My worst fear...realized.

[RylanJacobs]

Last night, I racked my chardonnay into a 5-gallon carboy. I had used bentonite a few weeks ago and it was time to rack off. Bottles are in and I was planning a weekend this month to bottle. It tasted great, and was comparable to a retail bottle I opened at the same time.


This morning, while leaving for work, my garage had a strong odor of chardonnay. It was great. I thought it was strange because I didn't remember spilling any wine last night, so no reason for the smell.

I opened the door to my wine cellar.........and the 5-gallon carboy was empty. Wine everywhere. The bottom completely separated from the carboy and I lost every drop of wine. Literally nothing is salvageable.

To say I'm dejected would be an understatement. I had this wine for 9 months and it was weeks away from the bottle. Probably out about $500 between grapes, testing equipment, and carboy.

I'm not looking for sympathy, but rather advice. How can I prevent this? I guess I'll be moving to plastic. No way I use glass again.

Until next time,
RJ

 

[GSMChris]

I certainly sympathize - I lost five gallons in a carboy accident last year. I've switched over to stainless steel beer kegs - which don't break, are easy to pick up and are readily available on craigslist or facebook marketplace. There is a pretty good thread on using kegs which can be found here:

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/bulk-aging-larger-batches-26-gallons.78730/

 

[Ohio Bob]

Sorry for your loss.

I suspect the carboy was heat damaged at some point in its life. Like if you were to fill the carboy with a few inches of hot water with cleanser. The lower portion of the carboy is much hotter than the upper portion. My cleaning protocol is to use a jet spray, so the entire inside of the carboy is touched by hot water. No one part of the carboy is heated differently than another.

 

[Bmd2k1]

Sorry for that loss :-/

I've been Very Happy with Speidel vessels.... I use the 30L for fermentation and the 20L for bulk aging.

Good Luck!

 

[RylanJacobs]

I certainly sympathize - I lost five gallons in a carboy accident last year. I've switched over to stainless steel beer kegs - which don't break, are easy to pick up and are readily available on craigslist or facebook marketplace. There is a pretty good thread on using kegs which can be found here:

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/bulk-aging-larger-batches-26-gallons.78730/

Are these routinely available in 3-6 gallon sizes?

 

[Neb Farmer]

The glass was most likely 'cracked' by a stress fracture, caused by hot/cold shock...OR it just could have been bumped a little too hard and sent a stress fracture through the glass...seperating later after time.
I've had one carboy fracture on me over the years ( 20 years...wow )
i attributed that to bumping it into something, and it developed later in the year. I saw it before it actually came apart, luckily. It did seperate enough to leak, though, which is how I noticed it.
Since then I have been extremely careful when moving/cleaning carboys. Hopefully you will never have one crack again.

 

[Bmd2k1]

The Speidel 20L holds a bit over 6gals and the 30L holds closer to 9gals.

Cheers!

 

[Garagista]

I switched to stainless kegs and use the system @CDrew uses. The thread above has a great inventory of gear you need.

 

[GSMChris]

Are these routinely available in 3-6 gallon sizes?

Five and 15.5 gallon are the two most commonly available sizes. 7.5 is pretty easy to find as well. The smaller ones 2 and 3 are less easy to find used but they are out there. Just search on beer keg on Craigslist or Marketplace and see what’s in your area.

 

[Dav]

Last night, I racked my chardonnay into a 5-gallon carboy. I had used bentonite a few weeks ago and it was time to rack off. Bottles are in and I was planning a weekend this month to bottle. It tasted great, and was comparable to a retail bottle I opened at the same time.


This morning, while leaving for work, my garage had a strong odor of chardonnay. It was great. I thought it was strange because I didn't remember spilling any wine last night, so no reason for the smell.

I opened the door to my wine cellar.........and the 5-gallon carboy was empty. Wine everywhere. The bottom completely separated from the carboy and I lost every drop of wine. Literally nothing is salvageable.

To say I'm dejected would be an understatement. I had this wine for 9 months and it was weeks away from the bottle. Probably out about $500 between grapes, testing equipment, and carboy.

I'm not looking for sympathy, but rather advice. How can I prevent this? I guess I'll be moving to plastic. No way I use glass again.

Until next time,
RJ

I know a lot of winemakers who have switched to plastic carboys. They’re lighter weight and easy to handle.

 

[Wineart]

I can actually taste your chard! I would not just give up on glass carboys. They have served well and are easy to clean. I too have lost wine. I had 2 23litre carboys of delicious lácadie blanc almost ready to bottle, but put outside overnight to do a final acid reduction. Trouble was it was -20 deg. and they both froze and broke. Just bight the bullet and change your procedure with the suggestions made, and keep on making good wine. Adversity can strengthen us rather than make us run away.

 

[RylanJacobs]

I appreciate the replies!

I am going to investigate plastic carboys along with some stainless kegs as others have mentioned. This feels like a setback, but I think my procedures will improve as a result.

Thanks to all!

 

[QuiQuog]

Is this another case of a poorly annealed made in Mexico carboy?

 

[Garagista]

I built a polariscope to look for glass flaws in my carboys. Thread here.

 

[ibglowin]

There are only two types of winemakers. Those that have lost a full carboy of wine to an accident. And those that will someday.

Welcome to the club!

 

[wineview]

Sorry for your loss.

I suspect the carboy was heat damaged at some point in its life. Like if you were to fill the carboy with a few inches of hot water with cleanser. The lower portion of the carboy is much hotter than the upper portion. My cleaning protocol is to use a jet spray, so the entire inside of the carboy is touched by hot water. No one part of the carboy is heated differently than another.

25 years and I’ve never used hot water. Tepid at best.

 

[wineview]

Sorry for your loss.

I suspect the carboy was heat damaged at some point in its life. Like if you were to fill the carboy with a few inches of hot water with cleanser. The lower portion of the carboy is much hotter than the upper portion. My cleaning protocol is to use a jet spray, so the entire inside of the carboy is touched by hot water. No one part of the carboy is heated differently than another.

25 years and I’ve never used hot water. Tepid at best.

 

[wineview]

Not sure why that posted twice

 

[Jezroti]

Many of the newly made carboys are crap. They are brittle and made cheaply. I believe there is a chat in the forum about them. If you find used older ones, I feel you will have more success with those. I vote stick with glass. Or stainless steel tanks when you get to that level.

 

[HublerCellars]

I had the exact same thing happen to me. 5 gallons of Merlot, flooding the garage due to a faulty carboy. I use a small amount of hot water when cleaning but I suspect the damage was done prior (bumped it against something).
Although we still use glass (and PET) we are moving to Doilum kegs for aging or for topping off barrels. Available in 12.5, 20 and 30L. If you have access to Argon or CO2, these are great, regardless of the volume in the keg.