# big garage sale fine



## jamesngalveston (Jun 23, 2013)

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...


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## seth8530 (Jun 23, 2013)

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.


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## olusteebus (Jun 23, 2013)

Glad you got em.


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 23, 2013)

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


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## pjd (Jun 23, 2013)

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!


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## Stressbaby (Jun 23, 2013)

Pics or it didn't happen.


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 23, 2013)

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


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## seth8530 (Jun 23, 2013)

jamesngalveston said:


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



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.


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## pjd (Jun 23, 2013)

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.


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## Stressbaby (Jun 23, 2013)

Tres cool. Nice find.


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## vacuumpumpman (Jun 23, 2013)

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


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 23, 2013)

just got lucky steve...


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 23, 2013)

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


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## dralarms (Jun 23, 2013)

Makes the bottom stronger.


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 23, 2013)

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


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## dralarms (Jun 23, 2013)

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


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 23, 2013)

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.


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## dralarms (Jun 23, 2013)

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.


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## clight385 (Jun 23, 2013)

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.


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## winointraining (Jun 23, 2013)

great deal !!!!


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## seth8530 (Jun 23, 2013)

clight385 said:


> 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.



Good to hear their is no lead in it. BTW, just curious how do you know this?


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## Fordguy (Jun 23, 2013)

Wow, that is great. My mom had a garage sale after my dad died and sold all of the carboys.....then she found one left over....I grabbed it fast!

And the carboy I got was from the 1970s. I just love hearing those "great find" stories.


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## Fordguy (Jun 23, 2013)

Also, not to derail this thread but she just found his hydrometer a few weeks ago.

He passed away in 2001.


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## vacuumpumpman (Jun 24, 2013)

jamesngalveston said:


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



I also have a couple as well - I always wondered why they looked different from the rest of them 

Thanks for the info !


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 24, 2013)

what i have found is that the crackled bottom was done when a flaw was found, they heated the bottom then summersed in cold water, then heated again and layered more glass on the bottom to hide the imperfection.
resulting in a crackled look, but smooth bottom.


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## jswordy (Jun 24, 2013)

jamesngalveston said:


> 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
> ...



Now THIS is what I'm talking about when I talk great deal! Never see that kind of deal around here. Good score, James!


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 24, 2013)

i got lucky.....


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## clight385 (Jun 26, 2013)

seth8530 said:


> Good to hear their is no lead in it. BTW, just curious how do you know this?



The carboy is soda-lime glass, where lead crystal or lead glass is used for table ware.


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## clight385 (Jun 26, 2013)

jamesngalveston said:


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



The crackle on the bottom happens when the bottle is removed from the mold and placed on a dead plate (cooling pad). As you can imagine with that really thick bottom there is a massive amount of heat and when the outer glass cools quickly it induces stress into the glass and checks (cracks in the glass) are formed. If you look real close they only go about 5% into the base as the other 95% is still very hot. The carboy is then feed into a lehr for conditioning where it is re-heated and then controlled cooled. With advanced forming techniques over the years and carboy design they have been able to significantly reduce the weight of the carboy.


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 26, 2013)

well my resident glass expert, will this hold up to degass with vacuum pump...
thanks for all the really good info..
you must be a glass maker.


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## clight385 (Jun 27, 2013)

I’m far from an expert…lol. The company that I work for distributes glass containers so I have picked up some info along the way. To answer your question possibly. We don’t know the condition of the glass or what pressure you looking to hold. I have never heard of anyone breaking a carboy with vacuum while degassing wine. If there is a concern I’d test it with water first.


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## JoyofWine (Jun 27, 2013)

Very cool find!


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## seth8530 (Jun 28, 2013)

clight385 said:


> The carboy is soda-lime glass, where lead crystal or lead glass is used for table ware.



Thanks, I should of remembered that from my material science course last summer.


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## reefman (Jun 28, 2013)

I have two 5 gallon carboys with the same crackle bottom. They also have water company names on the side. I got them from one of the local wineries, when he was going from amateur wine maker to commercial pro. He sold off most of his carboys and went with large ss tanks.


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 28, 2013)

good score reefman


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## Stressbaby (Jun 29, 2013)

Not quite a garage sale find, but...

My wife is ever-anxious for me to move the winemaking out of the kitchen. So I found this 11 foot stainless counter on Craigslist for $150. Picked it up yesterday. It spent 20 years in one of Jefferson City's most well recognized downtown establishments, and now that they are shut down, it will find a spot in my basement as a winemaking center!


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 29, 2013)

man, thats nice...want to trade..lol excellent find.


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## joewino (Jun 30, 2013)

Very cool! I like the trough part with the drain.

I saw a garage sale a couple years ago advertised on craigs list. The ad stated there were carboys available. Got there right when they opened in the morning. Picked-up seven carboys for $3 each. The guy use to be into brewing. Carboys had carrying handles too. There were four 5-gallon, two 6-gallon, and one 6-1/2 gallon.
WOO HOO HOO!


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 30, 2013)

that was a great find...pays to be early ..
i bought a drill press minus the drill and motor for 5.00 last week.
added a cork adapter from my little red corker, made the handle on the drill press 12 inches longer, I can cork like crazy, and its adjustable for any size bottle... total investment...15.00


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## Runningwolf (Jun 30, 2013)

Great find!


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## FABulousWines (Jun 30, 2013)

jamesngalveston said:


> that was a great find...pays to be early ..
> i bought a drill press minus the drill and motor for 5.00 last week.
> added a cork adapter from my little red corker, made the handle on the drill press 12 inches longer, I can cork like crazy, and its adjustable for any size bottle... total investment...15.00



That is really an innovative idea! You should put up a thread with pics. I think this could help a lot of people. I have a small table top drill press and it just never occurred to me that I could use it as a corker. One question, how consistent is it at placing the cork at the same height?


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 30, 2013)

perfect height every time...instead of using the plunger that came with the hand corker..i just cut a piece of dowel rod to length, chuck it in drill press and boom....took a little playing to get the right length..but works real well.
i will try to get some pics today.


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## FABulousWines (Jun 30, 2013)

Excellent! I do have a floor corker (Father's day gift), but if I'd have thought about this approach I wouldn't need it. I like to tinker with stuff as well....


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## Runningwolf (Jun 30, 2013)

Are you to still compress the cork before inserting? Anxious to see the pictures.


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## jamesngalveston (Jun 30, 2013)

I still use the red corker, I just replace the plunger with a dowel.
I put the cork in the slot, corker on bottle,and cork..very easy and requires no effort at all.
I guess you could just line up cork, and press it in.. with the xtra long handle, it takes nothing to cork.


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