Here is the story reprinted from Tech Talk...
BUB
Subject: Re: Call For Brewing Accident Tales
I have been brewing since the spring of 2005. In that time, I have brewed 30 (almost 31) 5 gallon batches of beer, 9 meads, 6 ciders, and 8 batches of wine. Sunday Oct 14, 2007 was to be my first all-grain batch. I had my Dunkelweizen kit from Northern Brewer and my converted cooler for batch sparging (thanks Denny Conn). It worked great! I hit my temperature and gravity.
While waiting, I racked and bottled a mild brown. Mostly, I needed the 6.5 gallon glass carboy for the current batch. During the boil I cleaned the carboy and filled it with sanitizer. Finally, while the wort cooled, I went to empty the carboy. Of course, using every bit of experience, wisdom, and intelligence I could muster, I lifted the full carboy from the floor and tipped it over the sink. Glug, glug, glug... Soon it started to slip so I righted the carboy. It was wet from the sanitizer and it was slipping. I squatted down to set it on the floor (cement) and just a couple of inches from the floor it slipped from my grip. I knew it would break. I figured, "it will hit, I'll let it go and hop back!" It’s amazing how much you can think in a split second. When it hit the floor the glass shattered.
Apparently the pressure of the liquid pushed the glass shards out, fast. I really did hop back, quickly. A chunk of the carboy hit my forehead and left a nasty bump. Another piece flew 6 ft and busted a hole in another 6.5 gallon carboy filled with Cabernet Sauvignon. The sanitizer and wine gushed across the floor. It was at that moment that I looked at my right hand to see the flesh hanging from two fingers and blood starting to flow from the cuts. At that time I realized that I had also cut my left hand although I don’t recall looking at it. About then my wife called down, "Are you alright?" My answer, "No."
As you can imagine, I quickly decided to ignore the disaster unfolding in my basement. We wrapped my hands in a big towel and my wife drove me to the emergency room. In the end, I had cut three fingers on each hand requiring 48 stitches. Unfortunately two of the fingers on my left hand had tendons cut requiring three hours of surgery to re-attach 4 tendons, 30 more stitches, and rehab. I still cannot use my left hand. Hopefully I will be back to normal in a couple more months. By the way, I type pretty well with one hand don't you think?
I have had plenty of time to think about what happened. I emptied carboys like that many times. I thought about the dangers of glass and I always thought I would have enough time to react, be quick enough to keep from getting hurt. I was wrong. I now see many safer ways that I could have handled the carboy: lift the carboy to a table and siphon sanitizer from it; dump some down the floor drain before lifting; use the brew hauler I purchased; and more.
I have two more all grain kits waiting for me and an extract kit – my first Lager. There are 5 carboys with wine and mead requiring racking/bottling. I wish the accident never happened but wishing doesn't change things. My wife has been a phenomenal help to me. Between the pain meds and dressings I was pretty helpless for a few days. Even now I need help with some simple things like buttons and socks.
Why share my story? I'm not on a mission to save my fellow brewers. I am not advocating the elimination of glass. I still have plenty of them and don't plan to get rid of them. Partly it is a good story. But mostly I hope it does help some guys to not "THINK". I thought I could do it in a way that was not really safe. As my wife says, I think like a man. Often I try to think of the quicker or easier way to do something. Instead I can personally attest to the value of putting safety first.
Truth be told, I have thought about getting a plastic carboy or a plastic conical. Maybe someday.
My first all-grain batch? Three days later my wife poured it down the drain while I recovered in bed (she did lot's of cleaning up). I look forward to my next first all-grain batch.
Art
